1,721,003 research outputs found
Regenerative Territories. Dimensions of Circularity for Healthy Metabolisms
No full textThis open access book provides new perspectives on circular economy and space, explored towards the definition of regenerative territories characterised by healthy metabolisms. Going beyond the mere reuse/recycle of material waste as resources, this work aims to understand how to apply circularity principles to, among others, the regeneration of wastescapes. The main focus is the development over time, and in particular the way how spatial planning and strategies respond to new unpredictable urgencies and opportunities related with territorial metabolisms. The book specifically focuses on living labs environments, where it is possible to tackle complex problems through a multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach - including the use of digital spatial decision support environment – which could be able to include all the involved stakeholders. Through a spatial scope of circularity, this book describes several examples including among others ideas from different contexts such as Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and Vietnam. Through including reflections on methodology and representation, as well as on solutions for circular and healthy metabolisms, the book provides an excellent resource to researchers and students
The Circular Metabolic Urban Landscape
No full textThe study of the city as a living organism in constant transformation is especially linked to the investigation of its metabolic flows and their impacts on urban systems. The interplay of urban metabolic flows with the natural and anthropic landscape, including the built environment and its discarded parts, is connected in various ways. Urban Metabolism has been mainly studied by environmentalists and engineers so far, but it is recently acquiring growing significance also for urban planners, architects, and policymakers to determine and evaluate the impacts of human transformation on the human-natural ecosystem. Considering the urban landscape and the metabolism of its resources as an integrated system requires the recognition of which materials, methods, approaches, and general issues should be considered in planning and design for the transition toward a Circular Metabolic Urban Landscape. The process of transition to circular cities should necessarily involve actors from different research fields. Thus, this study aims at systematizing the recent and constantly evolving knowledge on this topic. This chapter presents a Systematic Review of the recent scientific literature by analyzing the production of the last 10 years on Urban Metabolism and Circular Economy in the context of spatial design and planning. The criteria set as a guide were made explicit through the coding of the selected papers by employing ATLAS.ti and grouping the subjects coded in five main clusters: theoretical issues, UM-specific topics, planning and design research, interdisciplinary studies and research and applications, and open issues. A semantic network links the cross-disciplinarity topics. The challenges and research topics to consider for a Circular Metabolic Urban Landscape are then considered as a set of links in the recent scientific literature selected
From Wastescapes Towards Regenerative Territories. A Structural Approach for Achieving Circularity
Full text linkIn this chapter, the understanding of circularity goes beyond material resource management, deepening the spatial implications of a more circular management and use of wastescapes, investigated at the urban and metropolitan scale. Besides the health (care) related challenges presented by the current outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, additional ones related to our living environment have been—and will continue to be—an urgent call for academic researchers, designers and policymakers to find (eco)innovative solutions and strategies for enhancing the quality of life of all and the availability of more and more safe public (open) spaces and facilities to sustain this. In this situation, the spaces most at risk of urban and peri-urban areas could be found in the unresolved places which are defined as wastescapes, since they are in general still poorly used and valued. Building on the European H2020 research project REPAiR, the definition of wastescapes, provided in this study, builds upon work for two main cases: the metropolitan areas of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Naples (Italy). Wastescapes are discarded territories, however, they can also be understood as opportunities to realize regenerative concepts and support strategies related to environmental, spatial and social challenges of the territories and their surroundings. Core is then to improve the socio-ecological values of such territories. Wastescapes are different case by case, being affected by site-specific challenges and characterized by high complexity. The research presented in this chapter shows that the route towards a Circular Economy requires the consideration of wastescapes as ‘spatial resources’ important to be included in strategies of transition. It represents a fundamental step to overcome problems related to both resource (and land) scarcity, land use in general and spatial fragmentation, while providing opportunities to include through eco-innovative services other values than just the monetary ones to society. The spatial regeneration of wastescapes in the built environment involves a re-thinking of the structure of these areas in a larger (metropolitan) context. Within such metropolitan settings, in particular peri-urban territories, also referred to as the areas in-between urban and rural landscapes, are most affected and characterized by this problem of wastescapes.Environmental Technology and Desig
Introduction to the Volume
No full textThis book is a multi-faceted reflection on the links between territory and circular economy, a theme that revolutionizes our way of understanding the logic of produc- tion and consumption, of organizing social and urban structures, and of thinking about the principles and objectives of planning
La rigenerazione nei territori colpiti da catastrofi
No full textLa ricerca proposta esplora due principali ambiti. Il primo relativo alla rigenerazione territoriale, completando gli studi sulla rigenerazione urbana, e, il secondo, alla dinamica delle aree colpite da disastri ambientali e antropici. Soffermandosi sull’importanza di piani e programmi che includano ogni fase della catastrofe e l’importanza che la rigenerazione ha nella pianificazione del territorio, il contributo si sofferma sulla conoscenza e lo studio del tema nella letteratura scientifica e nel campo legislativo. La ricerca si pone l’obiettivo di identificare strategie spaziali per le aree colpite da catastrofi naturali, attraverso un approccio multidisciplinare che integri aspetti sociali, economici, ambientali e sociali. Nell’articolo verranno esplicitati i primi risultati legati all’indagine bibliografia sul tema e in ambiti territoriali in cui si rilevano approcci di rigenerazione. Si considera come caso studio principale il cratere istituito a seguito degli eventi sismici avvenuti nel 2009 a L’Aquila e nel 2016-17 nel centro Italia dato che, ad oggi, in tali territori è possibile analizzare fragilità territoriali e strategie messe in atto alle diverse scale di intervento
Fragilità territoriale a scala regionale: il caso della Regione Abruzzo
No full textIl fenomeno della fragilità territoriale è ciclicamente presente nel panorama accademico dato che, a più riprese, si assiste al verificarsi di calamità e disastri di origine naturale e antropica nella contemporaneità. La sua natura multidimensionale si manifesta in forme diverse che sono oggetto di molteplici esperienze di studio e ricerca in ambito accademico che spesso sono fortemente relazionate con esperienze di natura programmatica. Lo studio che si presenta nell’articolo inquadra il tema alla scala regionale con un focus specifico sulla Regione Abruzzo, territorio affetto da una diminuzione della popolazione e di un aumento del tasso di mortalità dovuto all’invecchiamento ormai divenuti costanti nel tempo. Poste queste basi di riferimento, il testo inquadra in prima battuta le dinamiche socioeconomiche regionali per poi tracciare una linea metodologica di analisi del territorio. Individua, infine, possibili linee strategiche di recupero territoriale che possono configurarsi come incipit per ulteriori studi. La metodologia è composta da tre fasi, conoscitiva, analitica e progettuale, finalizzate a classificare il territorio regionale in relazione al livello di criticità. L’obiettivo dello studio, quindi, è analizzare e descrivere le componenti e gli effetti della fragilità territoriale a scala regionale, individuando successivamente le aree a maggiore criticità di sviluppo. Il tema in esame è stato analizzato focalizzandosi soprattutto sul sistema dei servizi e delle attrezzature territoriali, sul loro equilibrio e accessibilità, cercando di interpretare le dinamiche socioeconomiche definite dalle trasformazioni demografiche in atto nella Regione e al grado di accessibilità alle principali infrastrutture di interesse territoriale
SPArTaCHus. Sustainable City-Port Areas Towards Circular Hubs
Full text linkSPArTaCHus interprets City-Port Areas as promoters of
circular and sustainable prosperity in equilibrium with
nature. Being transitional landscapes, City-Port Areas
both face ever-changing challenges from e.g., port
activities, and offer a rich socio-cultural environment.
Understanding the complex dynamics of City-Port Areas
informs a path toward circularity, that can reconnect
people, spaces, flows, economies, and ecologies.
Recently, in Europe and beyond, both research and
practice have been showing that wastescapes
understood as a system of underused or abandoned
territories crossed by resource flows have potentials for
the implementation of circular and sustainable growth.
SPArTaCHus aims to unravel these potentials, by
developing scenarios for a circular and sustainable
regeneration of City-Port Areas of the Metropolitan
Area of Naples (MAN), focusing on wastescapes,
progressively dismissed strips of industrial units and
infrastructures adjacent to harbors. By implementing a
‘research by design’ approach, SPArTaCHus develops
solutions and strategies for exploring new synergies
among energy production, waste reduction/elimination,
short supply chain of resources, spatial and
environmental recovery, to enhance the quality of life
for all. Further, it aims at posing the scientific bases for
arising awareness of the importance of regenerating
wastescapes in City-Port Areas for the circular
metabolism of the wider territory. By producing a
‘Circularity Catalogue’, this project offers a systematic
guide for inspiring private investors, designers, citizens,
and decision makers to implement pioneer circular hubs
and incubators of innovation for living and prospering
toward a holistic sustainability. Expected impacts of
SPArTaCHus would be to boost stronger communities’
abilities to understand and implement circularity. To this
aim, collaborative design activities, involving different
stakeholders, will be facilitated
Shifting paradigms. Metabolismi circolari per una città ‘healthy'
No full textLe urbanizzazioni degli ultimi 150 anni sono state prevalentemente caratterizzate da un modello di economia e di crescita lineari, basati sul principio uso-consumo-scarto. Tale modello ha mostrato numerose criticità e può essere considerato principalmente insostenibile, perché basato su una totale indifferenza verso l’ambiente e verso i limiti naturali dell’ecosistema, portando a un consumo eccessivo delle risorse vergini, sempre più scarse.
‘What’s next?’ considerato che il modello di crescita economica lineare non è più sostenibile? Quali sono i futuri scenari dell’economia del futuro, quella che gli autori della Biennale di Rotterdam IABR 2016’ definiscono ‘The Next Economy’?
Il paper ha inoltre l’obiettivo di studiare in che misura i fenomeni simultanei di urban dispersion, urban shrinkage e di abbandono dei territori contemporanei possono rappresentare un'opportunità da cui ripartire per migliorare la funzionalità del metabolismo urbano. Attraverso una selezione di diversi esempi nel caso studio olandese, questo contributo si pone l’obiettivo di identificare approcci innovativi alla ri-funzionalizzazione del metabolismo dei paesaggi contemporanei, lavorando sul riciclo dei Wasted Landscapes, specificamente al fine di migliorare la qualità degli spazi urbani e della vita degli abitanti, l’efficienza energetica degli edifici e il management dei rifiuti nelle aree urbane e periurbane
beyond WASTESCAPES. Opportunities for sustainable urban and territorial regeneration
Full text linkResource consumption mostly overcomes the embedded capacity of global ecosystems, which are self-regenerating until they reach the point of the planet’s limits. Moreover, the consumption of virgin resources and raw materials is strictly related to a consequent production of waste, which is negatively affecting both human health and other various spatial conditions. Studies show that if this model of growth goes on, there will be the need of almost an additional planet Earth (in terms of resources) for us to be able to continue to survive. Scarcity also regards land itself, which is understood as a non-renewable resource. Issues regarding linear metabolism, unsustainable resource consumption, abandonment, vacancies, and also the depletion of fertile soil, are caused by various rapid urbanization processes that can generate wastescapes. The unsustainability of this linear model of growth is self-evident, because it represents a significant threat for environmental sustainability, human health, and happiness. Many initiatives around the world are currently in the process of moving towards circularity. However, the recycling of wastescapes is still an important knowledge gap in the current definition of a circular economy, with the latter mostly only focusing on the recycling of material resources in contemporary cities
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