Major Italian Cities Research Articles

Exploring the aquifers shaping Italy's sub-urban landscape

This review paper examines the hydrogeological characteristics and challenges of urban groundwater management in ten major Italian cities: Turin, Milano, Padova, Bologna, Roma, Pescara, Napoli, Bari, Catania, and Cagliari. Urbanization has placed significant pressure on groundwater systems, highlighting the need for sustainable management. The study categorizes the cities based on their hydrogeological settings and groundwater uses, identifying key issues such as salinization, industrial contamination, and land subsidence. The findings emphasize the importance of urban local aquifers (ULAs) for drinking water, industry, and ecological support, advocating for integrated urban water management and governance to enhance resilience against future water shortages and climate change impacts.

Mission-oriented scenarios: a new method for urban foresight

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to propose an innovative and efficient process in urban policy-making that combines a divergent and creative method with a convergent and strategic one. At the same time, the purpose is also to propose a useful innovation to enforce the usability of both methods. On the one hand, mission-oriented policies run the risk of being overly focused on the present and of not being able to develop preparedness in organization. On the other hand, scenario development has the reverse problem it often does not point out how to use scenario narratives to inform and devise short-term strategic actions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper proposes an innovative methodological approach, the mission-oriented scenarios, which hybridizes Mazzucato's mission-oriented public policy framework with Jim Dator's Manoa school four futures method. The proposed methodological innovation emerges from a urban foresight academic-led project carried out in the context of the Metropolitan City of Turin, Italy, where a first application of the mission-oriented scenarios was tested on six different focal issues (from reindustrialization to cultural policies) and the scenario narratives were used as sources for the grounding of 12 missions and 48 strategic actions towards 2030.FindingsMission-oriented scenarios can contribute to the generation of more sustainable and inclusive urban public policies. This methodological proposal is based on an original mix of knowledge exchange procedures borrowed from methodological approaches with different backgrounds: the mission-oriented and the archetypal scenarios. Their conjunction could support the formulation of ambitious yet pragmatic policies, giving a plurality of actors the opportunity to act and establish fruitful and lasting partnerships.Originality/valueThe paper reconstructs one of the first urban foresight projects carried out in a major Italian city by two prestigious universities and exposes a methodological innovation resulting from reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of the project, which opens the door to the development of a new scenario technique.

The urban roots of populism: Mapping and explaining populist strongholds within major Italian cities (2013–2022)

The impact of local contexts on populist voting patterns is receiving more attention, after being initially underestimated in the research literature. Populist support tends to be concentrated in areas ‘left behind’ or ‘that don’t matter’, but we still lack an accurate understanding of (1) the locations of these places within major cities and (2) what characteristics of urban contexts prompt the populist vote. We aim to bridge this gap by analysing precinct-level electoral results of populist parties within six major Italian cities over the 2013–2022 decade. Through novel maps of the within-city populist vote, we identify four types of urban environments: populist strongholds, emerging populist, sporadically populist and never-populist areas. We then investigate how two types of intra-urban factors – compositional and contextual – relate to the formation of populist strongholds and support for populist parties with distinct ideological profiles. The findings improve our comprehension of the urban ‘places of populism’ and highlight the need for the ‘left behind’ thesis to focus more fully on within-city patterns and divides.

Framing the Residential Patterns of Asian Communities in Three Italian Cities: Evidence from Milan, Rome, and Naples

Today, the interplay between economic inequality, international migration, and urban transformation has raised awareness about segregation and its social implications on a global and European scale. As cities become home to diverse populations with various backgrounds including social, racial, ethnic, and cultural, the proximity of these groups becomes more pronounced. This article explores the residential segregation of four Asian immigrant groups in three major Italian cities: Milan, Rome, and Naples. Using data from the 2011 Italian General Population Census and employing an areal weighted interpolation procedure, the study measures segregation using both traditional two-group indices and multi-group indices that account for the complexities of contemporary societies. The results indicate a north–south disparity, with Naples exhibiting the highest levels of residential segregation. Among the analysed immigrant groups, Bangladeshis and Chinese tended to be more self-segregated, while Filipinos and Sri Lankans were relatively more dispersed. This research underscores the necessity for a nuanced understanding of segregation dynamics and the adoption of appropriate approaches to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the coexistence of diverse groups in urban areas. By contributing to the existing literature on residential segregation in Southern Europe, this study sheds light on the spatial patterns and social dynamics of different ethnic groups in Italian cities.

2021/22 and 2022/23 Post-Pandemic Bronchiolitis Seasons in Two Major Italian Cities: A Prospective Study.

Objectives: Bronchiolitis remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in children under 24 months. During the first year of the pandemic, non-pharmacological interventions resulted in a significant reduction of bronchiolitis cases. Early in 2021, a rebound of bronchiolitis was reported with a description of out-of-season outbreaks. In this study, we prospectively evaluated the impact of bronchiolitis in two Italian University centers located in different geographical areas, aiming to compare two post-pandemic bronchiolitis seasons (2021/22 and 2022/23) in terms of severity, outcomes, microbiology and temporal distribution. Methods: This was a bicentric prospective observational cohort study. All consecutive children under 24 months of age assessed in the participating institutions during the specified seasons and receiving a clinical diagnosis of bronchiolitis were included. Results: A total of 900 patients were enrolled. Patients in the second season were globally younger and had comorbidities less often. Temporal distribution changed between the two seasons. Of the patients, 56% were tested for RSV; 60% of these was positive. Patients with RSV were globally younger (3.5 months vs. 4.9, p < 0.001), more often had a need for any kind of respiratory and fluid support and more often needed ward or PICU admission. At the end of the ED visit, 430 patients were discharged home, 372 (41.3%) were admitted to an inpatient ward and 46 (5.1%) to a pediatric intensive care unit. Conclusions: The 2022/23 post-COVID bronchiolitis was mostly similar to that of 2021/22, and was in line with pre-pandemic expectations.

Intra-familiar homicides: From 2006 to 2021 in the judicial district of Milan

IntroductionThe present research aims at analyzing criminological and medico-legal characteristics of intra-familiar homicides occurred in two major Italian cities (Milano and Monza) from the beginning of 2006 to the end of 2021. MethodsCases were identified using the Institutional database of the Institute of Legal Medicine of Milan, where all the autopsies of victims were performed. Data about these cases were obtained from autopsies findings, preliminary investigation reports, local papers and victim relatives’ interviews.In this period 11,480 autopsies were performed: 392 were homicides and, among these, 94 were confirmed as intra-familiar homicides (as a result of 84 events).Cases were classified according to the classic definition of intimate partner violence (referring only to an intra-familiar context), parricides, filicides, fratricides, familicides and grannicides.Age, sex, nationality and risk factors of the victims and perpetrators, as well as methods of murder were registered for each case. Only in some cases, motives for murder were known. ResultsThe most frequent type of intra-familiar homicides was intimate partner violence (41.5%), followed by parricides (16%, mainly matricides), filicides (10.7%) and fratricides (6.4%). 9.6% of the total number of events were familicides.Risk factors were frequently involved, in particular among perpetrators and in the group of parricides, while among siblicides they showed minimal relevance. Overall, psychiatric pathologies were the main risk factors involved (at least 23.8%), unlike extrafamiliar homicides, where previous criminal report or involvement in illicit traffics are frequently reported among perpetrators. This finding enlightens the difficulties of caring for a relative with a mental disorder, who can become dangerous for the domestic caregiver.Furthermore, the high number of physical illness and the advanced age of victims points out the tragical consequences of the lack of social support system for these categories of people. Methodsof murder were mainly cold steel (30–31.9%) and firearms (21–22.3%). However choking/manual ligature (9–9.6%), blunt force trauma inflicted using objects found on the scenario or bare handed (16–17%) and combined methods (11–11.7%) were frequently represented confirming the expected high level of impulsivity related to this kind of crime.

Social and digital vulnerabilities: The role of participatory processes in the reconfiguration of urban and digital space

In the Italian context, political and social participation in the urban dimension has experienced innovations to broaden the inclusion of citizens in public choices relating to citylife and to urban renovation. Participation found in the city a relevant space to experiment with innovation in the relationship between institutions and citizens, many initiatives advanced and developed over the years have had a powerful lever in technology: participatory budgets, consultations, public-private-non-profit partnerships. In other cases, specifically in peripheral realities, urban innovation has turned out to be detached from digital infrastructures and has benefited, rather, from the social infrastructures in the area. Civic committees, community foundations, collaboration agreements between citizens and authorities, and local community development experiences developed in peripheral contexts. Regenerating urban spaces is a political objective proposed with increasing emphasis by institutional bodies at the various levels of governance. Environmental, economic, social and urban planning intersect and overlap and often projects related to urban planning “on paper” prevail over issues related to urban communities “on territories”. Without adequate processes of participation and subjectivity of citizens living in urban contexts, no model of “urban renaissance” appears fully deployed, resulting in participatory processes that—at best—only allow for access logics in a neoliberal perspective. Through a qualitative methodology, the paper aims at presenting and investigating six case studies in major Italian cities (Rome, Naples, Milan, Turin, Florence, Reggio Calabria), in which democratic innovation and experimentation in civic engagement spread from the digital capital of citizens and the social organizations of the peripheral territory, with its specificities and its problems. In particular, the objective of the paper is to discuss and problematise the processes of participation involving and featuring vulnerable people within the reconfiguration of urban and digital spaces. Following Sutton and Kemp's approach, we consider the relationship between urban spaces and marginal communities as central to a one-to-one relationship, fostering processes of urban inclusion. Combining participatory processes in liminal marginalized communities with an institutional push toward holistic urban regeneration may develop opportunities for active citizenship, overcoming the neoliberal paradigm of the city.

Legal yet Illegitimate Governance in Italy

For several decades Naples has exemplified the deficit of legitimacy that now outstandingly mars public life in Italy and across many democracies. Drawing on ethnographic evidence from extended anthropological field research, this article examines the increasing gap between rulers and the ruled, which jeopardizes the authority, therefore legitimacy, of governance. With a focus on this major Italian city, the discussion leads to the conclusion that this gap and its ramifications are a substantial threat to democracy that urgently needs to be understood in depth and comprehensively, eschewing both conceptual superimposition and ideological bias organic to vested interests.

Active Travel in Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. An Italian overview

The Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) has been identified as the privileged tool for addressing economic, social, and environmental issues in transport policy at the urban scale from a long-term strategic perspective. Indeed, urban policymakers intend adopting measures to cope with the negative externalities generated by transport. The focus is on reducing traffic flows (number and length) of motorized-trips and minimize their related impact. Among these measures, together with electric vehicles promotion, active travel (AT) – including walking and cycling – represents an interesting strategy. This is especially true as local public transport (LPT) is progressively less attractive, also due to overcrowding and lower service quality, since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. AT, moreover, creates the preconditions for a healthier life. Within this context, it is interesting to investigate to what extent SUMPs promote AT as a solution for achieving sustainable mobility (SM) at the urban scale. The paper analyses, by looking at SUMPs adopted in major Italian cities, the AT measures undertaken. The Italian case is of particular interest since its motorization rate is second only to Luxembourg in the whole European Union. Specifically, the paper exploits a multiple case-study comparative approach allowing to identify the correlation between main SUMP characteristics and AT-related initiatives. The main findings of the paper show that infrastructural AT projects play the lion role thus casting a shadow on the likely effectiveness of AT promotion. In fact, a comprehensive package approach (e.g. citizens engagement, land-use planning, gamification, data collection, etc.) for AT promotion is still lacking.

Mortality impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak by sex and age: rapid mortality surveillance system, Italy, 1 February to 18 April 2020.

Data from the rapid mortality surveillance system in 19 major Italian cities were used to carry out a timely assessment of the health impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. By 18 April, a + 45% excess in mortality was observed, with a higher impact in the north of the country (+ 76%). The excess was greatest among men, with an increasing trend by age. Surveillance data can be used to evaluate the lockdown and re-opening phases.

Evaluation of air quality and mobility policies in 14 large Italian cities from 2006 to 2016

Despite a connection between road traffic and air pollution has been clearly identified, few integrated analyses on air quality and mobility policies are currently available worldwide. Aim of this work is to build a framework for the evaluation of the impact of mobility policies on air quality in 14 major Italian cities, on a long-time scale (2006–2016). Air quality data was collected from all PM10, PM2.5, and NO2 monitoring stations, installed in compliance with the European directive 2008/50/EC. A large dataset was collected, including public transport, environmental, and fuel categorization of the private vehicular fleet, low emissions zones and modal split. In the analyzed time period, both public transportation use and private motorization decreased. Considering the environmental classification standards of vehicles, Northern cities are more readily switching to newer and less polluting cars (e.g. Euro 5 and Euro 6). There has been a general reduction in PM and NO2 concentration. Nevertheless, exceedances are still above the targeted limit value, mainly in some Northern cities who made major investments in sustainable and shared mobility: this highlights a strong influence of climatic conditions and other sources. Dramatic variations in the CO/NO ratio were observed in Turin, while smaller changes are observed in Milan, Rome and Palermo.

Chi‐squared automatic interaction detector analysis on a choice experiment: An evaluation of responsible initiatives on consumers' purchasing behavior

AbstractCorporate social responsibility linked to consumer's behavior is a topic increasingly felt during the last years. By administering a questionnaire to consumers, the aim of the present research is to study impacts of responsible initiatives on consumers' purchasing behavior and, besides, possible willingness to pay higher prices for good practice foods. The investigation was conducted through a choice experiment, considering a representative sample of more than 1,660 families, selected on a functional relation to the objectives of the research in the major Italian cities. So the main goal is to explore consumers' preferences linked to business responsible initiatives: Data were analyzed performing a logistic regression analysis and, in order to perform the segmentation of choice, an analysis based on the chi‐squared automatic interaction detector procedure was carried out, using variables explained in the logistic regression. The conclusions are very significant and can be considered also a matter for further discussion.

Do exposure to outdoor temperatures, NO2 and PM10 affect the work-related injuries risk? A case-crossover study in three Italian cities, 2001–2010

ObjectivesStudies on the effect of temperature on rates of work-related injuries (WRIs) are very recent, and are evolving in depth and scope. However, less is known about potential effects of...

Exploiting Scalable Machine-Learning Distributed Frameworks to Forecast Power Consumption of Buildings

The pervasive and increasing deployment of smart meters allows collecting a huge amount of fine-grained energy data in different urban scenarios. The analysis of such data is challenging and opening up a variety of interesting and new research issues across energy and computer science research areas. The key role of computer scientists is providing energy researchers and practitioners with cutting-edge and scalable analytics engines to effectively support their daily research activities, hence fostering and leveraging data-driven approaches. This paper presents SPEC, a scalable and distributed engine to predict building-specific power consumption. SPEC addresses the full analytic stack and exploits a data stream approach over sliding time windows to train a prediction model tailored to each building. The model allows us to predict the upcoming power consumption at a time instant in the near future. SPEC integrates different machine learning approaches, specifically ridge regression, artificial neural networks, and random forest regression, to predict fine-grained values of power consumption, and a classification model, the random forest classifier, to forecast a coarse consumption level. SPEC exploits state-of-the-art distributed computing frameworks to address the big data challenges in harvesting energy data: the current implementation runs on Apache Spark, the most widespread high-performance data-processing platform, and can natively scale to huge datasets. As a case study, SPEC has been tested on real data of an heating distribution network and power consumption data collected in a major Italian city. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of SPEC to forecast both fine-grained values and coarse levels of power consumption of buildings.

Analyzing online reviews in hospitality: data-driven opportunities for predicting the sharing of negative emotional content

ABSTRACTHospitality is one of the sectors that are nowadays most heavily characterized by consumers’ tendency to share online reviews on dedicated digital platforms. While most past work has focused on understanding the effect of online reviews and ratings on consumers’ evaluation and purchase decisions, this research tackles the issue of what drives the sharing of certain types of online content. Specifically, we investigate the sharing of user-generated content characterized by negative emotional valence, and study the effect of two factors on the extent to which user-generated content contains negative emotions. One such factor is reviewer's expertise, while the other is hotel quality. Our analysis of 1200 TripAdvisor reviews on Italian hotels located in three major Italian cities confirm our hypothesis that expert reviewers might share reviews containing less intense negative emotional content compared to less expert reviewers especially when the hotel is of high quality. To support our hypothesis, we build on the research on psychological antecedents of word-of-mouth behaviour suggesting that expert consumers are particularly reluctant to share negative word-of-mouth to avoid projecting a negative image of themselves in social contexts, thus possibly damaging their reputation.

An empirical-deductive model for the assessment of the mortgage lending value of properties as securities for credit exposures

PurposeThis study aims to propose and test an innovative methodology for assessing mortgage lending value. The method tries to improve and rationalize, within the canonical and derivative approach that is generally used by the sector operators, the appraisal of the percentage reduction to be applied to the market value.Design/methodology/approachConsidering that the European Mortgage Federation and the Basel Committee highlight the importance of information about the risks of properties to be loaned on, the value at risk approach has been developed so as to assess the mortgage lending value as a technique of risk analysis. With reference to the Italian context, the method elaborates the historical analysis of the property values in 93 major Italian cities for the residential and commercial intended uses in a significant period (1967-2015) and allows to determine the reduction coefficients of the market value as a function of the central, semi-central and peripheral locations of the property.FindingsThe results include the reduction coefficients of the market value for the derivative appraisal of the mortgage lending value. The coefficients obtained satisfy the need for a rational assessment of the property risk and the appropriate spatial contextualization of the risk components related to the local demand and supply, thus eliminating any inconsistency and danger of determining the mortgage lending value using a simple and lump-sum percentage deduction of the market value.Originality/valueThe global economic crisis in the past decade, triggered by the 2007 US Subprime mortgage crisis and consequent collapse of property values, has highlighted the need for high level professional skills in the appraisal of properties as securities for credit exposures. The method proposed for the assessment of the mortgage lending value allows to overcome the uncertainties underlying the determination of an independent value through indirect methods (income approach, cost approach) and rationalize the appraisal of the risk in the traditional derivative approach through a flexible procedure, with it being possible to adapt it to any territorial context, as well as any intended use.

Estimating the impact of heat accounting on Italian residential energy consumption in different scenarios

Directive 2012/27/EU has set the obligation for buildings supplied by central heating sources, or by district heating/cooling networks, to install individual heat metering and accounting systems. In Italy, almost 5 million dwellings are potentially subject to this obligation. To estimate the related potential benefit the knowledge of the energy saving achievable from the installation of such systems is needed. Unfortunately, in literature a wide range of variability of this benefit has been found and studies regarding Italian buildings are still lacking. The present study is aimed to estimate the impact of this EU policy in terms of potential energy saving in Italy. To this end, the authors first performed an experimental campaign on about 3000 dwellings located in major Italian cities, to assess the potential benefit obtainable. A model to estimate the energy consumption for space heating in the residential building stock has then been developed considering the building typologies and their main technical characteristics. An average benefit of about 11% has been found, leading to an estimated energy saving at national level ranging from 0.3% to 1.9% of whole energy consumption for space heating, depending on the effectiveness of applicable economic incentives and legal obligation scenarios.

Insights for the Development of a Functional Fish Product: Drivers and Barriers, Acceptance, and Communication of Health Benefits

ABSTRACTThis study aims to explore consumer acceptance of a new functional fish burger using a qualitative approach based on four focus group discussions conducted in selected major Italian cities. Results show that the development of functional fish products may bypass fish consumption barriers, combining convenience and health benefits delivered by functional ingredients. The acceptance of new functional fish products seems to be influenced positively by the enrichment of functional ingredients naturally present in fish, particularly omega-3 fatty acids. Consumer acceptance of this new product is also influenced by the use of different nutritional and health claims. Implications for marketers and policy makers and insights for further research are discussed in the conclusions.

Desire to institutionalize in Alzheimer's caregivers: An empirical analysis on Italian data

ObjectiveFamilies choice to institutionalize an Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-affected relative is hard and possibly painful. Recent literature contributions have investigated the causes of the emergence of desire to institutionalize (DI) who is affected by AD. This paper contributes to the topic by providing an Italy-based empirical analysis of factors correlated with DI in primary informal caregivers of patients affected by AD. MethodsData were drawn from an original survey carried out over 2009. 171 primary informal caregivers of patients followed in two Italian outpatients AD Care Units, located in two of the major Italian cities, Naples (46.78%) and Rome (53.22%), were interviewed. The caregiver desire to institutionalize AD affected patients was observed and its heterogeneity was studied through logistic regression. ResultsDI was positively correlated with patient poor autonomy, to the housewife/househusband status of primary caregiver and to the presence of a formal caregiving. DI was also barely correlated with patient gender and with the hours of informal supervision (p < 0.10). The housewife status of the primary caregiver was also positively associated with DI, while the female gender of the patient was negatively associated to it. DiscussionThe institutionalization of an AD-affected relative is a painful decision which is discouraged by the scarcity of adapted facilities and the need of an economical contribution in case of institutionalization in private facilities not receiving public support.

Quality of life in Italian cities: a temporal comparison between before the crisis and after

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the changes in well-being in the Italian reality, in particular, through the study of major cities. The study is based on a set of data provided by the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) with the aim to highlight the Italian urban situation and the comparison between the well-being situation assessed in a pre-crisis context and the one observed after it, in order to understand how events have influenced levels of well-being in the main Italian cities.Design/methodology/approachThe paper aims to examine the quality of life (QoL) levels in the metropolitan cities, using data from the URBES report (a report that provides data and information concerning the Italian urban situation), published in 2013, which investigates QoL and well-being in major Italian cities. It is based on the framework of the “Benessere Equo e Sostenibile” report that appraises well-being in Italian regions by a great deal of variables belonging to 12 different dimensions. Using this data source, the authors will proceed to the construction of a composite well-being index.FindingsThe paper intends to show how the well-being level in Italian cities has changed in recent years, taking into consideration ten different dimensions of well-being. The need to consider different dimensions of well-being for its comprehensive evaluation is widely discussed in the literature, and the framework provided by ISTAT is innovative in this sense.Originality/valueThe paper presents an aggregate measure of well-being in Italian cities on the basis of new theoretical concepts and complete and detailed data.