Andrea Arcidiacono - Böcker

The book analyses the relationship between ecosystem services, green and blue infrastructures (GBI) and spatial planning in Italy.

The book analyses the relationship between ecosystem services, green and blue infrastructures (GBI) and spatial planning in Italy.

This open access book underscores the importance of a multidisciplinary approach, framed within a broader trans-disciplinary perspective, to move from conventional urban development to nature-positive cities and planning. It is therefore fundamental to assess urban biodiversity, actually not largely investigated yet crucial for ecosystem services provision in urban areas, and urban soils, often overlooked, that plays a crucial role in biodiversity support and nature conservation, along with green and blue infrastructures, that are able to generate ecosystem benefits and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as improve human health. The other critical step is to translate this commitment into urban planning goals, followed by the implementation and monitoring of actions to achieve the set goals. To support this transition, the book presents strategies for integrating nature and its elements into urban planning and policy design. The interdisciplinary nature of the book – ensured by multiple background and expertise in urban planning, architecture, forestry, ecology – ensures cross-sectoral insights that likely help advancing the awareness and knowledge of experts, decision-makers and citizens to ultimately drive the transition into nature-positive cities.

This volume offers a novel study of the Milan-Cortina's Winter Olympics 2026, with a focus on the mountainous region of Valtellina. It brings an up-to-date analysis of the complex interactions between mega-events and remote areas, both in terms of potentials for regeneration and risks for further segregation. Remote areas are traditionally characterized by socio-economic and spatial disparities. On the one hand, they benefit from attractive features, such as environmental and landscape resources, food and wine production, and energy production. On the other, they are by definition fragile environments, disrupted by the contradictions of international tourism, climate change, limited infrastructures and services, rural abandonment, and demographic decline.This book offers credible solutions for the sustainable development of mountainous regions as a legacy of Winter Olympics. It is an essential resource for scholars, professionals, and policy-makers in the fieldsof urban planning and design, architecture design, geography, sociology, and economics.