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Promoting the shift from private cars to micromobility (e.g., bike, e-bike, scooter) can represent a valuable action to improve city sustainability and liveability. Micromobility can help to replace trips by individual private cars (e.g., daily short round trips) as well as to improve coverage and accessibility of transit services, and, subsequently, to reduce the traffic impacts (e.g., pollutant emissions). It can be seen as a potential solution to move people more efficiently in urban areas, as well as to push people towards a more active mobility behaviour, contributing to the well-being goals. In this context, the paper, rather than inferring the users' propensity to change their travel mode, proposes a methodology to identify car trips that can be considered the most compatible with micromobility. Estimation of the potential demand (e.g., the upper level of car trips that could be replaced by micromobility) is carried out by exploiting the opportunity offered by floating car data (FCD) for characterising car trips. Its goodness is therefore evaluated through an application to a real case study (i.e., the city of Trani, Apulia Region, Southern Italy), divided into seventy traffic zones, and where a FCD dataset of about 5,200 trips was available. The FCD allowed the car trips to be characterised (e.g., origin and destination, path features) instead of using the traditional surveys. The results indicate that a significant share of daily car trips can be substituted (i.e., the most compatible) by micromobility (31% of car round trips in the case study), with considerable potential environmental gains (traffic emission reduction; less than 21% of total emissions from private cars). Results can be of interest to local authorities in integrating micromobility in urban mobility planning and promoting new sustainable transport alternatives, as well as to transport companies for designing new appeal services. The developed methodology is parametric and uses easy-to-obtain data available worldwide; thus, it can be easily transferred to other city contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper further develops a coastal vulnerability index formulation (CVI) previously proposed by the authors by integrating a new variable and redefining three variables to improve the suitability of the index for low-lying coasts. Eleven variables are divided into three typological groups: geological, hydro-physical process and vegetation. The geological variables are: geomorphology, shoreline erosion/accretion rates, coastal slope, emerged beach width, and dune. The hydro-physical process group includes: river discharge, sea-level change, mean significant wave height and mean tide range. The vegetation variables are: vegetation behind the back-beach and coverage of Posidonia oceanica. The index was applied to a stretch of the Ionian coast in the province of Crotone in the Calabria region (Southern Italy), and a vulnerability map was produced. A geography information system (GIS) platform was used to better process the data. For the case study area, the most influential variables are shoreline erosion/accretion rates, coastal slope, emerged beach width, dune, vegetation behind the back-beach, and coverage of Posidonia oceanica. The most vulnerable transects are those near urban areas characterized by the absence of dunes and vegetation. Statistical and sensitivity analyses were performed, and the proposed CVI was compared with the previous formulation proposed by the authors and with two other CVI methods present in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an analytical-mechanical based procedure to estimate the seismic overall fragility of existing reinforced concrete building portfolios in town compartments, as reduced areas of a municipality. The proposed methodology is based on two main concepts: (a) to consider all typological parameters characterizing the entire set of buildings located in a certain urban area and their variability through an analytical procedure; (b) to employ a mechanical approach by means of ideal numerical models to estimate the safety level of the focused sample of buildings. Hence, the methodology allows to compute seismic overall fragility curves, obtained by using laws of total variance and expectation and weighing factors proportional to the probability of having a certain configuration of typological parameters with determined values. To test the proposed procedure, some town compartments of the municipality of Bisceglie, Puglia, Southern Italy, were investigated by firstly identifying the most recurrent typological features exploiting multisource data, after by elaborating an extensive campaign of modelling and analysis on different ideal buildings (herein named realizations) and finally by computing fragility curves for each realization and for the set of ideal buildings. The results show overall fragilities curves for the investigated town compartments, which are obtained in a different way from the existing procedures, by avoiding an a-priori selection of one or more index buildings to represent the specific building portfolio and the definition of a specific building taxonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific community has been studying for some time a measure capable of quantifying and monitoring the well-being of the population in the territories; this measure cannot be represented exclusively by economic components but also by dimensions that represent different domains of a mainly demographic-social nature. This paper aims to consider well-being from a multidimensional point of view and measure it for the 7983 Italian municipalities in order to highlight differences and similarities. To go down to such a fine territorial detail, it was necessary to use indicators implemented by administrative sources collected in a recently published portal. The application of composite indices allows a one-dimensional measurement that makes a complex phenomenon such as well-being more readable. From a territorial point of view, moreover, the work aims to overcome the administrative division already criticized in literature because it does not allow a reading corresponding to the real behaviors and lifestyles of citizens, embracing a classification more appropriate to the objective of the study. Since the elementary indicators taken into consideration are in some way influenced by reasons of proximity and/or territorial conformation, it was decided to use the classification in Ecoregions of Italy to assess whether the well-being, within the same municipality, "moves" in relation to the municipalities ecologically homogeneous. The results of the analyses present numerous aspects of originality in which the Ecoregions draw an interesting geography of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive and equitable education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all are important targets in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Deprivation in education, read also as deprivation of opportunities and rights i.e. health, culture, participation, social relations, referred to as educational poverty (EP), has attracted interest of researchers, which highlighted its complexities and consequences, such as being excluded from acquiring the skills needed to live in a world characterized by knowledge-based economy, rapidity and innovation. In the last few years, the Italian National Statistical Institute started to measure it by a multidimensional index, the composite educational poverty index (EPI). The index is based on survey direct estimates, which are reliable only at regional (NUTS 2) level, while to monitor and contrast the phenomenon it is important to obtain information at a finer geographical level. In this paper small area estimation models are applied to the unidimensional indicators which compose the multidimensional EPI. The aim is to enhance the knowledge of the spatial distribution of EP at local level in Italy, separating urban and non urban areas and focusing on peripheries in Italian Regions, using DEGURBA classification in order to help the policy maker to address resources towards the areas where the phenomenon is strongly present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reconnaissance, mapping and analysis of kinematic features of slow-moving landslides evolving along medium-deep sliding surfaces in urban areas can be a difficult task due to the presence and interactions of/with anthropic structures/infrastructures and human activities that can conceal morphological signs of landslide activity. The paper presents an integrated approach to investigate the boundaries, type of movement, kinematics and interactions (in terms of damage severity distribution) with the built environment of a roto-translational slow-moving landslide affecting the historic centre of Lungro town (Calabria region, southern Italy). For this purpose, ancillary multi-source data (e.g. geological-geomorphological features and geotechnical properties of geomaterials), both conventional inclinometer monitoring and innovative non-invasive remote sensing (i.e. A-DInSAR) displacement data were jointly analyzed and interpreted to derive the A-DInSAR-geotechnical velocity (DGV) map of the landslide. This result was then cross-compared with detailed information available on the visible effects (i.e. crack pattern and width) on the exposed buildings along with possible conditioning factors to displacement evolution (i.e. remedial works, sub-services, etc.). The full integration of multi-source data available at the slope scale, by maximizing each contribution, provided a comprehensive outline of kinematic-geometric landslide features that were used to investigate the damage distribution and to detect, if any, anomalous locations of damage severity and relative possible causes. This knowledge can be used to manage landslide risk in the short term and, in particular, is propaedeutic to set up an advanced coupled geotechnical-structural model to simulate both the landslide displacements and the behavior of interacting buildings and, therefore, to implement appropriate risk mitigation strategies over medium/long period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the seismological analyses performed within the framework of the seismic microzonation study for the reconstruction of 138 municipalities damaged by the 2016–2017 sequence in Central Italy. Many waveforms were recorded over approximately 15 years at approximately 180 instrumented sites equipped with permanent or temporary stations in an area that includes all the damaged localities. Site response was assessed using earthquake and noise recordings at the selected stations through different parameters, such as spectral amplification curves, fundamental resonance frequencies, site-specific response spectra, and average amplification factors. The present study was a collaboration of many different institutions under the coordination of the Italian Center for Seismic Microzonation and its applications. The results were homogenized and gathered into site-specific forms, which represent the main deliverable for the benefit of Italian Civil Protection. It is remarkable that the bulk of this study was performed in a very short period (approximately 2 months) to provide quantitative information for detailed microzonation and future reconstruction of the damaged municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the ML = 6.0 earthquake which occurred on 24th August 2016 in central Italy, some unexpected variability in the damage distribution were identified in many villages located around the epicentral area. In particular, despite a distance of only about 1300 m, the villages of Pescara del Tronto and Vezzano (both districts in the Arquata del Tronto municipality) had a different damage assessment. Pescara del Tronto suffered heavy damage, with many collapsed masonry buildings and 48 fatalities, whereas Vezzano suffered negligible to slight damage to a few buildings. This paper provides vulnerability and damage assessment in order to detect potential significant differences in the building vulnerability and damage level. Geophysical prospectings were performed to assess whether site effects could have increased the damage in Pescara del Tronto compared to Vezzano. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we evaluate the local seismic response for thirteen sites located in the municipalities of Arquata del Tronto and Montegallo, two areas which suffered heavy damage during the Mw 6.0 and Mw 5.4 earthquakes which struck Central Italy on August 24, 2016. The input dataset is made by ground motion recordings of 348 events occurred during the sequence. The spectral site response is estimated by the Generalized Inversion Technique and makes use of reference sites. The interpretation is further improved through the information provided by a reference-site independent method (i.e., the so called Receiver-Function Technique) and by the Horizontal-to-Vertical Spectral Ratios of ambient noise recordings. We also provide an independent estimate of the local amplification by comparing the Peak Ground Velocity and the Spectral Amplitudes observed at each site to the value estimated by well-established Ground Motion Prediction Equations for a rock-class site. The results obtained by the adopted methodologies are all highly consistent, and they emphasize the different seismic behavior of several sites at local scale. Thus, sites located on Quaternary deposits overlying the bedrock, such as Castro, Pretare, Spelonga, Pescara del Tronto, and Capodacqua feature some relevant amplifications in a medium (2–10 Hz) frequency range; two sites at Spelonga show amplifications also at low frequencies; three sites located on stiff formations, i.e. Uscerno, Balzo and Colle d'Arquata, respectively, feature either nearly neutral response or low amplification level. A probable topographic effect was identified at the rock site of Rocca di Arquata (MZ80). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the divides in separate waste collection (SWC) between Campania and Veneto from a twofold perspective that considers both intensity (the size of the gap) and inequality (the differences among the SWC distributions across municipalities). In the framework of Kapp's social cost theory, the Recentered Influence Function regression allows an evaluation of the amount of territorial divides that are accounted for by the: (i) regional component, which captures the extent to which regional authorities transpose national legislation into programs of waste management; (ii) municipal component, which explains the effect of the operational strategies adopted by each local authority to guarantee an adequate performance. As the best-performing region in Italy, Veneto reached an average SWC level far superior to that of Campania in 2012, and more importantly, most of its municipalities exceeded the 65% target set by Legislative Decree 152/2006 with a smaller variability within the region. However, a more detailed analysis shows that the policies and strategies for waste management set by the regional authority in Campania should be more effective at the initial stage, but are partly held back by the successive implementation steps controlled by each municipality. One of the primary deterrents of reaching a better performance in waste management in Campania lies in the weakness of its institutions, which makes the region more vulnerable with a large amount of heterogeneity in waste management performance across municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been an increasing proliferation of initiatives focusing on the concept of quality of life and well-being. At the centre of these studies there is the recognizing that the GDP offers only a partial perspective of factors affecting people's lives. Following this line of the research, this paper is aimed at computing the well-being efficiencies of a sample of Italian Province capital cities, using a methodological approach that combines data envelopment analysis (DEA) with Shannon's entropy formula. To avoid subjectivity in choosing a representative set of variables that proxy the phenomenon under study, we rely on the theoretical framework adopted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) within the equitable and sustainable well-being (BES) project. The dashboard of indicators included in the analysis are related to the Ur-BES initiative, promoted by ISTAT to implement the BES framework at cities level. In a first step of the analysis, an immediate focus on separate dimensions of urban well-being is obtained by summarizing the plurality of available indicators through the building of composite indices. Next, the adopted integrated DEA-Shannon entropy approach has permitted to increase the discriminatory power of DEA procedure and attain a more reliable profiling of Italian Province capital cities well-being efficiencies. The results show a marked duality between the Northern and Southern cities, highlighting important differences in many aspects of human and ecosystem well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]