Climate Proof Territories: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Urban Resilience

A special issue of Urban Science (ISSN 2413-8851).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 26296

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Planning, Design, Architecture Technology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00196 Rome, Italy
Interests: urban and territorial planning; urban regeneration; public spaces and cultural heritage; climate-proof planning; local plan and urban resilience
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Guest Editor
SSPT-MET-CLIM, ENEA, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, S.M. di Galeria, 00123 Roma, Italy
Interests: climate change; Mediterranean climate; climate change impacts; numerical modeling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to contribute to the Special Issue “Climate proof territories. An interdisciplinary approach to urban resilience”, to be published in MDPI Open Access Journal Urban Science.

This Special Issue aims to present state-of-the-art research from multiple disciplines that address the urban environment and its sustainability, and to integrate different strands of research into a coherent common framework, thus accounting for the complex interactions and interconnections of the different components and scales involved. Indeed, in endeavoring to understand the processes that shape and sustain contemporary cities, urban science needs to develop beyond the limits and abilities of any single research community, to develop a formal transdisciplinary reference theory and analytical methods for the city as a unit of analysis, by confronting and synthetizing the knowledge arising from the socioeconomic, planning, architectural, engineering, physical, natural and computational sciences.

In addition to the social and environmental stressors that have long been acknowledged to affect urban areas, IPCC Reports (https://www.ipcc.ch/) have unequivocally identified cities as exposed and vulnerable to climate change, and liable to be subject to the projected impacts of sea level rise and of an increased frequency of extreme events, such as heatwaves and floods. At the same time, due to their high population density and concentration of human activities, cities are themselves major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. It is therefore urgent that specific planning strategies are developed and implemented, jointly addressing both mitigation and adaptation targets, highlighting potential synergies, and resolving conflicts and trade-offs.

This Special Issue encourages submissions that are oriented to promote a transdisciplinary approach to the climate-proof planning and management of cities, including, but not limited to, the following topics:

  • Characterization of the urban environment via ground- and satellite-based techniques for knowledge-based preventive risk analysis;
  • The use of innovative computing platforms to manage and process huge volumes of data, both socio-economic and environmental, regarding the built environment, and the creation of updated open databases by public administrations;
  • The definition of efficient inclusion and integration paths for stakeholders to participate in the definition and implementation of feasible and effective policies;
  • Numerical modelling of the urban climate as a constituent of preparatory environmental assessments in support of adaptive urban development;
  • The integration of monitoring techniques, numerical modelling and policy planning;
  • The replicability of approaches and methodologies in contexts exposed to similar hazards or characterized by similar vulnerabilities;
  • The implications of scale complexities and interactions for future governance of the urban environment: social and administrative limitations and potential responses, with special focus on local urban plans as a privileged instrument to design climate change mitigation and/or adaptation strategies.

Prof. Carmela Mariano
Dr. Giovanna Pisacane
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Urban Science is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • climate-proof urban planning
  • urban resilience
  • local plan
  • nature-based solutions
  • urban climate
  • environmental monitoring
  • numerical modelling
  • Big Data
  • social-ecological systems
  • mitigation
  • adaptation
  • sustainability

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 662 KiB  
Article
Method and Practice for Integrated Water Landscapes Management: River Contracts for Resilient Territories and Communities Facing Climate Change
by Francesca Rossi
Urban Sci. 2022, 6(4), 83; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/urbansci6040083 - 16 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1458
Abstract
The negative impacts of climate change on natural and anthropic ecosystems have led to the increasingly urgent search for policies, strategies and tools able to counteract degradation and risk factors on vulnerable landscapes. Among these, the research activity refers to water landscapes as [...] Read more.
The negative impacts of climate change on natural and anthropic ecosystems have led to the increasingly urgent search for policies, strategies and tools able to counteract degradation and risk factors on vulnerable landscapes. Among these, the research activity refers to water landscapes as a specific field of study that represents a fundamental resource for human well-being. In consistency with the international policy framework on integrated water management, this contribution develops a case study analysis focused on River Contracts as innovative, voluntary and negotiated planning practices aimed at the reconstruction of territorial, social and ecological values, which broaden the boundaries of safeguarding by integrating protection actions with sustainable management and environmental regeneration and to restore the identity of places and local communities. The description and evaluation of an ongoing experience of River, Coast and Landscape Contracts, developed along the coast of the Lazio region, allows one to point out that the process method is successful in solving complex issues related to the management of the river basin while involving social actors in order to improve people’s knowledge of the territory, increase social awareness of risk conditions, and allow local communities to propose and implement shared solutions. The results of this territorial and multi-level governance method are therefore measured on their capacity to produce territorial, social and environmental resilience. Full article
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16 pages, 3435 KiB  
Article
Urban Planning for Climate Change: A Toolkit of Actions for an Integrated Strategy of Adaptation to Heavy Rains, River Floods, and Sea Level Rise
by Carmela Mariano and Marsia Marino
Urban Sci. 2022, 6(3), 63; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/urbansci6030063 - 13 Sep 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3233
Abstract
Cities and urban systems are the places most responsible for climate change, but at the same time they are the places where its effects are felt the most. A state-of-the-art analysis showed that Ecological–Environmental, Settlement, and Infrastructure and Service Systems are the components [...] Read more.
Cities and urban systems are the places most responsible for climate change, but at the same time they are the places where its effects are felt the most. A state-of-the-art analysis showed that Ecological–Environmental, Settlement, and Infrastructure and Service Systems are the components of cities most exposed to risk phenomena. Therefore, it is important to identify site-specific actions aimed at enhancing ecosystem services and building hierarchical ecological networks (green and blue infrastructures), according to an Ecosystem-based Approach (EbA). In this regard, the contribution presents the results of a research work on the theme of multi-risks connected to climate change, referring to heavy rains and river flood phenomena and sea level rise and proposes a systematisation of international best practices in the field of the Ecosystem-based Approach (EbA). Each best practice analysed is traced back to the three urban resilience macro-strategies of “defence”, “adaptation”, and “relocation/de-anthropisation”, already conceptualised by the authors during their joint research activity. The aim is to outline a synthetic toolkit of site-specific design actions, exportable to other contexts, intended as a tool to support the innovation of urban planning tools at the local level. Full article
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27 pages, 9888 KiB  
Article
Urban Regeneration and Green and Blue Infrastructure: The Case of the “Acilia–Madonnetta” Urban and Metropolitan Centrality in the Municipality of Rome
by Francesco Crupi
Urban Sci. 2022, 6(3), 56; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/urbansci6030056 - 31 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2758
Abstract
To contribute to the debate on climate-proof urban regeneration, the illustrated study seeks to understand how the provision of new multiscalar, multidimensional, and integrated planning tools based on sustainable and resilient strategies can guarantee high levels of urban, environmental, and energy efficiency and [...] Read more.
To contribute to the debate on climate-proof urban regeneration, the illustrated study seeks to understand how the provision of new multiscalar, multidimensional, and integrated planning tools based on sustainable and resilient strategies can guarantee high levels of urban, environmental, and energy efficiency and quality, as well as circularity of resources, counteracting the effects deriving from climate change. Starting from some regulatory and design references that integrate a new ecologically oriented city model into the planning of urban projects, the contribution identifies in the construction of green and blue infrastructures (GI) new design metaphors capable of improving biodiversity; favoring ecological and energy transition; restoring the quality of the air, water, and soil environmental matrices with natural solutions; and making cities truly inclusive, sustainable, and resilient. The methodology adopted for the design of the “Acilia–Madonnetta” Urban and Metropolitan Centrality in the Municipality of Rome simulates a planning process for part of the X Municipality by applying an iterative and interscalar logic, an articulation of levels and phases with the aim of prefiguring the construction of a GI characterized by new ecological-environmental and functional endowments strictly related to the promotion of an efficient, smart, and green city. The contribution highlights the potential and limits of the proposed experimentation, relating both to the quality and innovation of design solutions and possible evolutionary lines and to the lack of clear institutional governance that is limiting the implementation of projects. Full article
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13 pages, 4594 KiB  
Article
A Preliminary Study of Summer Thermo-Hygrometric Comfort under Different Environmental Conditions in a Mediterranean City
by Serena Falasca, Annalisa Di Bernardino, Virgilio Ciancio, Gabriele Curci and Ferdinando Salata
Urban Sci. 2022, 6(3), 51; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/urbansci6030051 - 21 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1710
Abstract
The thermo-hygrometric sensation of pedestrians in outdoor environments can be quantified by means of bioclimatic indices. In this work, the Mediterranean Outdoor Thermal Comfort Index (MOCI) is applied in the city of Rome (Italy) for the purpose of investigating the effect of local [...] Read more.
The thermo-hygrometric sensation of pedestrians in outdoor environments can be quantified by means of bioclimatic indices. In this work, the Mediterranean Outdoor Thermal Comfort Index (MOCI) is applied in the city of Rome (Italy) for the purpose of investigating the effect of local environmental conditions (urban, suburban, rural) on pedestrian thermal comfort. Hourly values of MOCI are calculated for the May–September period in the years 2015–2021 using weather quantities acquired by the four monitoring stations of the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection included in the metropolitan area of Rome. MOCI data are analyzed based on the comfort and (cold/hot) discomfort conditions during both daytime and nighttime. At the urban station, 26% of daily records exceed the comfort threshold revealing the effect of urban overheating, whereas only 0.1% of hot discomfort occurrences are recorded overnight. Here, greater nighttime thermal comfort is experienced than in non-urban locations suggesting that the nocturnal thermo-hygrometric conditions are satisfactory for inhabitants in downtown Rome, despite the urban heat island. It also suggests that other factors, such as orography and atmospheric circulation, influence outdoor thermal comfort. The development of this work will therefore include at least these two elements. Full article
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28 pages, 2335 KiB  
Article
A Planning Framework for Urban Resilience toward Climate Adaptation and Mitigation: Potentials and Limits of “Eco-Districts”
by Irene Poli, Chiara Ravagnan and Laura Ricci
Urban Sci. 2022, 6(3), 49; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/urbansci6030049 - 22 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2788
Abstract
In order to contribute to the debate on climate-proof urban regeneration, the study illustrated in this paper pays attention to the references for eco-districts as possible integrated frameworks that include urbanism and ecology toward urban resilience linked to environmental, social and governance “commitments”. [...] Read more.
In order to contribute to the debate on climate-proof urban regeneration, the study illustrated in this paper pays attention to the references for eco-districts as possible integrated frameworks that include urbanism and ecology toward urban resilience linked to environmental, social and governance “commitments”. To this end, the research activity has given answer to a need for a contextualization of the urban phenomena and the state of the art on sustainable development and climate proof urban resilience, pointing out the French context as an emblematic scope of study through a literature review of European best practices of eco-district. In consistency with this research framework, the study has developed a case study analysis, focusing on the description and evaluation of four best practices of French EcoQuartiers. The methodology adopted has selected with an inductive method the mitigation and adaptation strategies developed in the implementation of the French emblematic eco-quartiers, combining the official sources of the projects with on-site visits and surveys in order to define an experimental proposal of a grid of methodological-operational references relating to eco-districts. Furthermore, the discussion points out the potentials and limits of the proposed framework, related on the one hand to the quality, innovation, integration, and dissemination of the design solutions, and on the other hand to the economic and social costs of the EcoQuartiers that find a synthesis in the concept of “greentrification”. Finally, the conclusion highlights the interest of the contribution of the French context in climate proof planning and points out research interest in the other national contexts toward a European framework for eco-districts. Full article
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18 pages, 17184 KiB  
Article
Designing Urban Green Infrastructures Using Open-Source Data—An Example in Çiğli, Izmir (Turkey)
by Stefano Salata, Bensu Erdoğan and Bersu Ayruş
Urban Sci. 2022, 6(3), 42; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/urbansci6030042 - 23 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3224
Abstract
The city of Izmir (Turkey) has experienced one of the most rapid and fastest urbanization processes in the last thirty years; more than 33 thousand hectares of agricultural and seminatural land have been transformed into urban areas, leading to a drastic reduction of [...] Read more.
The city of Izmir (Turkey) has experienced one of the most rapid and fastest urbanization processes in the last thirty years; more than 33 thousand hectares of agricultural and seminatural land have been transformed into urban areas, leading to a drastic reduction of biodiversity and hard deployments of the ecosystem service supply. In this perspective, the potential definition of methodologies to design multifunctional green infrastructures is extremely important to challenge the effects of climate change. The aim of this study is to propose an easy and replicable methodology to design a Green Infrastructure at the neighbourhood level in one of the most important districts of Izmir: Çiğli. To this end, we combined historical land-use change analysis (based on Urban Atlas, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service) with environmental and ecosystem mapping in a Geographic Information System environment (ESRI ArcMap 10.8.1) while creating a composite layer based on unweighted overlays of Imperviousness, Tree Cover Density, and Habitat Quality. Results were used to design the Green Infrastructure of Çiğli and suggest context-based strategies for urban adaptation, including Nature-Based Solutions for core, edge, and urban links. Full article
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19 pages, 4055 KiB  
Article
Spatio-Temporal Responses of Precipitation to Urbanization with Google Earth Engine: A Case Study for Lagos, Nigeria
by Alamin Molla, Liping Di, Liying Guo, Chen Zhang and Fei Chen
Urban Sci. 2022, 6(2), 40; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/urbansci6020040 - 07 Jun 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2512
Abstract
Lagos, Nigeria, is considered a rapidly growing urban hub. This study focuses on an urban development characterization with remote sensing-based variables for Lagos as well as understanding spatio-temporal precipitation responses to the changing intensity of urban development. Initially, a harmonic analysis showed an [...] Read more.
Lagos, Nigeria, is considered a rapidly growing urban hub. This study focuses on an urban development characterization with remote sensing-based variables for Lagos as well as understanding spatio-temporal precipitation responses to the changing intensity of urban development. Initially, a harmonic analysis showed an increase in yearly precipitation of about 3 mm from 1992 to 2018 for the lower bound of the fitted curve and about 2 mm for the upper bound. The yearly total precipitation revealed no significant trend based on the Mann–Kendall trend test. Subsequent analyses first involved characterizing urbanization based on nighttime light and population density data and then combined them together for the final analysis. Each time, the study area was subdivided into four zones: Zone 0, Zone 1, Zone 2, and Zone 3, which refer to non-urbanized, low-urbanized, mid-urbanized, and highly urbanized regions, respectively. The results from the Google Earth Engine-based analysis uncovered that only Zone 1 has a statistical monotonic increasing precipitation trend (Tau 0.29) with a 0.03 significance level when the combined criteria were applied. There is about a 200 mm precipitation increase in Zone 1. Insignificant patterns for the other three zones (Zone 2, Zone 3, and Zone 4) indicate that these trends are not consistent, they might change over time, and fluctuate heavily. Full article
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22 pages, 5123 KiB  
Article
Ecosystem Services Analysis and Design through Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Planning at a Neighbourhood Scale
by Teodoro Semeraro, Aurelia Scarano and Rajiv Pandey
Urban Sci. 2022, 6(1), 23; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/urbansci6010023 - 13 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3655
Abstract
The new frontiers of sustainable cities should focus on urban planning tools and strategies that are able to integrate ecosystem services in urban development. An important step could include the design of nature-based solutions (NbSs) for introducing important ecological functions aiding human well-being [...] Read more.
The new frontiers of sustainable cities should focus on urban planning tools and strategies that are able to integrate ecosystem services in urban development. An important step could include the design of nature-based solutions (NbSs) for introducing important ecological functions aiding human well-being and mitigating the loss of soil. In this study, we propose a methodology to analyse, in a spatial way, the effect of land use scenarios generated by urban planning in the provision of ecosystem services. The methodology analyses the variation of ecosystem services, considering the ecosystem services of the study area and their potential roles in changing the functions of planned urban actions as the starting point. One scenario of analysis includes the integration of NbSs into urban planning. The case study is that of a peri-urban area, characterized by an agroecosystem, which is intended for urban development in the municipality of Gallipoli, Southern Italy. The analysis highlights a low provision of ecosystem services by the agroecosystem, which has had the effect of important olive trees being destroyed by Xylella fastidiosa bacteria. Thus, the integration of NbSs and reducing the construction of buildings in the urban neighbourhood plan could improve the quantity of ecosystem services in the area. Moreover, the ecological design of ecosystem services could improve the typology of ecosystem services provision in the area in consideration of the starting points. Therefore, the analysis of the capacity to integrate ecosystem services in urban planning at the neighbourhood scale could be a tool of ecological urban design, useful to support the decision-making processes. Full article
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22 pages, 7139 KiB  
Article
Integrating Ecosystem Vulnerability in the Environmental Regulation Plan of Izmir (Turkey)—What Are the Limits and Potentialities?
by Stefano Salata, Sıla Özkavaf-Şenalp and Koray Velibeyoğlu
Urban Sci. 2022, 6(1), 19; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/urbansci6010019 - 08 Mar 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3573
Abstract
The land-use regulatory framework in Turkey is composed of several hierarchical plans. The Environmental Regulation Plan pursues comprehensive planning management, which ranges between 1/100,000 and 1/25,000 and defines the framework for local master plans. Unfortunately, there is scarce knowledge of how these plans [...] Read more.
The land-use regulatory framework in Turkey is composed of several hierarchical plans. The Environmental Regulation Plan pursues comprehensive planning management, which ranges between 1/100,000 and 1/25,000 and defines the framework for local master plans. Unfortunately, there is scarce knowledge of how these plans effectively protect the environment. Besides, these plans have poor consideration of socio-economic dynamics and the ecosystem vulnerability, while evaluating the actual conflicts or synergies within the localization of ecological conservation and settlement expansion areas. In this work, an ecosystem-based geodatabase was created for the western Izmir area (Turkey). The dataset has been created by employing a supervised classification sampling of Sentinel-2 images acquired on 28 March 2021, while accessing ONDA-DIAS services to L2C products. Then, the InVEST software was used to map the Habitat Quality and the Habitat Decay, while the ArcMap raster analysis tool was employed to generate the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. The results were used to classify the ecosystem vulnerability of the western metropolitan area of Izmir and then superimposed to the Environmental Regulation Plan of the city of Izmir (2021), thus evaluating synergies and conflicts. Although integration of the ecosystem services approach into spatial planning is lacking in the planning practice of Turkey, the paper provides an operative methodology to integrate ecosystem evaluation in environmental planning as a basic strategy to support sustainable development. Full article
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