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The call for papers for this Special Issue Iidentifies contemporary humanity as experiencing a global "biogeochemical ... political, economic, technological, ethical, and therefore, biocultural" crisis and asks scholars to consider how "religion may function as an adaptive or maladaptive presence" in response. Unasked is the adaptive capacity of scholarship as a crisis response. When buildings fall in earthquakes, or cities burn in wildfires, or second stories flood, few people just keep on doing what they were doing, "with a change of focus". This is "studying Rome while it burns". It's time to put out the fire if we can and survive it if we cannot. We scholar/teachers can't go on doing the same things and expecting different results. Unprecedented circumstances call for unprecedented actions in response. What would actual crisis responses on our part look like? What steps do we need to take as human beings in response to this crisis? How will that affect us as professionals? Seeking an ecology, rather than unanimity, of action and thought, and guided by Brian Walker's resilience theory and a number of Indigenous scholars, I suggest a process of reintegration, analogous to regenerative agriculture, which is at once both socio-cultural and ecological. This process, necessarily rooted in place, progressively situates us experientially in a dynamic, creative, and relational world characterized by connection, collaboration, and relation. As scholars, we will find forms of discovery, discussion, and dissemination that share these qualities. As teachers, we will model this world to our students and embody it in our classrooms and curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary populations – tourists, temporary stayers, non-resident students – constitute a substantial share of many cities' inhabitants. Their implications are normally the object of separate research, about over tourism, studentification, transnational gentrification. When viewed from the perspective of the sociospatial relations those populations have in and with the city, many similarities emerge in their urban practices, socio economic characteristics, locational and housing preferences. The paper aims to contribute to recent attempts to avoid traditional categorisations and investigate jointly how the inflow of temporary inhabitants produces effects at the urban and sub-urban scales. The COVID-19 pandemic will then be used as a natural experiment to estimate how they distribute in the city of Rome, Italy, which is crucial to a better understanding of their impact. Temporary populations, we argue, are a very visible source of both hard and soft urban changes, and a major driver of not only neighbourhood change but sociospatial polarisation at the whole city scale. The pandemic also offers an occasion to see how dependent cities are on temporary inhabitants and to reflect upon the ambivalence in how they see those populations as either a gain or a burden, something they struggle to attract or as a source of tensions and opposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the forms of social reproduction and organisation that punctuate the everyday life of the housing squats that are part of Housing Rights Movements in Rome through the analytical lens offered by Henri Lefebvre's rhythmanalysis of Mediterranean cities, with special focus on the concepts 'eurhythmia' and 'rites'. It advances that the spatial transformations, alternative forms of social reproduction and politics envisaged by housing squatters out of necessity can be better understood through the notions of 'eurhythmisation' and 'organisational rites', that complement/update Lefebvre's original vocabulary. The analysis is based on empirical materials collected during the author's activist-ethnography within the Movimento per il Diritto all'Abitare (Movement for the Right to Habitation), focusing on three distinctive features of the housing squats' habitation in common: the material and immaterial infrastructures of self-defence; the assembly as the time/space of collective habitation and deliberation; the commoning of social reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution focuses on what was an topical subject in Rome in the first half of the twentieth century: urban green areas and their relationship with monuments. Interest in this topic was probably inspired by the traditional approach popular in nineteenth-century England, one which several members of the Roman cultural elite who studied vegetation and gardens (Giacomo Boni and Maria Ponti Pasolini) had become acquainted with thanks to the close ties they had established with English professionals. Since the unification of Italy, Rome had raised the issue of the inseparable relationship that city ruins had with vegetation; in fact, the 1873 master plan already contained guidelines regarding the layout of urban gardens, preferably using an English style. These guidelines played a crucial role in city planning and in creating unique areas, such as the Passeggiata Archeologica (the Archaeological Park, also known as the Zona Monumentale). The paper will focus on these developments and on the work of the people involved in these projects such as, Giacomo Boni, Maria Ponti Pasolini and Gustavo Giovannoni, all members of the Artistic Association of Architectural Connoisseurs – the AACAR founded in Rome in 1890, in order to follow the urban development of Italy's capital city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the micromobility and the usage of shared electric kick scooters (e-kscooters) have been constantly growing, especially for systematic and recreational trips in large urban areas. Micromobility might be seen as a well-suited last-mile solution by providing a flexible travel service connection with public transport and MaaS (Mobility as a Service), in general. However, there is a need for implementing adequate regulations regarding safety aspects and shared e-kscooter parking locations, but also for meeting the user requirements. The choice of optimal shared e-kscooter parking locations could help decision-makers to regulate unmanaged dock-less shared e-kscooter parking spots that could generate issues for other road users. To this end, in this paper, a novel multi-objective Micromobility Maximal Coverage Parking Location model (M-MCPL) is developed. The model has been solved by applying an elitist Genetic Algorithm that returns the optimal shared e-kscooter parking locations based on the following objective functions: i) the maximization of the population coverage; ii) the maximization of multimodal accessibility coverage (i.e., bus, railway, and metro modes); iii) the maximization of the attraction coverage considering the most relevant points of interest for each corresponding zone in large urban areas. The proposed M-MCPL model has been applied to the case of Rome (Italy) and results suggest priorities for the shared e-kscooter parking locations design. Furthermore, the proposed model is flexible and can be considered as a decision support tool for decision-makers when planning dedicated services in different large urban areas. For that purpose, we conducted the sensitivity analysis by focusing on the single-objective model in which decision-makers might be interested in providing only high accessibility to transport services or maximizing potential demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper defines the roles of biomethane for a double-green transition, through the integration of an effective management of renewable energy and municipal waste. The authors perform an assessment of the potential transition of the municipality of Rome to a more sustainable transport system, based on the economic feasibility of production of biomethane as analysed with the Discounted Cash Flow methodology. The potential reduction of emissions is quantified considering biomethane, to be used as vehicle fuel instead of natural gas. The provision of subsidies is found to be an essential condition to support the development of the biomethane sector. The subsidies must be coordinated with other policies such as the construction and operation of new fuelling stations and the increase of vehicles fuelled by biomethane. Several economic indicators are used to support investors by defining the conditions in which the profitability and economic opportunities are quantified. The transformation of bio-wastes into clean energy, closes the loop and helps societies to make progress toward becoming circular economies, which can contribute to decarbonizing the transport sector. Results of these analyses are applicable in other municipalities, which are currently under-utilizing their organic wastes and by-products. Image 1 • Biomethane supports the development of CE models. • Biomethane can contribute to a double green transition.. • A total NPV varies from 4.6 million € to 63.3 million €. • Do Nothing cost varies from 365 thousand € to 2872 thousand €. • The decrease of GHG emissions ranges from 43 to 51 thousand ton CO2eq/year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed, Renewable and Interactive energy Systems (DRIs) are revolutionizing the concept of infrastructure by introducing a set of new properties. The implications of the new system properties in the realm of Urban Design are often neglected. This paper proposes a procedure to reconcile DRIs and urban patterns. This procedure is tested on 23 school buildings in four urban regions of the Ostiense district in Rome. Findings suggest that the identification of existing buildings as active, neutral and passive nodes in DRIs can make a contribution to Urban Design decisions to exploit the renewable energy production capacity inherent in urban patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We developed an integrated approach to evaluate life cycle GHG emissions of AVs in urban area. • We simulated the impact of a full AV penetration scenario on a real road network. • AVs show a higher life cycle impact due to batteries replacement (+35%) • Reduction of CF emissions (−60%) at the mobility system level in AV-regime. This paper presents the results of a Carbon Footprint (CF) study of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and their environmental impact on the transportation network. By assuming that fully AVs are battery electric vehicles (BEVs) with connectivity, light detection and ranging sensors, this study measures the environmental impact at the urban mobility level. The AV complete life cycle impact was firstly evaluated. Next, by comparing the current situation with a future hypothetical scenario (100% AVs penetration), the positive environmental effect of the adoption of AVs on a real road network (city of Rome) is shown. For this scope, a traffic simulation-based approach was used to investigate the effects of AVs on the network congestion. The results show that the full AVs penetration scenario leads to an improvement in the network performances in terms of travel time and average speed. The Total Time Spent (TTS) decreases (−35% for intra-urban roads and −21% for highways), and the average network speed increases (48% for intra-urban road and 37% for highways). Moreover, the final amount of Vehicle Kilometer Traveled (VKT) shows an 8% increase on longer extra-urban routes, due to the higher capacity impact of AVs on highways, with a consequent load reduction for intra-urban shortcutting routes. In terms of life cycle impacts, AVs are characterized by the highest Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions related to construction, maintenance and end-of-life processes (on average 35% compared to internal combustion engine vehicles, 22% compared to hybrid electric vehicles and 5% compared to battery electric vehicles). Nevertheless, a 100% AVs penetration scenario generates a reduction of the environmental impact at the mobility system level of about 60%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-working spaces of different types are emerging as new economic and social intermediaries in the contemporary process of urban regeneration and urban economic growth. Despite their relevance, literature still fails to explore their role in the surrounding local economy. This paper intends to fill that gap, providing empirical evidence from the city of Rome and suggesting new policy perspectives. First, a taxonomy of the different spaces is provided, assessing their role in the related socio-economic ecosystem. Three main typologies have been identified: CWS1 acting as a 'social incubator' with an educational role and closer links to local authorities, CWS2 or 'start-up incubator' providing economic and technical support to the entrepreneurs-to-be, CWS3 or 'real estate incubator' which are mainly a commercial product. Their locational patterns are then discussed, highlighting the planning implication of their settlement in some in-between urban peripheral areas of Rome. Finally, suggestions for the creation of public/private partnerships or 'social leases' are proposed, foreseeing the integration of such spaces in the local offer of amenities. The current research paves the way for further discussion on the renewal of cities' governance tools, processes of urban regeneration and policies tackling the new urban entrepreneurial class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With cities being responsible for up to 70% of energy-related carbon emissions, municipal governments worldwide are becoming increasingly aware of their responsibility to act. Many large cities have committed to mitigation by becoming member of a municipal climate network, such as the C40 or the Compact of Mayors. However, there is no consistent assessment of whether membership of such networks translates into measurable outcomes. To fill this gap, we propose the use of novel outcome variables, combining financial data with geospatial information. As a starting point, this paper compares utility-scale investment in photovoltaics (PV) within the administrative boundaries of large global cities, combining the Bloomberg New Energy Finance database with information from Google Maps. We analyse 512 global cities with a population of above 1 million, and consider the impact of 5 networks and 2 reporting platforms. The results suggest that membership of the C40 network has a positive effect on utility-scale solar PV investment, while no such evidence is found for any of the other networks or reporting platforms under study. Based on our findings, we recommend that municipal climate networks increase their efforts to trigger city regulation that is conducive to solar PV investment. More generally, measuring early indicators, such as low-carbon investment, can help municipal climate networks in their role as 'commitment brokers' for climate action on the ever-more important city level. Key policy insights Cities have considerable policy space to foster utility-scale solar PV investment within their administrative boundaries. While some large global cities exhibited significant growth in utility-scale solar PV, many others with good solar potential did not have a single project by the end of 2016. Outside of China (where city boundaries often include rural areas), Tokyo tops the list with utility-scale solar PV projects by far, followed by San Diego and Rome. Membership of the C40 network appears to make a positive difference to PV investment, unlike other networks or reporting platforms. Outcome measures like low-carbon investment can be used more generally to assess the climate action performance of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of on-street parking is a long-standing issue, impacting on livability of urban environments, and against which there is not a common solving approach. According to an extensive literature review, the price elasticity of parking demand widely ranges from −0.14 to −1.02. Besides, the existing gap between the theoretical background and parking practices implemented by cities does not allow framing local experiences into a systemic view. The above confirms the multifaceted and complex nature of such topic. This paper summarizes the findings of a study aimed at investigating whether and to what extent specific parkers' behaviors can affect the success of a parking pricing strategy. Starting from the analysis of possible attitudes of parking users (systematic and occasional) in four high-attractive potential districts of the city of Rome, the key variables affecting their decision making process were identified. According to a framing of desired parkers' behaviors as well as possible side effects deriving from unwanted habits, the statistical relationship between the key variables and such users' attitudes was also examined. The effectiveness of selected parking pricing schemes was finally assessed, also drawing up a sort of parking user's taxonomy. In doing so, it is intended to provide a further contribution fueling the debate of on-street parking management and a support for local Authorities coping with pricing issues. • Management of on-street parking is a long-standing issue, impacting on livability of urban spaces. • There is not a single "recipe" allowing policy makers to select the "right parking price for the right place". • "Virtuous" attitudes identify any proactive habit contributing to integrate parking supply in the larger mobility system. • "Vicious" habits contribute to increase stakeholders' disutility, also producing a sort of environmental "entropy". • A parking pricing policy is mostly perceived as a way to "ask for money", thus its effectiveness is not always proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigates how the economic crisis and austerity politics affect the strategies of pro-Roma non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and movements that fight for Roma access to housing in Rome. In the last 20 years, the main social housing policy for the Roma adopted by the City of Rome consisted of the so-called ‘equipped villages’, that is, equipped areas with Portakabins and basic facilities. Designed as a temporary housing solution to accommodate the Roma population living in the slums of the Italian capital, these villages nonetheless persist, hosting an increasing number of Roma evicted from informal settlements. As a result, these villages are now harshly criticised for being highly segregating, for being overcrowded with worsening sanitary conditions and for not enabling integration. Furthermore, the recent economic recession and austerity politics are putting a strain on Roma integration policies. The increase of social tensions and unrest, the rise of populist parties and of anti-immigration (and anti-Roma) attitudes do not facilitate the inclusion of the Roma minority, in Italy as in other European countries. What effects are these dynamics having on the capacity of pro-Roma associations arguing against the segregation of the equipped villages and for the development of alternative social housing for the Roma? Although it may seem that the crisis has mainly negative effects on the possibility of insisting on Roma integration, the pro-Roma NGOs and movements considered in this paper show how post-crisis austerity can be mobilised as a new resource for action. The paper focuses on two strategies using the crisis as a frame and base for contesting the segregation of the Roma: the first is to highlight the costs of segregation and the second is to mobilise a new form of solidarity based on the housing crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present study investigates the relation between urban form and the socio-economic patterns of the resident population in three southern European cities ( Athens, Lisbon and Rome) featured by different processes of urban diffusion. The paper goes beyond the literature on sprawl focused on (residential, income and ethnic) segregation and the different features of the inhabitants of the suburbs and those of the inner cities residents. By integrating multivariate statistics and spatial analysis, a methodology is proposed, based on morphological and socio-economic indicators available at a fine geographical scale. Results show how urban diffusion processes vary widely according to the context, as does the socio-economic profile of the actors, stressing the need to think about different 'southern European alternatives' of sprawl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper we provide a revision of the Pleistocene Rhinocerotidae remains collected so far in the sedimentary deposits of the urban area of Rome. Five Pleistocene species have been identified: Stephanorhinus etruscus (Falconer), Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis (Toula), Stephanorhinus hemitoechus (Falconer), Stephanorhinus kirchbergensis (Jäger), and Coelodonta antiquitatis (Blumenbach). By establishing correlations of the sedimentary sections hosting the fossil remains with the geochronologically-constrained, astronomically-forced aggradational successions of the Paleo-Tiber River, we frame the fossil remains within a detailed chronostratigraphic scheme with no equivalent in the previous literature. This approach leads to new considerations on the occurrences and paleobiogeography of the recovered species. Based on the studied material, the last occurrence of S. etruscus in Italy is here referred to a timespan between 0.86 and 0.82 Ma, thus suggesting a long persistence of this species. Recalibration of the considered deposits enabled us to refer the first evidence of S. hundsheimensis in Italy to approximately 0.8 Ma (Ponte Milvio gravels and sands; urban area of Rome). In the Roman area, specimens referred to S. hundsheimensis are coeval with relatively smaller and slender remains of an undefined rhinoceros species. S. hemitoechus is recorded in fossiliferous deposits earlier than 0.4 Ma and its persistence in the studied area is reported at least until 0.19 Ma. S. kirchbergensis occurs for the first time in Italy at ca. 0.56–0.5 Ma (Tor di Quinto deposit; urban area of Rome) and persists in the considered area until 0.37–0.29 Ma. C. antiquitatis is here reported for the first time within the Roman area, so adding a new record of this species in Italy. Unfortunately, the exact locality in which the specimens were collected is unknown, preventing from precise chronostratigraphic assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a preliminary survey in a central urban area of Rome, Italy. The results were obtained from both desktop and remote sensing surveys. The Aventinus Minor Project (AMP) is a community archaeological excavation project focusing on an understudied area in Rome with limited modern archaeological excavation: the Aventinus Minor or Little Aventine. The remote sensing (RS) anomalies revealed by the survey illustrate that this area is potentially rich in buried structures potentially correlated with ancient visible remains (i.e., the Servian Walls and Santa Balbina church). The application of RS approaches (such as NDVI, VARI, and GPR) and the creation of a GIS platform lays the foundations for a correct and georeferenced reporting of all collected data, providing a nuanced understanding of the urban archaeology in the dense topography of Rome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary uses represent innovative and experimental solutions to give new life to disused facilities and spaces while conserving their historical, identity and environmental value. By offering the opportunity to assign new functions and meanings to abandoned places and create economic and social development, these practices can play a strategic role in promoting an integrated approach as a starting point for urban regeneration processes. Based on these assumptions, this paper aims to investigate how temporary uses of disused urban spaces can interact in a practical sense with formal planning systems and urban policies. To do so, it analyses a European project implemented in Rome aimed at fostering temporary activities in public space and reactivating several disused areas by directly involving the local community. The paper proposes a few observations touching on two issues: firstly, whether the temporary use of disused space can be a practical opportunity to not only re-design urban space but also establish a new governance model. Secondly, whether such practices can effectively address the needs and aspirations of citizens, as a precondition for improving quality of life in the city. • The paper analyses the spatial opportunities and the social implications of temporary uses in urban areas. • It investigates the strategic role of temporary uses in urban regeneration. • It analyses the EU project TUTUR, which aims to promote temporary uses, paving the way to new experimentation models. • It explores the potentialities and limitations of these practices and their possible transfer to other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A 3D microclimatic model in ENVI-met is used to simulate a misted urban area. • The model predicts accurately the horizontal and vertical air temperature distribution. • Wind speed plays a major role both in terms of cooling capacity and influence area. • Water flow rate and height of injection can be tuned to regulate the cooling capacity. Among water-based mitigation strategies against urban overheating, dry mist systems are especially promising, given their local impact, cost-effectiveness and controllability. Intense cooling capacity has been reported under a variety of climates, however, there is a growing need to define specific design guidelines towards an informed and optimized use of the technology. Parametric analysis on validated models would assist in determining type and degree of correlation between key parameters, as well as magnitude and predictability of the cooling capacity. In this paper, for the first time, a 3D microclimatic model in ENVI-met is used to simulate a misting system installed in Rome, Italy, with high prediction accuracy for the air temperature (R2≃0.87, RMSE≃0.84 °C). The calibrated ENVI-met model is used then to perform parameterizations on the water mist system, focused on the role of three key design variables: i) water flow rate, ii) injection height and iii) local wind speed. Results show that the most significant thermal drops tend to occur close but out of the misted perimeter following the wind direction, with cooling effects further stretched for tens of meters. The cooling capacity increases with the total water flow rate (+0.2 °C per 10 l/h increment) and in presence of calm air (+35–40% per 0.8 m/s deceleration). Lower injections intensify the cooling a pedestrian height, which could be especially beneficial under windy conditions. Further research would target climate dependencies to extend the applicability of the above results and build up cohesive guidelines at the hands of urban planners and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerical weather prediction models require an accurate parametrization of the energy budget at the air-ground interface, that can be obtained only through long-term atmospheric boundary layer measurements at different spatial and temporal scales. Despite their importance, such measurements are still scarce even in well-characterized areas. In this paper, a three-year dataset from four micrometeorological stations run by the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Lazio was analyzed to estimate albedo, zero-displacement height, roughness length and surface properties over Rome and its suburbs, characterizing differences and interconnections between urban, suburban and rural areas of the same municipality. The integral albedo coefficient at the zenith for the urban station was found to be almost twice that for suburban and rural stations. The zero-displacement height of the urban site was strongly dependent on wind direction, with values varying between 12.0 and 17.8 m, while the roughness length (≈1.5 m) was almost independent of upwind direction, but it was significantly higher than the typical values calculated for rural stations (≈0.4 m). The apparent thermal capacities and thermal conductivity at all the non-urban sites were in fair agreement with each other and typical of soils with relatively low water content, as expected for a relatively dry Mediterranean area like Rome, while the apparent thermal diffusivity reflected the presence of different soil types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]