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Fondamenti per una crescita urbana consapevole e sostenibile: un modello di supporto alla decisione.
No full textCircular Urban Metabolism Framework
Full text linkIn our cities, the production and consumption of resources are achieved at an unsustainable rate. Combined with an increasing global population and accelerating urbanization, the absence of a new approach will almost certainly have dramatic environmental consequences. Potential solutions are emerging: the concepts of circular economy (CE) and urban metabolism (UM), which contrast the current and traditional linear extract-produce-use-dispose model of the modern economic and urban systems, offer a new approach. In this Primer, we present the principles of CE and UM as well as their origins and definitions, strengths and weaknesses, similarities, and limits. We introduce how these concepts can be used for designing a new urban framework called circular urban metabolism (CUM), which encourages urban planners and decision makers to study, design, and manage sustainable cities. CUM has the potential to unite research fields to promote collaboration across disciplines that operate on the planning, design, and management of cities and their complexities
Interrelazioni tra metabolismo urbano ed economia circolare : analisi di tre esempi in progetti europei = Urban metabolism and circular economy interrelations : analysing three examples of EU-funded projects
No full textIn Europe, the concepts of urban metabolism (UM) and circular economy (CE) have been made operational in several research projects and practical applications. However, although in the last years policy interests and scientific literature about UM and CE have been growing significantly, these concepts remain open, and their applicability is not univocal, especially concerning CE applied in urban systems. This paper analyses how three EU funded projects developed the interrelations amongst the fields of UM and CE. Different dimensions and scales of circularity were investigated, namely: (i) the potentials to create networking among different sectors to recycle waste at the regional scale; (ii) the importance of regenerating wastescapes; (iii) the accounting of resource flows that compose UM; (iv) the direct involvement of stakeholders in the management of resources
Evaluating public policies : Normative models beyond cost benefit analysis
Full text linkLe sujet de la thèse “Evaluating Public Policies: Normative Models Beyond Cost Benefit Analysis” tire son origine de l’intérêt pour les politiques publiques et leur construction ;
plus précisément pour la question de l’évaluation de ces politiques publiques. La thèse,
après avoir étudié les instruments et les mécanismes distributives de fonds liés aux politiques publiques européennes (Annexe A), a abouti le thème de l’Evidence-Based Policy-
Making (EBPM). Ce rapprochement a porté a l’étude de concepts et objectifs de l’EBPM
(Chapitre 2) et par conséquent à la recherche des caractéristiques qui rendent une politique
légitime, mais aussi celles qui la rendent une décision d’investissement “unique”, c’est à
dire différents par rapports à toutes les autres types de décision. Ces particularités ont
été analysées et synthétisées en 4 éléments:
² horizons temporels de moyenne-longue durée ou très longues;
² nombreuse sources d’incertitude de nature variable lié au décideur;
² grande importance de l’aspect économique;
² grande importance de la flexibilité.
L’étude de ces caractéristiques a poussé la thèse et notre recherche vers l’étude des instruments et mécanismes nécessaires à la formation, gestion, monitorage des politiques
publiques. À partir de ce vaste cadre de référence la thèse s’est concentré sur l’étude des
instruments normatifs à disposition du législateur pour l’évaluation et la gestion des politiques, c’est à dire: ² l’Analyse Coût Bénéfice (CBA);
² la Théorie Décisionelle et de l’Utilité Attendue (DT);
² la Théorie des Options Réelles (ROT).
Dans la prémière partie de la thèse donc nous avons présente l’étude de ces trois intruments par rapports aux politiques publiques et aux décisions du législateur. Cette étude a
montré que les trois instruments sont inconvenables d’aborder les aspects caractérisant les
politiques publiques. L’analyse CBA, bien que soit l’instrument le plus utilisé et reconnu
comme légitime, n’abouti pas à considerer et gérer un de quatre aspects fondamentaux,
c’est-à-dire la flexibilité du législateur dans la gestion de la politique pendant tout son horizon temporel (Chapitre 3). D’autre part, l’étude de la DT a souligné l’inconvenabilité de
l’instrument principal de ce secteur, c’est-à-dire les arbres de décision, de considérer et
gérer les politiques publiques dans les horizons temporels concrets (Chapitre 4). Finalement, l’étude de la ROT a explicité comment cet instrument, bien qu'il soit une importante
évolution de la CBA, en étant fortement lié à la finance, ne réussi pas à considérer la subjectivité du décideur (législateur) (Chapitre 5).Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, en partant des conclusions auxquelles nous avons
abouti par rapport à la convenabilité de l’utilisation de CBA, DT et ROT dans le cadre
des politiques publiques, nous proposons un “nouveau instrument” (Chaapitre 6). Cet instrument peut être consideré une évolution des arbres décisionnels vu qu’il tien compte du
temps de manière concrète: pas seulement par une construction de la politique et de la décision dans le temps, mais aussi à travers l’insertion d’un taux de remise subjectif. Le taux
de remise subjectif obtenu au moyen des fonctions d’utilité du décideur (législateur) est
capable de considérer ses préférences personnelles soit sur le temps soit sur l’incertitude.
La thèse termine avec une comparaison critique entre le nouveau arbre décisionnel
proposé et la théorie des options réelles. Cette comparaison critique montre que les deux
instruments sont différents du point de vue formel sous différents aspects:
1. Les options réelles sont basées sur l’existence d’un asset sous-jacent, qui permet
de faire des simplifications. En partant de l’hypothèse que l’asset sous-jacent réplique parfaitement l’investissement et la décision d’investissement, on passe dépuis
à l’utilisation du taux de remise risk free et donc à l’utilisation de probabilités neutres
au risque, et le conditionnement des probabilités successives est toujours basé sur
l’existence de l’asset sous-jacent.
2. Les arbres décisionnels temporels au contraire ne font pas ces hypothèses. Rien peut
expliquer l’investissement, la décision et le décideur; les probabilités conditionnés
dépendent de l’oracle et toute la construction formelle tourne autour de la subjectivité
et des préferences du décideur.En concluant on peut dire que, à partir de l’étude de politiques publiques et de leur caractéristiques intrinsèques, les instruments d’évaluation à disposition du législateur (CBA,
DT, ROT) sont incomplets. C’est à dire qu’ils ne considèrent ni gèrent de manière appropriée et en même temps les 4 caractéristiques fondamentales considérées. Surmonter
ce problème est crucial afin que le législateur ait un instrument complèt d’évaluation et
d’aide à la décision, pourtant nous avons pensé construire un arbre décisionnel ad hoc
pour les politiques publiques. Cet arbre décisionnel à été construit donc en suivant le modèle du traditionnel, mais on ajoute soit la dimension temporelle soit le concept économique
de coûts et bénefices. En plus, on a re-élaboré et integré des idées liées à la flexibilité
managériale provenant de la théorie des options réelles. De cette façon, le résultant “arbre décisionnel temporel” est en mésure de considérer et gérer les exigences spécifiques
de la décision publique, en restant soit dans le milieu de la rationalité normative à travers
les concepts d’évaluation économique, soit dans le milieu de la rationalité constructive, du
moment qu’il inglobe et il tourne autour de préferences subjectives du décideur et des ceux
qu’il représente légitimement.The subject of the thesis: “Evaluating Public Policies - Normative Models Beyond Cost
Benefit Analysis” arise from the interest in the public policies and their construction, and
in particular from the problem of how to evaluate them.
The thesis, after a preliminary study of tools and mechanisms for European Public
Policy founds distributions, has dealt with the Evidence-Based Policy-Making (EBPM).
Thus, studying EBPM’s objectives and concepts, we studied the characteristics that make
legitimate policies, but also those features that make public policies “unique” investment
decisions, or better that make such decisions different from all other types of decisions.
These feature were then analyzed and summarized in four points:
² medium or long-term time horizon;
² several different source of uncertainty related with the policy-maker;
² great importance of the economic aspect;
² great importance of the flexibility.
The study of these has pushed the research and our thesis towards the study of the tools and
the mechanisms necessary for the public policies creation, management and monitoring.
Therefore, from this broad framework the thesis is focused on the study of the normative tools currently available to the policy-maker, that are:
² Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA);
² Decision Theory (DT);
² Real Options Theory (ROT).
In the first part of the thesis we presented these three tools in relation to public policies
and policy-makers decision. From that it became clear the inadequacy of the existent tools
in addressing the different aspects that characterize public policies. The CBA, despite being the tool in absolute more used and recognized as legitimate, fails to take account and
manage one of the four fundamental policies features, namely the policy-maker flexibility
to manage the policy in all its time horizon. On the other hand, the study of DT has high-
lighted the inadequacy of the decision tree analysis to consider and manage public policies
in real time horizons. Finally, the ROT study has made clear that despite such tool represents an important evolution from the CBA, since it is closely related to finance, it fails to
take into account the policy-makers subjectivity.
In the second part of the thesis, starting from the conclusions about the relevance of the
use of CBA, DT and ROT in the field of public policies, we propose a "new instrument".
Such tool could be considered an evolution of the decision tree, because although it is built like a normal decision tree it take into account the time in practical terms: not only through
a policy construction and decision-making over the time, but also through the inclusion of a
subjective discount rate. The subjective discount rate, derived by the utility function of the
policy-makers, is able to take account their personal time and uncertainty preferences. The
thesis ends with a critical comparison between the new temporal decision tree proposed
and the real options theory. The critical comparison show that the two tools are different in
two main aspects:
1. The real options are based on the existence of an underlying asset, which allows many
simplification. Assuming that the underlying asset perfectly replicate the investment
and the investment decision, it is legitimate to use the risk-free discount rate and the
risk neutral probabilities, then it is always on the existence of the underlying asset
that it is based the probability conditioning.
2. Temporal decision trees on the contrary do not make any of these hypothesis. There
is nothing that can replicate the investment, the decision and the policy-maker. The
conditional probabilities depend only on the oracle choose, and all formal construction revolve around the subjectivity and preferences of policy-makers. In conclusion we can say that, starting from the study of public policies and their characteristics, the assessment tools currently available to the policy-makers (CBA, DT, and
ROT) are incomplete. In other words, they are not able to adequately considered and man-
aged the four key characteristics. Overcoming this problem is essential to give at the policy-
makers a comprehensive assess and decision aiding tool, thus we decide to build a decision
tree ad hoc for the public policies. Such decision tree was constructed following the traditional model, but it is adding both the temporal dimension and the economic concept of
costs and benefits. Moreover, we have also revised and integrated some ideas related to
managerial flexibility arising from the ROT. In this way, the resulting “temporal decision
tree” is able to consider and manage the specific needs of the public decision-making, remaining both in the normative rationality field through the economic evaluation concepts,
and in the constructive rationality field, because the tool incorporates and revolves around
the subjective preference of the policy-makers and those who legitimately represent.ou
La città circolare è multidisciplinare e trans-scalare
No full textLa Città Circolare, così come definita dalla Ellen MacArthur Foundation è un sistema urbano rigenerativo per
definizione, in cui vengono rispettati i principi dell'Economia Circolare in tutte le sue funzioni. La città circolare necessita, pertanto, di una progettazione specifica in grado di elevare a paradigma l’eliminazione dello scarto e del rifiuto, che sia esso un oggetto fisico, un bene immateriale o uno spazio. In questa chiave la città circolare è una città resiliente, smart e soprattutto sostenibile. La realizzazione della città circolare si deve basare sui principi della prossimità (casa, lavoro e tempo libero), sull’utilizzo di energie pulite e processi non inquinanti, sull’esigenza degli spazi verdi come pilastri del benessere e sull’uso efficiente delle risorse e dello spazio. In questa nuova visione della città, il layout e il design urbano cambiano, come cambiano i materiali e il loro approvvigionamento. Diventa pertanto fondamentale leggere, studiare e progettare il territorio considerando nuove competenze, in grado di comprendere e rimodellare i
flussi urbani metabolici, adottando un approccio multidisciplinare e sistemico. Architettura, pianificazione, design, scienze economiche ed ambientali sono tutte discipline che devono collaborare per il raggiungimento della circolarità urbana. Inoltre, anche la scala di riferimento delle discipline cambia, i confini amministrativi urbani perdono di senso e si ampliano o si restringono a seconda del flusso che stiamo analizzando e progettando, l’approccio diventa transscalare.
Partendo da queste premesse, il paper mira a presentare una prima riflessione relativa alla dimensione territoriale della città circolare, osservando in particolare i sistemi agroalimentari. Attraverso la combinazione di saperi differenti, in particolare l’estimo rurale, la pianificazione urbanistica e il design sistemico, la ricerca si confronta con le principali sfide, attraverso un approccio critico e rivolto alla realizzazione di un crescente metabolismo circolare del territorio e della città
Cibo oltre la crescita. I territori della produzione agraria tra patrimonializzazione e sostenibilità
No full textGli impatti ambientali prodotti dalle attività produttive sono stati principalmente studiati dal punto di vista delle città e delle attività economiche qui localizzate, spesso tralasciando le aree rurali. In Europa e in Italia, però, alcune aree rurali si caratterizzano oggi per produzioni agricole intensive e altamente specializzate, che forniscono prodotti ad alto valore aggiunto. Questi territori – spesso definiti agroindustriali (Brenner e Katsikis, 2020) – rappresentano a tutti gli effetti aree produttive a carattere industriale, le cui economie richiedono un ampio sfruttamento delle risorse e portano a una pesante perdita di biodiversità.
Nei casi di maggior successo economico, le produzioni enogastronomiche sono poi diventate la leva di vere e proprie politiche di sviluppo locale: tale processo di “patrimonializzazione” risulta dall’interazione di una pluralità di attori operanti a livello locale e globale, che selezionano attentamente gli elementi discorsivi attraverso i quali un territorio e le sua “tipicità” vengono comunicati (Tomé, 2021). Pertanto, non solo le produzioni sono diventate negli anni sempre più redditizie, ma hanno sviluppato e supportato un nuovo turismo enogastronomico, con musei ed eventi, itinerari paesaggistici, visite a fattorie e aziende, pernottamenti nei borghi, ecc. Tuttavia, queste strategie di crescita spesso sono generatrici di impatti ambientali e sociali molto rilevanti. Le produzioni agricole intensive, infatti, prestano poca attenzione agli impatti socio-ecologici delle monocolture, così come la specializzazione produttiva esclude piccoli produttori interessati a modelli alternativi (Franco et al., 2022).
Il contributo si propone di mettere in evidenza questi tre aspetti – produzione agricola intensiva, patrimonializzazione territoriale, impatti ambientali – avanzando alcune ipotesi per riequilibrare i rapporti tra le questioni economiche, sociali e ambientali nel mondo rurale, evidenziando i rischi del modello di produzione agricola convenzionale, ma anche identificando il potenziale esistente. L’obiettivo è provare a costruire visioni e strategie territoriali innovative in un’ottica di circolarità e sostenibilità, come auspicato anche dall'UE (2021) nella “Visione a lungo termine per le aree rurali dell'UE - Verso aree rurali più forti, connesse, resilienti e prospere entro il 2040”.
Lo studio si basa su due casi veneti, dove hanno origine alcuni prodotti agroalimentari “tipici” ed economicamente competitivi: Lusia, dove si producono insalata e una specifica varietà di aglio, e Vittorio Veneto, zona di produzione del vino Prosecco. Questi prodotti sono oggi particolarmente importanti sia sul mercato nazionale che internazionale e i loro territori sono tutelati da specifiche denominazioni di origine. Tuttavia, dopo una grande e deregolamentata espansione delle produzioni agricole (Basso, 2019), entrambi i contesti soffrono oggi di problemi ambientali e di una contrazione socio-economica. I due casi ci aiutano a comprendere come l’agricoltura giochi oggi un ruolo fondamentale sia nella produzione alimentare sia nello sviluppo territoriale, ma i limiti degli attuali modelli invitano a riflettere sulla necessità di una nuova gestione per il rural
Integration by design: exploring circularity in planning education
No full textAlthough material and energy flow analyses are increasingly recognised as tools for urban sustainability audits (e.g. benchmarking) and environmental policy guidance, few planning exercises go beyond research to design resource-efficient circular urban metabolisms. We proposed a strongly integrated inter-disciplinary and scalar approach for transferring evidence-based data at the smaller scale of design intervention within the framework of an urban planning and design studio on circularity. The results show the difficulty for students to handle complex data such as environmental statistics and sustainability indicators, as well as the limitation of their direct transferability in constructing territorial visions of transformation. The challenge remains connecting formal analysis with a qualitative and critical understanding of the plurality of stakeholders and conditions underpinning the recirculation of urban flows
LCA for territorial metabolism analysis: An application to organic waste management planning
Full text linkThe management of biodegradable waste in landfills is associated to a range environmental impacts and refers to a linear model regarded as unsustainable. At the same time, many agricultural and urban soils present low organic matter content. Composting is emerging as a good practice for converting organic waste into a new resource able to improve soil properties, thus providing regulation Ecosystem Services. Considering a territorial metabolism perspective, this work discusses the potential contribution to regional planning of a transferable methodology for quantifying environmental impacts and benefits associated to waste management, based on a combined use of Life Cycle Assessment and Geographic Information Systems, and considering Ecosystem Services deriving from the application of compost in agricultural soils. The approach was tested through a site-dependent analysis based on primary data, referring to year 2019 and focusing on the Veneto Region, Italy. Results indicate that direct benefits associated to the use of compost and the thermal energy to district heating are compensating from 29 % to 51 % of the impacts associated to compost production, while waste transports represent the largest share of the impacts, covering between 52 % and 78 % of the total flows considered. The proposed methodology is applied for comparing the reference condition to alternative scenarios, in the perspective of providing support in Strategic Environmental Assessment procedures. In this context, results shown markedly lower impacts associated to compost production, with respect to organic waste treatment, for 5 out of 6 of the considered categories (freshwater eutrophication 100:1, climate change 5:1), with the notable exception of water resource depletion. Scenarios produced are discussed with respect to the choice between centralized and non-centralized plants, and the characterization of potential benefits at the territorial scale associated to compost use for urban green infrastructures. With respect to this latter point, results showed an underdeveloped use of compost-related ES flow, compared to its capacity, suggesting an interest for further research aimed at estimating compost requirements by urban and peri-urban soils
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