From Deinstitutionalization to Community-Based Urban Development: Investigating Accessibility of Urban Systems in Calabria through Network Analytics

Carmelina Bevilacqua,Pasquale Pizzimenti,Nourhan Hamdy,Federica Mangiulli

doi:10.3390/su14031348

Carmelina Bevilacqua, Pasquale Pizzimenti + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031348

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Jan 25, 2022
Citations: 6	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Reggio Calabria

Abstract

Community-based urban development is an inclusive approach for local service provision and management centered on the proactive partnerships between urban communities and local governments. Rooted in the deinstitutionalization of public services, the European Union and national policy effort is pushing towards the organization of community-based alternatives in response to the evolving needs of local communities. As the pandemic has shown, service accessibility has proven to be a key concern element that needs to be addressed to increase communities’ and cities’ resilience. In this direction, the paper aims to propose data-driven alternative approaches to assess urban systems’ accessibility and connectivity as an element of leveraging the resilience-oriented planning process and facilitating community-based development. The methodological approach focuses on the case of the Calabria region, where community-based alternatives for the provision of public services found difficulties to be operationalized through an integrated planning approach. The case study is explored by experimenting on the spatial connections of two purposefully selected clusters to assess the accessibility and connectivity of urban systems within the region through network analysis visualization tools: health and social-related services and transportation and logistics. The analytical approach outlines the accessibility level of urban systems in the region examined, proving its relevance in detecting social, economic, and environmental dynamics. This approach shows how using non-traditional data-driven perspectives can detect development dynamics—which affect local community’s needs—and their limitations in the organization of community-based development alternatives.

Highlights

The current severe challenges, such as climate change and the pandemic outbreak, have pushed cities to rethink urban development strategies by addressing their persistent social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities in the transition towards resilience and sustainability [1]
The OECD [2] has recently reported the lessons learned from the consequences of the pandemic and the response of cities across the world in the short- and long-term perspective, which can inform the revision of future urban policy: digital divide, urban mobility, urban density, urban planning and design, and collaborative governance
The methodological approach focuses on the accessibility of urban systems by attempting the detection of the evolution of local communities’ needs as a way to differently interpret the provision of public services, which should be planned according to an integrated approach

Summary

Introduction

The current severe challenges, such as climate change and the pandemic outbreak, have pushed cities to rethink urban development strategies by addressing their persistent social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities in the transition towards resilience and sustainability [1]. If the aim of the current policy approach for the recovery from the pandemic is oriented toward the green, digital and resilient transition of cities and regions [3], the response to the evolving local communities’ needs with inclusive urban planning approaches and collaborative and multilevel governance will prove to be a central element for the recovery. In this direction, as revealed in the context of COVID-19, the importance of engaging urban stakeholders and citizens towards community-based urban development (CBUD).

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