How can urban policies and planning approaches help in achieving a safer mobility and carbon reduction in the transport sector? The attention of planners and policy makers towards the promotion of sustainability and reduction of environmental impacts has grown in recent years. This paper investigates the role that Urban Planning plays in the long term towards a safer and climate friendlier mobility, highlighting the need for integrated approaches gathering spatial planning and mobility management. After a review of several urban policies and planning strategies, initiatives, and approaches, mainly based on the urban scale, the paper presents an urban regeneration case study leading to an increase of pedestrian accessibility at the neighborhood level. This can be seen as a support tool to foster sustainable, safe, and climate friendly mobility in cities. The results of the performed analysis show a dependency of accessibility from two different factors: the distribution of services and the capillarity of the soft mobility network, which can contribute to creating a more walkable space.

In this article, we aim to promote a methodology to analyze the effects of urban regeneration in historical sites. Different case studies are observed in depth, and they allow us to understand certain aspects concerning ex-post and ex-ante assessments. This methodology, which is supported by Geographic Information System (GIS) software and an online database, is based on different phases: the first is the quantification of the resources employed within the process, giving attention to the policies that are the basis for social and environmental changes. Then, the analysis moves to the effects of the interventions. In particular, the goal of the methodology was to understand how different urban operations can contribute to creating public value, and importance was given to the available tools for public bodies to develop partnerships and to capture that value. With the ex-post assessment, it was feasible to compare the situations before and after the realization of the projects, whereas, with the ex-ante assessment, it was viable to assess different possible development scenarios and compare them with the baseline of the current situation. The methodology was tested for the ex-post assessment case study of the city of Porto (PT) and for the ex-ante assessment case study of the city of Brescia (IT).

The paper aims to explore the possibilities to enhance the efficiency of land use, considering the evolution of land take (LT), and proposes the use of public value capture (PVC) instruments in selected differently experienced countries. This answers two fundamental questions. How is the concept of LT positioned in relation to the environmental policy of Europe? Which PVC instruments could stimulate more efficient land use? The aim of this article is to identify which tools can guide the transformations of the urban environment by promoting more efficient land use. These tools have been identified in the mechanisms for capturing value as they can pursue the goal of a more attractive net LT. For these reasons, the article initially analyzes the spread of the problem of land consumption, at a European level, showing how this phenomenon is very diversified not only between individual states, but also within each nation. In addition, the knowledge system to define the main initiatives and actions aimed at orienting urban development in the direction of reducing land consumption is highlighted. Subsequently, the theoretical framework concerning the issues relating to the capture of public value in urban planning operations is illustrated. The case studies representing the various European contexts are then introduced, and for each case the dynamics of urban development were analyzed. It has been done in relation to the evolution of the regulatory apparatus of territorial governance and its transformations. On the basis of this analysis, indicators have been defined. Their goal is to allow comparing the results that emerged from the case study analysis, which would otherwise have been inconsistent. In this way, it is possible to demonstrate how land use is more efficient in countries where PVC tools are used systemically and how these tools make it easier to guide urban transformations in line with the principles of sustainable development.

This article aims to relate intrinsic aspects of urban planning that are becoming increasingly important both within the international scientific debate and within urban planning tools. These aspects are land consumption and land value capture. Their centrality is given by the growing importance that in recent years have assumed the aspects related to the sustainable development of settlements. This article aims to summarize the main theories regarding the relationship between the efficiency of land use and the policies of capturing public value. The reference scenario is dictated by sustainable development policies that, if contextualized in the sphere of urban development, imply a rational use of resources to ensure the formation of resilient, safe, and inclusive settlements. This aspect introduces the existing link between urban form and sustainability. It is therefore understood how the achievement of the targets set at the international level are implemented in local urban policies. For this reason, many scholars have argued that the challenge of adapting to new pressures, such as climate change, necessarily means creating efficient urban settlements. The question becomes: which land use can be considered more efficient than the others? This article intends to answer this question by investigating the main theories that have tried to define the mechanisms and methods of comparison of different urban development scenarios. The article goes on to reconstruct the steps that have helped to evaluate urban development according to purely fiscal aspects up to the introduction of qualitative aspects related to public value. To do so, it analyzes the terms and tools related to the concepts of public value and the capture of public value and attempts to synthesize the main theories and research in the sector.