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This paper reflects ethnographically on law enforcement against squatting in Milan. To this end, it examines labor practices, moral economies, and everyday narratives of those who work with the institutional mandate of tackling squatting in public housing. I propose to grasp these processes considering two specific political and legal configurations that traverse the arena under investigation: the entrenched presence, in the Italian context, of what has been defined as penal populism; additionally, the increasingly pronounced prominence of an infra‐legal dimension of law. Squatting—and the way in which it is publicly managed and punished—represents a privileged lens for examining the specific forms of normative and political governance in contemporary cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years sexualised drug use, usually referred to as chemsex, has become the object of intense media health‐related panic and increasing academic scrutiny. Critical social scientists have challenged pathologising perspectives, analysing the socio‐cultural and political economy dimensions of chemsex. Against the silence of geographers in this emerging field, the paper develops a geographical relational analysis of chemsex, focusing on the experiences of gay men living with HIV in two Italian cities (Bologna; Milan) and Italian gay men living with HIV in three English cities (Leicester; London; Manchester). Demonstrating the constitutive role of place in the practice of chemsex, the paper frames place relationally, that is, as the encounter between here and there, the material and the virtual, imagined geographies and lived spaces. To emphasise the central role of place and geographical knowledge to understand chemsex, the paper builds on 'weak theory', as it conceives things as open, entangled, connected and in flux, while focusing on ordinary practices and heterogeneity in more‐than‐human worlds. Showing how chemsex represents an embodied, relational geographical encounter among different human and non‐human actors, places (both physical and digital), imaginations and desires, the paper highlights the role of sexual practices in the relational construction of place‐making, therefore calling for an increased engagement with sex itself within the field of geographies of sexualities. The paper introduces a relational geographical perspective to the analysis of chemsex. Demonstrating the constitutive role of place in the practice of chemsex, the paper frames place relationally, i.e. as the encounter between here and there, the material and the virtual, imagined geographies and lived spaces. The paper calls for an increased engagement with the materiality of sex within the field of geographies of sexualities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Freedom of Information (FOI) is considered a crown jewel of reforms fostering public administration transparency and accountability. However, FOI's symbolic power alone cannot overcome the organizational barriers and obstacles to its effective implementation. This paper presents the results of a field experiment performed in Italy, a late FOI adopter, where an FOI request was sent to the 307 municipalities with more than 30k inhabitants. The experimental design exploits marginal wording variation in the requests to test whether municipalities discriminate between ordinary citizens and high-profile requesters. The experimental evidence suggests that most Italian municipalities reply to FOI requests. The results show two opposite types of discretionary bias: Northern municipalities tend to favor high-profile requesters, whereas Southern municipalities tend to respond to them with a higher degree of attrition. The study investigates the determinants of this difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to increasing urbanization, nowadays, cities are facing challenges spanning multiple domains such as mobility, energy, environment, etc. For example, to reduce traffic congestion, energy consumption, and excessive pollution, big data gathered from legacy systems (e.g., sensors not conformant with modern standards), geographic information systems, gateways of public administrations, and Internet of Things technologies can be exploited to provide insights to assess the current status of a city. Moreover, the possibility to perform what-if analyses is fundamental to analyzing the impact of possible changes in the urban environment. The few available solutions for scenario definitions and analyses are limited to addressing a single domain and providing proprietary formats and tools, with scarce flexibility. Therefore, in this paper, we present a novel scenario model and editor integrated into the open-source Snap4City.org platform to enable several processing and what-if analyses in multiple domains. Different from state-of-the-art software, the proposed solution responds to a series of identified requirements, implements NGSIv2-compliant data models with formal descriptions of the urban context, and a scenario versioning method. Moreover, it allows us to carry out analyses on different domains, as shown with some examples. As a case study, a traffic congestion analysis is provided, confirming the validity and usefulness of the proposed solution. This work was developed in the context of CN MOST, the National Center on Sustainable Mobility in Italy, and for the Tourismo EC project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrification of transport is expected to progressively replace significant shares of light duty mobility, especially in large cities. The European Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) aims to drive the adoption of electric mobility by establishing specific targets for charging point deployment. Innovative charging concepts may complement and accelerate the uptake of this fundamental part of the urban mobility transition. In this paper, one such innovative concept is described and its potential impact is assessed. The core idea involves integrating charging points into existing city tramway infrastructures. Turin's tramway network is taken as a representative case study. The proposed technical solution encompasses a charging hub powered by four isolated DC/DC converters of 50 kW, directly connected to the DC tramway distribution line. Three of these constitute the heart of a 150 kW charger, while the fourth acts as voltage regulator. This native DC installation greatly simplifies the architecture of the DC chargers. Using a conservative approach, it was estimated that a single recharging station could charge more than 60 vehicles daily. This highly scalable and replicable solution, with the potential for over 100 conversion substations across Italy, would enable the installation of numerous high-power chargers in urban settings. Furthermore, additional benefits could be realized through enhanced recovery of kinetic energy from trams, which is currently dissipated on-board. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pervasiveness of advanced technologies and their disruptive impact on society have spurred the debate on the emergence of a new industrial revolution and on its positive and negative effects, both at an individual and spatial level. This paper aims to contribute to this debate, focusing attention on the perception of changes related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and exploring new methods of analysis of the manifestations of both techno‐enthusiasm and opposition to it. Starting from the extensive literature in this field, the work adopts two research perspectives: the study of imaginaries and narratives developed around the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which convey different messages from social groups and places; the geographies of opportunity and discontent, which address the resentment expressed by some localities towards advanced technological models and growing inequalities. In this work the Fourth Industrial Revolution is not interpreted through data about the technological variables or interviews to protagonists of the phenomenon; rather, emphasis is on the points of view of non‐institutional subjects and, in particular, the opinions expressed by people on the Web. For this reason, the sentiment analysis has been adopted to identify both positive and negative polarities and the relevance of specific feelings through the selection of key words related to the notion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The empirical analysis based on this methodology focuses on the Italian case in a specific period (first and second phase of the pandemic, from January 2020 to September 2021) and, at a local level, on the comparison between four medium‐sized cities (Pisa, Lecce, Taranto and Terni). This paper also tries to extend recent contributions through the provision of new perspectives for the definition of policies designed with the involvement of the population and places regarding both the processes of technological change and the definition of new socio‐spatial models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a rising globalization of the economy and society, the digital transformation, and the economic downturn started in 2008, working is becoming less dependent on distance, location, and time. These are some of the reasons that have fostered the development and diffusion of new working spaces like coworking spaces. The paper aims at exploring the location determinants of coworking spaces, an issue that has been less developed by the literature up to now. By focusing on the 549 coworking spaces located in Italy at the year 2018, the paper investigates the location factors of such workplaces, and the attractiveness of large cities as well as peripheral areas. The results of the descriptive statistics and the econometric analysis (a Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial model is applied) confirm that coworking is mainly an urban phenomenon, since coworking spaces tend to be knowledge-intensive places for creative people. Specifically, the municipalities showing higher innovation and entrepreneurial environment (i.e. major cities) are preferred locations. Besides, it is discussed whether coworking spaces may contribute to fostering the development of peripheral and inner areas in Italy, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic where the share of teleworkers outside metropolitan areas has massively increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to provide an empirical framework of the ageing process in Italy, with a focus on aging in place and mobility behaviour of the elderly, as emerging from two national surveys: the “Aspects of Daily Life” survey by ISTAT and the ISFORT mobility survey. Results show that the Italian cities and towns are sufficiently age-friendly, with some improvement opportunities to be implemented. Loneliness and isolation represent a warning sign, hindering the aging in place. Finally, the study confirms that the Italian older adults use public transport only a few times, in favour of private cars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For new buildings in densely urbanised cities, groundwater heat pump systems (GWHPs) represent a concrete, effective solution for decarbonising existing energy systems. Environmental factors must be considered to limit the GWHP system's impact on the subsurface. Particular attention must be given to the long-term sustainability of groundwater abstraction modalities and the development of a thermally affected zone around re-injection wells. Simplified solutions and numerical models have been applied to predict subsurface heat transport mechanisms; these simulations allow researchers to consider site-specific geological conditions, transient heat and groundwater flow regimes, and anisotropies in the subsurface media. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the current research on GWHPs and discusses the benefits and limitations of their diffusion in Italy. The sources used provide information on and examples of the correct methodological approaches for depicting the induced variations while avoiding the overestimation or underestimation of the impact that GWHPs have on exploited aquifers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The red palm weevil beetle (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus), native to Asia, has assumed highly invasive behavior in the Mediterranean Sea basin, causing great damage to both date crops and ornamental plants. Given the lack of natural antagonists here, chemical substances must be administered to prevent attacks or cure infested palms. Through a multidisciplinary approach, we analyzed the evolution of the distribution of this beetle in San Benedetto del Tronto, a coastal city in central Italy rich in Canary Island date palms, considering both the control strategies used and their potentially negative effects. We observed that this beetle drastically reduced the palm stock by about half over the course of the 15 years between its arrival and the study's conclusion in 2020. The local municipality's program of chemical treatments has been very effective against new palm tree attacks but is expensive and poses toxicity risks for insects, animals, and the environment. However, currently, these treatments are the only effective tool for preserving the cultural landscape of this area. The challenge is to find the right balance between all these aspects. The fight against alien invasive insect pests of plants in the urban environment often affects varied sectors of the economy, landscape gardening, public health, and ecology. This paper focuses on the evolution of the red palm weevil in San Benedetto del Tronto, a coastal urban area in central Italy. We investigated the evolution of this insect pest of palm trees in the 2013–2020 period, considering both the effectiveness of the chemicals used and their potentially harmful effects. With a multidisciplinary approach, we carried out a spatio-temporal analysis of the extent and mode of pest spread over time using historical aerial photos, freely available remote sensing images, and field surveys integrated in a GIS environment. We also assessed the toxicity risk associated with the chemicals used to protect the palms from the red weevil. The fight against this weevil is now concentrated in specific areas such as parks, roads, villas, hotels, farmhouses, and nurseries. The preventive chemical treatments applied are very effective in preserving the palms, but they show a toxic potential for all organisms. We discuss current local management of this pest, focusing on several aspects involved in the fight against this beetle in an urban area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the debates on 'suburbanisms' and 'arrival space', this article explores the complexities for welfare governance in multiethnic peripheries. The paper bridges two themes of the contemporary 'suburban century': the intensified global migration flows and the peripheral condition of suburbs worldwide; the work refers to the Municipality of Pioltello, a multiethnic suburban area in Milan's region. This double-sided perspective reveals governance dynamics, here discussed through the concept of 'welfare offloading'. In the observed neighborhood, governmental complexities disclose profound interdependencies with the region's urban core and across municipalities; welfare tensions are 'offloaded' from the central core to peripheral regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether urbanization plays a role in determining the importance of each happiness domain on overall happiness. The analysis focuses on Italy. We exploit a multilevel model to consider regional heterogeneity in happiness determinants. We first verify whether a direct effect of urbanization exists on each specific components of happiness, as well as on overall happiness. Consistent with the findings in the literature, happiness decreases with urbanization. In the analysis of the mediating role, we find that the importance of satisfaction family explains more overall happiness in urban areas. On the contrary, satisfaction with health, friendships and environment gain more weight in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work addresses the relationship between the Italian city-making process following Unification (1861) and the development of military settlements up to the 1920s. The hypothesis presented here is that the building of military settlements and the redevelopment of spaces with new functions, arguably, shaped Italian cities over this period by implementing urban renewal processes and city expansion. Through my analysis, I claim that defence planning had an amenable effect upon the decision-making process of urban planning schemes. In addition, this paper claims that this process has impacted the location of military settlements in ways that boosted the economic and urban images of the city. I do this through a detailed case study of Milan's parade ground. Here, I found that the parade ground dismantling and relocation from the urban centre towards the periphery happened twice, relied on a specific narrative, and was catalysed by two mega-events. I demonstrate that defence planning plays a secondary role in boosting these operations aimed both at replacing military settlements with newly emerging functions and displacing the unwanted functions in the periphery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mapping urban areas from space is a complex task involving the definition of what should be considered as part of an urban agglomerate beyond the built-up features, thus modelling the transition of a city into the surrounding landscape. In this paper, a new technique to map urban areas using multitemporal synthetic aperture radar data is presented. The proposed methodology exploits innovative RGB composites in combination with self-organizing map (SOM) clustering and object-based image analysis. In particular, the clustered product is used to extract a coarse urban area map, which is then refined using object-based processing. In this phase, Delaunay triangulation and the spatial relationship between the identified urban regions are used to model the urban–rural gradient between a city and the surrounding landscape. The technique has been tested in different scenarios representative of structurally different cities in Italy and Germany. The quality of the obtained products is assessed by comparison with the Urban Atlas of the European Environmental Agency, showing good agreement with the adopted reference data despite their different taxonomies. [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]

Mountain communities face the threat of depopulation, as residents age or move to large cities in the lowland. This issue is pressing for Italy, where a large portion of the territory is mountainous and the overall population is rapidly aging. This paper analyses whether the autonomous status of a region affects the demographic dynamics of its mountain areas. The question is currently being fiercely debated in Italy, with border municipalities seeking to switch region in pursuit of perceived benefits, mainly in the form of the direct management of a larger portion of taxes. The analysis relies on an adjacency‐based estimation approach, including spatial regression discontinuity techniques, to compare population changes in mountain areas randomly selected from Northern Italian regions with special statutes versus neighboring regions without special statute. Measuring population changes in the 2000s shows a significant difference in the demographic dynamics in border regions, with areas in autonomous regions experiencing more favorable population dynamics. Our hypothesis is that fiscal autonomy contributes to sustainable local development and the survival of mountain communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 27–28 July 2019, in a catchment of the Mt. Amiata area (Italy), an extreme rainfall induced a debris flow, which caused a channeled erosive process just upstream of the Abbadia San Salvatore village, the obstruction of a culvert at the entrance to the urban area, and the subsequent flooding of the village. In this paper, we present the back analysis of this event. The complexity of this case study is due to several peculiar characteristics, but above all, to the clogging of the culvert, a phenomenon difficult to simulate numerically. The methodology used for the reconstruction of the event is based on a multidisciplinary approach. A geological field investigation was carried out to characterize the catchment and assess the availability of debris. Then, a cascade of numerical models was employed to reconstruct the debris flow: the FLO-2D software was used to model the runoff along the hydrographic network while the mobile-bed debris flow TRENT2D model, available through the WEEZARD system, was used to quantify both the erosion and deposition processes that occurred during the event. To simulate the culvert clogging, a novel modelling procedure was developed and applied. Despite the challenging framework, the results, in terms of debris volume, erosion rates, deposition area, and timing of the culvert obstruction, agree reasonably well with the observed data. It is worth noticing that these results were obtained mainly using parameters set a priori, namely calibrated on a physical basis. This proves that the proposed methodology is robust and effective, with good predictive capability. Therefore, it may be considered, according to the European Union (EU) Flood Directive, an "appropriate practice and the best available technology that does not imply excessive costs" to support predictive hazard mapping of situations as the one here considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the settling of foreigners cause a rise in anti‐immigrant sentiment due to resource competition? Or do direct interactions lead to more respectful relations? And what if one also considers the settlement of foreigners in neighbouring municipalities? Applying an instrumental variable approach to variables collected at the Italian municipality level and including neighbouring areas, this paper aims to answer these questions by considering the vote for the Lega party in 2019 European parliamentary election as a proxy for the anti‐immigration sentiment. Our results point out that, once controlling for most socio‐economic variables and remoteness, a larger presence of foreigners within the municipality reduces the vote for the Lega. In contrast, the presence of immigrants in the neighbouring municipalities does not show a significant effect. [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]

The paper describes one of the Italian sprawl drivers: the circle triggered by the use of urban charges to solve budget problems. From 2005 to 2018, Italian municipalities could use urban charges to solve normal budget problems: they could plan new urban areas to provide new urban charges, new building and services, and they could manage old and new services at the expense of normal budget. The planning of unnecessary urban areas was effectively influenced by budget problems. The paper illustrates this issue during a period without open data sources in order to improve land management and environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy retrofitting of residential buildings is considered a challenge to be tackled not only at building level, but also at urban scale, to give a stronger impulse for a concrete transition towards climate neutrality. This paper presents an easy-to-use analysis method based on the elaboration and scaling-up of data collected through the energy performance certificates (EPCs) to identify different urban energy zones distinguished by their energy performance index. This method is therefore conceived for better informing urban planning decisions, thus boosting more effective energy-sensitive urban planning strategies and eventually to foresee dedicated financial instruments to act in the more energy demanding areas of the city, establishing priorities for integrated strategies. This analytical method has been applied and tested in one municipality in the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy, where the recent urban planning law is pushing municipalities towards the development of urban planning strategies oriented to drastically improve the energy efficiency of the existing building stock. Results show that only a small number of areas manage to reach a good performance with fairly low levels of energy performance index, with the most critical situation found in the most central areas of the capital and in the hamlets. • Easy-to-use method for assessing energy performance of residential building at urban scale is proposed • Method based on data easily available for local authorities, like energy performance certificates (EPCs) and urban morphology • The method supports urban planners in municipalities in taking more targeted decisions for improving energy efficiency • The main output of the method is the definition of an energy performance index (EPI) for different urban contexts • EPI allows to wisely balance economic incentives, identifying areas where multi-purpose interventions are recommended [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting on 24th August 2016, Central Italy was struck by a six-month earthquake sequence that caused 303 victims and extensive major damages to urban areas and infrastructures, in some cases entire villages needed complete rebuilding. In this paper we present a map that portrays the overall susceptibility to multiple landslide types and the exposure to landslides of the rural-urban areas of the Castelsantangelo sul Nera Municipality, a typical village of the central Italian Apennine. The map is based on a procedure that ingests geomorphological data and models and groups the individual landslide susceptibility maps in a joint susceptibility and exposure map based on expert-defined criteria. The procedure has been applied to built-up and to undeveloped areas to highlight their exposure and was used as a tool for planning post-seismic reconstruction. We advise that such maps are used also as basic tool for ordinary urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the multitemporal landslide inventory map prepared for the urban areas of Motta Montecorvino and Volturino, two municipalities located in the Southern Apennines (Apulia Region, Italy). These territories show a high propensity to landslides of different types and magnitude, which periodically interfere with the anthropic structures and infrastructures. For the study area, the spatial and temporal distribution of landslides is detected for the period between 1954 and 2003, through the visual interpretation of multiple sets of black and white digital stereoscopic aerial photographs at different scales. The analysis reveals locally high frequency of landslide occurrence and built-up areas on existing landslides, either on the body or on the crown areas. In particular, we show that over the years new residential areas were developed despite the presence of large old mass movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting on 24th August 2016, Central Italy was struck by a six-month earthquake sequence that caused 303 victims and extensive major damages to urban areas and infrastructures, in some cases entire villages needed complete rebuilding. In this paper we present a map that portrays the overall susceptibility to multiple landslide types and the exposure to landslides of the rural-urban areas of the Castelsantangelo sul Nera Municipality, a typical village of the central Italian Apennine. The map is based on a procedure that ingests geomorphological data and models and groups the individual landslide susceptibility maps in a joint susceptibility and exposure map based on expert-defined criteria. The procedure has been applied to built-up and to undeveloped areas to highlight their exposure and was used as a tool for planning post-seismic reconstruction. We advise that such maps are used also as basic tool for ordinary urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the multitemporal landslide inventory map prepared for the urban areas of Motta Montecorvino and Volturino, two municipalities located in the Southern Apennines (Apulia Region, Italy). These territories show a high propensity to landslides of different types and magnitude, which periodically interfere with the anthropic structures and infrastructures. For the study area, the spatial and temporal distribution of landslides is detected for the period between 1954 and 2003, through the visual interpretation of multiple sets of black and white digital stereoscopic aerial photographs at different scales. The analysis reveals locally high frequency of landslide occurrence and built-up areas on existing landslides, either on the body or on the crown areas. In particular, we show that over the years new residential areas were developed despite the presence of large old mass movements. [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]

• We analyze percentages of waste separation at a municipal level. • We study the role of municipal distance from plants in waste management. • A very general complex network approach is adopted. • Communities detection is explored for both the investigated issues. • The theoretical model is validated over high quality data from the Italian reality. The paper contributes to the debate concerning the management of municipal solid waste by providing an analysis of two key aspects of waste management - namely, waste separation and dispatch to treatment plants. Our analysis aims at detecting the extent to which actual behavior in (close-by) municipalities is similar with respect to those two aspects. To pursue our scope, a complex network approach is followed. In particular, we conceptualize, explore and compare two networks, whose nodes are the municipalities, while weights synthesize in one network the percentage of sorted waste that is collected at a municipal level, and in the other one the distance from the waste processing plants used by each municipality. The theoretical network models are implemented through an empirical study based on a high quality dataset referred to Italian municipalities. In this regard, the detection of communities of municipalities and their geospatial contextualization are introduced as devices for a complete description of current practices of municipal waste separation and transfers in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assemblage of a building inventory is necessary for the evaluation of seismic impact scenarios at the territorial scale. Building inventory, representing the distribution of building vulnerability classes at the territorial scale, could be performed at different levels of detail, depending on the size of the building stock, the territorial unit of analysis and on the adopted vulnerability model. Census-based data are usually employed as primary source for building inventory. A recent advancement towards compilation of regional scale inventories is provided by the interview-based Cartis approach, implemented in Italy within "Territorial themes" Reluis project, financed by the Italian Civil Protection Department. This paper proposes a first comparison of the results in terms of building inventory and the subsequent impact assessment that are obtained using Census (CE) and Cartis-based (CA) data for a town in southern Italy; a probabilistic framework for inventory is applied. Different vulnerability models are adopted and results compared. Moreover, a simple procedure that combines the informative levels present in the two approaches is proposed, allowing a mixed-type inventory from Census and Cartis data (CC) to be used for seismic impact assessment. Results of the application show that the inventory and related damage distribution changes as a function of the method adopted and in relation to the parameters considered for building classification in the vulnerability model. Comparing the impact in terms of a mean value of damage over the entire municipality, d m , calculated for various seismic intensities and starting from CE, CA and CC inventory, it is seen that the CC inventory is generally more conservative with respect to CA and CE for all the vulnerability methods, and a maximum scatter of approximately 45% in terms of d m is obtained for the considered application with one of the vulnerability methods. • The paper presents simplified methods to assemble building inventory. • Initial considered databases for building inventory are census returns and a newly developed interview-based database. • First comparison of the results on building inventory and damage assessment obtained using three types of building inventory. • Different vulnerability methods are considered for building classification and expected damage calculation. • The method is applied for a case study town in southern Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to estimate, through the use of a spatial model, the determinants of fiscal policies on property tax adopted by Italian municipalities in 2014, to assess the existence of strategic interactions influencing their revenue decisions and, finally, to investigate the possible sources of such tax mimicking. The analysis evaluates the impact of political and socio‐economic variables on the local policy decisions and confirms that the choices on property tax are influenced by the neighbouring municipalities' behaviour. With regard to the tax mimicking sources, results highlight that the imitative behaviour among municipalities on their tax policy is determined mainly from spillover effects, with a decreasing effect in relation to municipal size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract An increasing number of cities are engaging with the sharing economy, exploring how it may be integrated into the urban agenda, fostering its positive aspects whilst avoiding its negative externalities. The paper focuses on two cities, Milan and Seoul, that are internationally considered to have a conscious and tailored approach that lies in the vanguard of this effort. The paper seeks to understand how local authorities govern the sharing economy in order to shape a real sharing city , taking insights from the sharing paradigm concept and looking to the collaborative version of the urban governance paradigm. The paper uses a mixed method approach to develop case studies of the governance models employed. The analysis shows that both cities work along the three dimensions (economic, technological and human) of the sharing paradigm to create a sharing city, with slightly different governance approaches, but both lack institutionalized mechanisms of collaboration. Nevertheless, both are pioneering examples of engagement with the sharing economy. The paper proposes a graphic conceptualization of the two governance models to better highlight their contribution to knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The obligations arising from legislation and other instruments affect the macro-level decision-making related to the transition toward a circular economy (CE), which is a multifaceted topic since it tries to aggregate the interests of different stakeholders. In this context, this paper aims to analyse the current policies, strategies and initiatives related to the CE transition from a multicriteria perspective and under the lens of NIT (New Institutional Theory). This is the first approach that analyses which CE strategies and related practices boost the transition from a macro-level perspective, using a multicriteria method and considering developed and emerging economies. For this reason, this paper can be helpful for researchers and practitioners involved in implementing strategy and policymaking aimed at the transition toward a CE. It also contributes to the discussion on the global transition to the CE by identifying differences and similarities between countries. The proposed methodology has been applied to compare the realities in Italy and Brazil. The perceptions of several stakeholders from the two countries have been gathered through a questionnaire to evaluate numerous strategies against several social, environmental, economic, and technical criteria. The main results are: Italy presents a proactive behaviour, a higher level of institutionalisation, and a coercive isomorphism related to European regulations and strategies. In contrast, Brazil has reactive behaviour, a lower level of institutionalisation, and is impelled by mimetic isomorphism. Although it is possible to observe several advances in the last years in Brazil, the transition to a CE is still in the early stages compared to Italy. [Display omitted] • Transitioning to a new economic model is not a quick and straightforward process. • Transition requires changes in countries, regions, cities, supply chains and companies. • Some strategies and related practices have been adopted to enable the transition. • National legislation and Action Plans can boost the transition toward a circular economy. • In developing countries, the exploration of CE concept and its potential benefits has been rare. [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]

In recent years, the presence of urban wildlife has increased in many cities around the world, with the consequent increase of human-animal relations. The city of Genoa (NW Italy) is a particularly complex case study where such phenomena are associated with rural depopulation of the surrounding countryside and spontaneous rewilding processes that have led several animal species to approach urban areas in search of new spaces. This paper deals with human-wildlife interactions in Genoa in relation to the geography of the city by way of a survey circulated throughout Genoa. Drawing from survey data, the research investigates residents' perceptions and understanding of urban wildlife in relation to their area of residency with a focus on wild boars. People's responses show that some areas of the city have a higher level of interaction with wildlife, and this partly affects the way in which such phenomena are perceived and tolerated by the population. In addition, the results show that there is no clear opposition towards urban wildlife and that people are concerned about sustainable forms of urban planning to the benefit of both residents and wildlife. • Rewilding processes involve both rural and urban areas of Liguria (NW Italy). • In recent times city of Genoa (NW Italy) has seen a progressive increase of wildlife. • Intensity of human-animal interactions varies in relation to people's area of residency. • People are concerned about public safety and good quality of urban environments but also animal welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether the gender of elected politicians affects the performance of Italian local governments in providing equitable and sustainable well-being to citizens. In fact, Italy was the first country in the European Union to include citizens' well-being objectives in economic planning. We use data on more than 6000 Italian municipalities for two years to investigate the relationship between gender representation at three bodies of local government with measures of socio-economic and environmental sustainability and find that larger representation of women in municipal leadership, executive and council bodies is significantly associated with improved municipal well-being. These results are also confirmed by accounting for endogenous issues, by adopting an extended definition of well-being and other robustness checks. Differences among northern and southern regions emerge with regard to the effects of incumbent female politicians. Other heterogeneous impacts are unclear or less marked. • A Wroclaw composite index of well-being is constructed at municipal level. • Gender quotas is used as instrumental variable in 2SLS regressions. • A larger share of women in municipal political bodies improves citizen's well-being. • Heterogeneity effects are detected among North vs. Center-South macro-regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• External operational variables are associated with efficiency estimation. • Efficiency is higher in municipalities with lower levels of income per capita. • Efficiency is lower for municipalities with higher undifferentiated waste produced. • Adoption of zero waste strategy is related to higher efficiency in MSW service. • Privatization is not associated with significant improvement in performance results. This paper assesses the performance of waste services in the region of Tuscany in Italy. It adopts non-parametric techniques for this purpose. Furthermore, it investigates the influence of the operational environment on the estimated performance by using the robust order-m technique. Meaningful levels of inefficiency were found in the Italian waste services. A specification of the ownership of the operator entrusted with waste management by municipalities and the formal adoption of the zero-waste strategy are included as environmental variables. The study concludes that the influence of the operational environment is a determinant of performance. The income per capita is negatively associated with efficiency, while population density is positively associated. Furthermore, efficiency levels are lower for municipalities with higher mixed waste per capita produced. Improving good pro-environmental behaviours is likely to improve efficiency and, thus, tariffs. The empirical results support the idea that it is necessary to make relevant organizational decisions that imply higher costs to increase the refuse collection rate. An increase in the separate collection rate beyond 50% is associated with the reduction of the efficiency level reached. Efficiency analysis does not consider the additional costs and the opportunities for municipalities to get revenues by selling them as secondary raw materials. Besides, the adoption of a zero-waste strategy is related to higher efficiency in MSW service provision. Finally, results about the ownership issue support the idea that privatization is not necessarily associated with the performance improvement of the waste services. [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]

The aim of this paper is to ground gentrification processes within a broader urban transformation pattern and within a deeper historical account, taking an ordinary city into consideration: Turin, in the North West of Italy. The paper elaborates on qualitative data collected along a twenty year span, allowing reflection on different phases and dynamics of capital extraction across time. We will show that, problematically, gentrification was considered as a positive model by local authorities and that it was adopted as a reference by both private and public actors to generate local growth and to react to economic crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the experimental application of a new method for seismic vulnerability assessment of buildings recently introduced in literature, the SMAV (Seismic Model Ambient Vibration) methodology with reference to their operational limit state. The importance of this kind of evaluation arises from the civil protection necessity that some buildings, considered strategic for seismic emergency management, should retain their functionality also after a destructive earthquake. They do not suffer such damage as to compromise the operation within a framework of assessment of the overall capacity of the urban system. To this end, for the characterization of their operational vulnerability, a Structural Operational Index (IOPS) has been considered. In particular, the dynamic environmental vibrations of the two considered strategic buildings, the fire station and the town hall building of a small town in the South of Italy, have been monitored by positioning accelerometers in well-defined points. These measurements were processed through modern Operational Modal Analysis techniques (OMA) in order to identify natural frequencies and modal shapes. Once these parameters have been determined, the structural operational efficiency index of the buildings has been determined evaluating the seismic vulnerability of the strategic structures analyzed. his study aimed to develop a model to accurately predict the acceleration of structural systems during an earthquake [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the flood hazard in the city of Monza, which periodically suffers from overflows from both the river Lambro and the urban drainage system during wet weather conditions. A unified Urban Flash Flood Model of Monza is therefore developed to capture both sources of hazard. The model is first validated by comparing the results of simulations with historical data related to the area of Monza, then is exploited to obtain maximum flood depth and velocity maps for three different return periods. Overall, the results show the different nature of the flood-related hazard and the sewer-related hazard: the former is concentrated across the rivers whereas the latter spreads patchy over the territory. Furthermore, the former features much larger water levels and flow velocities, which result in more serious hazard to citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the various heating technologies that can be applied to urban areas district heating is recognized to allow significant reduction in primary energy consumption, provided that the system is properly designed and operated. Thermo-fluid dynamic simulation tools can be of extreme importance in order to achieve this objective. This paper aims at presenting a thermo fluid dynamic model for the detailed simulation of large district heating network and showing how it can be usefully applied to examine options for the reduction of primary energy consumption. The model is tested using experimental data and then applied for analyzing transient operations of the Turin district heating network, which is the largest network in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. A comparison between simulations and experimental results shows that the model is able to predict the temperature in the nodes of the network with good accuracy. The thermal power required to each plant is also calculated with a good level of accuracy. The model can be used for the simulation of operational strategies, thus representing a versatile and important tool for the implementation of advanced management such as the installation of local storage units or the variation of user request schedules. • A thermo-fluid dynamic model for the detailed simulation of large DHNs is proposed. • The model receives data from the substations as the input. • The transient simulation of the Turin DHN is compared with measurements. • The model can be applied to implement advanced management strategies. [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]

• Optimal design of multi-vector energy hubs in energy communities. • MILP model using a multi-objective function. • Application to a real case represented by a university campus. One of the main ways to reach the important targets of the European Commission in the energy field set by 2030 is to implement sustainable energy systems to cover electrical and thermal energy demands, as well as transportation needs, in urban areas. In the aforesaid scenario, multi-vector energy hubs consist of installing small and medium size power plants, mainly fed by renewable sources, and charging infrastructures for electric vehicles in sustainable urban districts. The optimal design of such systems can be faced from different points of view and using different methods, one of the most adopted being the development of mathematical programming algorithms typically aimed to minimize global costs and emissions. The contribution of this paper is to propose an innovative methodology to optimally design a multi-vector energy hub able to supply electricity and thermal energy, for space heating and cooling, to a set of buildings within a sustainable district acting as a local energy community. The developed mixed integer linear programming model is characterized by very detailed models of the technologies and by a multi-objective function which is proposed to evaluate the impact of the optimal solution on global costs and emissions. The proposed mathematical model is very comprehensive as it involves a wide range of energy technologies with detailed modelling by considering the impact of external ambient conditions and energy vector temperature values on the plant conversion efficiency, thus showing high replicability potential in real contexts. In the case study, the model is applied to a university campus in the North of Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]