Medium-sized Italian City Research Articles

Widespread Urban Regeneration of Existing Residential Areas in European Medium-Sized Cities—A Framework to Locate Redevelopment Interventions

Within the scientific debate on urban regeneration, this paper intends to question possible planning techniques to address the implementation of widespread regeneration interventions in obsolete residential areas within medium-sized European cities, with particular attention to constructing a cognitive framework to locate redevelopment interventions. The widespread urban regeneration approach has yet to be sufficiently explored in the scientific literature, which focuses much more on replacing large derelict areas, though it seems particularly relevant for research and urban practice. This paper aims to illustrate a methodological framework for defining obsolete and degraded areas (at the block scale) suitable for redevelopment. Various criteria are considered, e.g., land use, buildings’ dating, state of preservation, population density, public spaces, and facility provision, and degree of accessibility. The methodological framework is then tested in the medium-sized Italian city of Parma. Data set parameters and threshold values to quantify the previously introduced criteria and perform GIS-based statistical and spatial analysis. The results show 96 areas potentially in need of regeneration, providing an opportunity to reflect on the criteria of suitability and priority for transformation and the framework of past and future planning scenarios.

How Are Medium-Sized Cities Implementing Their Smart City Governance? Experiences from the Emilia-Romagna Region

Within the smart city debate, this paper aims to reflect on whether and how medium-sized Italian cities are organizing their smart transition technically as well as administratively. The smart city concept was developed in the 1990s when major European cities began a smart transition through widespread urban regeneration projects and the introduction of advanced technologies applied not only to the physical city but also to governance, policymaking, and communication, involving multiple sectors of city administrations. In the last decade, medium-sized cities have also started this transition process, although with lower emphasis than metropolitan cities. In most medium-sized Italian cities, this transition, in accordance with national and regional guidelines, has sometimes led to competencies reorganization within local governments. Within this framework, the paper examines the tools with which medium-sized Italian cities’ administrations address the smart transformation in their territories, comparing a sample of 10 cities in Emilia-Romagna and considering policymaking, governance structure, past and current projects, and communication transparency. The expected result is therefore a systematic review of experiences to reconstruct a complex picture of the political and administrative choices that have led to the implementation or setting in motion of smart transformation processes to draw some useful lessons.

In My New Home: The Daily Lives of People Living in Public Houses after a Long Period of Homelessness.

Homelessness refers to a loss of social relationships and a condition of isolation and stigma that affects a person's well-being. Although the literature has revealed the crucial role of a home in a person's well-being, few studies have explored the daily lives of people who transition from homeless services to an independent home. People who experience homelessness are at risk of remaining connected to homeless services even after finding a home. This study aimed to explore the daily lives of people who have obtained public housing, focusing on their daily relationships and the places they frequent. Data were collected through interviews with quantitative and qualitative measures involving 14 people with a history of homelessness who had obtained a public house in a medium-sized Italian city. Several themes concerning social relationships and places were identified. Regarding social relationships, people experience loneliness or a connection with the community and homeless services. They spend their time alone at home or around the city. The implications of the results are discussed with respect to practice and research on homelessness.

Bottom-up regeneration in Italy: A case study of the medium-sized city of Novara

Italy has a vast heritage of unused public properties and regeneration initiatives can have positive effects on local communities. This paper aims to analyse bottom-up approaches to such initiatives, in which citizens are an integral part of the design and development of urban regeneration projects. As citizen engagement is crucial to the success of the regeneration process, both the active participation of all stakeholders and regular project monitoring are required. The paper is based on a case study carried out on the medium-sized Italian city of Novara, which examines bottom-up regeneration projects involving citizen collaboration agreements and assesses their value to society.

Complex Systems Thinking Approach to Urban Greenery to Provide Community-Tailored Solutions and Enhance the Provision of Cultural Ecosystem Services

This paper presents a GIS-based method for supporting local administrations in the design of urban green areas while taking into account the complexity of the whole system. The proposed method merges the criteria of availability, accessibility, attractiveness, usability, and suitability in a multi-level approach (city, neighborhood green area) to assist in the selection of which services within green areas to enhance from those requested by citizens. The case study is an urban park in a medium-sized Italian city (Perugia). The results demonstrate that the available urban green spaces amount to 34.7 m2 per person, but only 24% of citizens have adequate access to a green area providing at least an adequate level of service, and 18% of them are without access to any appropriately equipped green area. Furthermore, citizens have limited knowledge of their city’s urban green system as a whole. Indeed, 41% of the requested services were already available in other accessible green areas with attractive and readily available dedicated equipment. These areas were suggested as alternative solutions. To achieve a complex systems approach, our results suggest observing similar systems with various and adaptable scales and studying them as open networks composed of heterogeneous internal and external variables.

Profiling ‘Red Bologna’: Between neoliberalisation tendencies and municipal socialist legacy

This city profile frames Bologna as an appropriate context in which to elaborate reflections that bring to the same table representatives of two schools of urban scholarship: the advocates of the neoliberalisation thesis, who are predominantly Anglo-American (e.g., Theodore and Brenner, 2002; Brenner, Peck and Theodore, 2010), and those who criticise the vague and unreflective application of the concept (e.g., Pinson and Morel Journel, 2016; Le Galès, 2016), who are mainly based in continental/Southern Europe. The medium-sized Italian city of “Red Bologna” (Harvey, 2007, p. 12) is chosen because of its municipal socialist legacy, characterised by a traditional communist political subculture and a hybrid form of cooperative, market-based territorial development called the “Emilian Model”. The paper seeks to gauge some of the main contemporary challenges that the city has faced, most of which have been exacerbated by the sudden boost in tourist arrivals and the quick opening up to the visitor economy over the last decade. Ultimately, the paper explores how European third-tier cities can incorporate entrepreneurial orientations and international policy discourses into existing governance structures and modes of development while exhibiting signs of distinct and competing ideologies (Shepherd, 2018).

A map-matching algorithm dealing with sparse cellular fingerprint observations

ABSTRACT The widespread availability of mobile communication makes mobile devices a resource for the collection of data about mobile infrastructures and user mobility. In these contexts, the problem of reconstructing the most likely trajectory of a device on the road network on the basis of the sequence of observed locations (map-matching problem) turns out to be particularly relevant. Different contributions have demonstrated that the reconstruction of the trajectory of a device with good accuracy is technically feasible even when only a sparse set of GNSS positions is available. In this paper, we face the problem of coping with sparse sequences of cellular fingerprints. Compared to GNSS positions, cellular fingerprints provide coarser spatial information, but they work even when a device is missing GNSS positions or is operating in an energy saving mode. We devise a new map-matching algorithm, that exploits the well-known Hidden Markov Model and Random Forests to successfully deal with noisy and sparse cellular observations. The performance of the proposed solution has been tested over a medium-sized Italian city urban environment by varying both the sampling of the observations and the density of the fingerprint map as well as by including some GPS positions into the sequence of fingerprint observations.

The interplay between urban mitigation and adaptation strategies to face climate change in two European countries

The growing recognition of the contribution of urban areas to adaptation and mitigation strategies implemented in response to climate change has led to several policy initiatives. Among others, the “Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy” is the most acknowledged, providing local governments with the opportunity to overcome the mitigation-adaptation dichotomy and enhance urban resilience. In this context, the main aim of this paper is to analyse the synergy between adaptation and mitigation actions in some European Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans at an urban level. We will do this through: (1) the proposal of a novel classification model of climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, which will be capable of classifying, in a common way, the best practices carried out at an urban level; and (2) a comparison of the best climate change management practices carried out by two European countries (Italy and Spain). The classification model is based on three urban sectors: (1) Urban Adaptation and Health (UA&H), (2) Transport & Infrastructure (T&I), and (3) Energy (NRG). Urban management measures have been classified as soft (more focused on environmental information), gray (more focused on buildings), and green (more focused on nature-based solutions). The overall comparative analysis between Italy and Spain shows that in large and medium-sized Italian cities, mainly soft (52%) and green (28%) adaptation measures have been integrated into local energy-environmental planning in combination with mitigation actions. However, in both countries, decisions regarding the type of measures to be implemented are taken independently of the size of the city. This paper, in line with other research, highlights the importance of nature-based solutions as a first step in the integration process between adaptation and mitigation strategies at an urban level.

The application of life cycle assessment (LCA) in municipal solid waste management: A comparative study on street sweeping services

Abstract Street sweeping services are integral to municipal solid waste management systems. The environmental impact of municipal solid waste management has been widely debated in the literature, but the specific impact of street sweeping services has not been fully studied. The aim of this study is to fill this literature gap by applying the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to compare the effects of different types of street sweeping services provided in two medium-sized Italian cities. The results show that fuel consumption is by far the largest contributor in all environmental impact categories, followed by the material consumption of the equipment. The study provides managerial and policy implications. The results can enable managers to lessen the environmental impact of sweeping services, and the findings can be applied by policy makers through Green Public Procurement procedures.

A GIS-statistical approach for assessing built environment energy use at urban scale

Energy consumption modelling at the urban scale is crucial for supporting a transition towards the low-carbon city. Unfortunately, there are not many robust examples or standardised approaches available in the literature for delivering effective low-carbon urban energy planning. In particular, there is a lack of appropriate frameworks or systems which allow an effective and reliable assessment of energy use in the built environment at district-urban scale.This paper illustrates the development of a geospatial bottom-up statistical model to estimate the energy consumption of a large number of residential building stocks for heating space, considering a wide range of variables. The proposed methodology is based on a 2D/3D- Geographic Information System (GIS) and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), which provides location-based information for each single dwelling to identify correlations and assess the demand-side consumption at the urban scale. This framework was tested on a medium-sized Italian city, including around 3600 residential buildings. The results provided by the model are validated using residual analysis and cross-validation. Moreover, the spatial results provided by this study represent a useful tool to aid decision-makers in the urban planning process. These results can help to create future energy transition strategies, implementing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in the context of sustainable cities. This work is part of a national Smart City & Communities project, named “EEB- Zero Energy Buildings in Smart Urban Districts”; nonetheless, the methodology illustrated in this paper can be generalised and applied to other European urban contexts.

Application of variable parking pricing techniques to innovate parking strategies. The case study of Brescia

In the last few years in large and medium-sized Italian cities, the motorization index experienced a small reduction compared to its continuous growth in the previous decades for the first time. Furthermore, at the same time, many cities (both Italian and foreign) have set the improvement of public spaces as one of the main objectives of their urban planning strategies, such as removing “on-street” parking to create larger space for pedestrians and social activities. Therefore, management of parking supply and demand has emerged as an important theme.The analysis of some European and American case studies (particularly London, UK, and San Francisco, CA) revealed the existence of innovative plans and actions in urban planning (i.e. the introduction of a maximum standard for parking spaces) and parking strategies (i.e. the implementation of variable parking pricing).Such innovative tools can be considered the starting point of a new parking management optimization process. In particular, the variability of parking pricing in relation to the occupancy index is considered a good method to ensure an “ideal” maximum percentage of occupied parking spaces (ranging between 60% and 80%) mainly in “off-street” parking.This paper firstly aims to provide some guidance for a future application of the performance-based pricing schemes in to the Italian context, based on the results of a recent experiment on variable pricing techniques in San Francisco, California (the “SFpark” programme). This paper wants to encourage the real experimentation in Italy showing with the simulation the potential of this method.Then, this paper describes an Italian case study; the feasibility of potential application of similar techniques was investigated for an off-street parking structure located close to the city centre of Brescia, a medium-sized Italian city, through simulation of the effects that a change in parking fees could have on the occupancy index.

Urban regeneration through arts and culture: The case of a multicultural neighbourhood in a medium-sized Italian city

While urban regeneration through cultural events and institutions is now an accepted practice in many cities, the debate on the cycle of culture-led policies (aims, process, outcomes, evaluations) has become more and more intense. The purpose of this work is to analyse the impact of culture-led policies on urban regeneration processes, through the analysis of Piacenza’s Quartiere Roma case study. The paper is divided in two parts: the first concerns a brief overview of the theory of culture as an instrument of urban regeneration where arts can play the role of a driving force. Literature on urban studies and empirical cases demonstrate that culture-led policies can trigger successful regeneration processes. In particular the most relevant outcomes consist not only in image change but also in social cohesion and resident community engagement. The second part focuses on Piacenza’s Quartiere Roma case study. From 2008 to 2010 the Agenzia Quartiere Roma was established to provoke regeneration in a low-income neighbourhood in Piacenza (Italy) mainly through cultural actions and integrated programmes. Over three years, events and other activities were organised by the agency to improve the quality of life and address the perception of insecurity in the community. The agency identified culture and the arts as the main force to challenge the problems of the neighbourhood. In particular the programme enabled new shop openings by young artists. Partnerships were established and some actions succeeded in rebuilding a new neighbourhood identity in terms of reduction of insecurity and social exclusion particularly through the main project called MUSA (Street Art Urban Movement).

Ride Your Luck! A Field Experiment on Lottery-Based Incentives for Compliance

In a field experiment, we studied the performance of an incentive scheme that combines a lottery-based reward for compliance with probabilistic sanctions for noncompliance. For one month, bus passengers who purchased a ticket on board a subset of buses operating in a medium-sized Italian city participated in a lottery awarding a €500 prize. The remaining buses—otherwise identical—were used as controls. We observed the amount of tickets sold on treated and control buses over three months, before, during, and after the introduction of the lottery. Results show that treated buses sold significantly more on-board tickets than control buses during the lottery period. In our setup, the estimated extra revenues from the ticket sales caused by the introduction of the lottery fell short of the amount of the total prizes raffled off. However, the incentive scheme proved cost-effective because not all the lottery prizes were claimed by winners. This paper was accepted by Uri Gneezy, behavioral economics.

Historic Urbanscapes for Tomorrow, Two Italian Cases: Genoa and Bologna

After a rather long silence, in the last fifteen years, heritage has progressively returned to urban agendas, and not just in Europe.
 The following pages reflect on the possible updated “structural” function of the historic parts of contemporary cities through the examples provided by two medium-sized Italian cities – Genoa and Bologna – characterized by the presence of an important urban heritage and specific urban policies and plans focused on renewing their possible role.

Real-Time Modeling and Control of Electric Vehicles Charging Processes

This paper presents a method for the real-time management of electric vehicles (EVs) charging processes. The proposed method aims to limit the peak load and to increase the number of rechargeable EVs with respect to the scenario in which no coordination action is performed, while achieving given constraints on the power distribution system. The approach is based on a tight interaction between a scheduling algorithm and a power-flow evaluation procedure. The scheduling algorithm finds the best charging periods for each EV. The power flow procedure checks the achievement of electrical constraints and evaluates the operational parameters of the grid. Simulations are carried out on a real electricity distribution system of a medium-sized Italian city. The results show that the proposed approach increases the number of rechargeable EVs up to 33%. At the same time, the peak load is reduced by 25%. The scheduling algorithm requires an average of 50 ms to evaluate each charge request on an ordinary computer, therefore allowing its use in real-time conditions.

Strategic Energy Planning of Residential Buildings in a Smart City: A System Dynamics Approach

Buildings are the largest urban energy consumers, but their impact can be largely cut back by improving efficiency. Policy-making plays a crucial role in harmonizing national and local incentive schemes. The authors analyse variables related to energy consumption, then propose a simulation model based on System Dynamics applied to a medium-sized Italian city. The model allows the testing of “what-if” scenarios and analysis of the results of implementing energy efficiency policies. Results stress the importance of a holistic view of urban energy processes. Simulation trends provide essential information for the city's future energy and carbon emission profiles, helping policymakers to achieve their goal.

Assessing food production capacity of farms in periurban areas

The assessment of food production capacity is particularly important in small- and medium-sized cities, which have greater chances to develop local periurban farming. To date the literature has been focused on niche sectors of the food market, such as alternative food networks and public procurement for school canteens, but less attention has been paid to urban food production. We present a method to assess the food production capacity in periurban areas, which we tested on meat production (beef and lamb) in the urban region of Pisa, a medium-sized Italian city. The capacity of periurban livestock farms for meat production to fulfil urban demand was assessed on the basis of meat supply and demand. We derived meat demand from statistical data, whereas we calculated meat supply on the basis of three estimates ( i.e. potential, current, actual meat supply) taking into account both statistical and on-farm survey data. In particular, the potential meat supply was estimated from statistical data on slaughtered livestock, the current meat supply was estimated from meat production data of on-farm surveys, while the actual meat supply was estimated from the amount of meat sold by farmers on the local market from onfarm surveys. For the urban region of Pisa, we estimated that the potential meat supply met is equal to 16% of the beef demand and 62% of the lamb demand. This data could change, if the on-farm data is taken into account in the current supply, as was the case with lamb, which decreased to 37%, whereas beef remained almost unchanged (14%). The actual supply was 70% and 10% of the current supply for beef and lamb respectively. We identified some gaps between the three estimates, particularly for lamb production, suggesting that it may have some constraints in terms of production and commercialisation. Our results can contribute to assess local food systems and their drivers at the farm level. Furthermore these results also highlight the need for an agronomical approach to food systems based on the analysis of farm activities located in periurban areas in order to quantify the food supply that is actually produced for the local market. Food planning policies, as well as studies at the local level, could take advantage from this method.

Its System to Manage Parking Supply: Considerations on Application to the “Ring” in the City of Brescia

Brescia’s downtown is outlined by link roads built up at the Venetian walls, known as “Ring. The “Ring” is characterized by high traffic flows, as well as by the presence of several paid parking lots located on and off street. Furthermore, several facilities are located on these link roads. Nowadays city of Brescia is equipped with an ITS system able to manage off street parking spaces, allowing the share of information about parking availability to potential users, through the use of variable message panels. The parking supply issue and its management are strongly felt by citizens, as well as many other cities communities, whether European or not. This contribution aims to encourage an integration of the existing ITS system for the off street parking management with additional devices, which allow to manage also the on street paid parking supply located on “Ring” roads. The minimization of so-called “shared traffic” component of traffic flows, as well as the increase of road safety, in the context of a medium-sized Italian city are the main objectives of the ITS system integration. ITS asset chosen for the Brescia case study springs from the analysis of some non-European experiences about on street parking management (for example, San Francisco and Boston) and certainly can be considered suitable for the parking supply management of the whole city. It could become the main starting point in Italian cities for the application of performance based parking pricing, widely experienced in many U.S. cities.

Technology, context, users: a conceptual model of CCTV

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to challenge the traditional placement of CCTV within the realm of crime prevention technologies and to propose a conceptualisation of surveillance cameras that takes into account how different elements interact to shape how these are understood, defined and used in the day-to-day practices of the police. Design/methodology/approach – Methodologically, the research draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two medium-sized Italian cities where open-street CCTV systems have been recently implemented and is based on a combination of non-participant observations and interviews with police officers in both forces. Findings – Overall, two main findings emerge from the fieldwork. First, cameras are rarely used and not for reasons pertaining to crime control; rather, they have become a tool for the efficient management of scarce policing resources, with particular emphasis on the co-ordination and real-time tracking of patrolling personnel. Second, this shift is understood in radically different ways by officers in the two cities, so that what is experienced as a benign form of peer-to-peer co-ordination in Central City becomes a form of undue surveillance on the part of higher ranks in Northern City. Originality/value – The value of the present work is twofold. On one hand, it provides relevant information to police practitioners on how organisational and structural factors impact on the use of surveillance cameras in policing. On the other, embracing the idea that CCTV is constructed through the interaction of several distinct, yet related, processes can explain why the same technology is implemented, defined and used in different ways in comparable organisations.

Impact of source segregation intensity of solid waste on fuel consumption and collection costs

Fuel consumption and collection costs of solid waste were evaluated by the aid of a simulation model for a given collection area of a medium-sized Italian city. Using the model it is possible to calculate time, collected waste and fuel consumption for a given waste collection route. Starting from the data for the current waste collection scenario with a Source Segregated (SS) intensity of 25%, all the main model error evaluated was ⩽1.2. SS intensity scenarios of 25%, 30%, 35% and 52% were simulated. Results showed an increase in the average fuel consumed by the collection vehicles that went from about 3.3L/tonne for 25% SS intensity to about 3.8L/tonne for a SS intensity of 52%. Direct collection costs, including crews and vehicle purchase, ranged from about 40€/tonne to about 70€/tonne, respectively, for 25% and 52% SS intensity. The increase in fuel consumption and collection costs depends on the density of the waste collected, on the collection vehicle compaction ratio and on the waste collection vehicle utilization factor (WCVUF). In particular a reduction of about 50% of the WCVUF can lead to an average increase of about 80% in fuel consumption and 100% in collection costs.