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Adaptation to climate change raises important governance issues in terms of governance structures and mechanisms, stakeholders’ involvement, and links with the existing and wider-scale strategies. Notwithstanding the increasing attention at the global and European level, precise recommendations for the governance of climate change at the geographical macro-regional level are still lacking. Macro-regions span several states with some common morphological or climatic features and adopt wider-scale strategies which are not mandatory or do not take sufficient account of the specificities of any included regions. Each region is differently administered and adopts specific climate adaptation strategies for addressing just the challenges of the territories they govern, without considering the effects on the neighbouring ones. They also decentralize the climate policies towards the lowest levels of government, and this has increased the number of local bodies involved and promoted the participation of non-governmental players and citizens. Within the macro-regions, local climate conditions and their changes can be similar; however, their impacts can vary significantly at the individual territory level, and their effects can extend beyond traditional administrative boundaries. Dealing with these changes is particularly challenging in the Alpine area, which extends across 48 regions/autonomous provinces belonging to eight different European countries and is governed by three different international/transnational strategies. This territory represents a fragile ecosystem due to the current climate changes, which have influenced the climate conditions differently at the local level, as well as the richness of natural resources, and the opportunity to exploit them for economic reasons. South Tyrol (IT) is one of the autonomous provinces located in this area that is currently addressing the expected and unexpected impacts of climate change. Unlike other Italian Alpine regions, this region boasts a wider legislative autonomy, which enables the creation of more targeted climate adaptation policies and their decentralisation to the lowest level of administration, including the non-governmental players and citizens. As a result, the climate adaptation governance framework appears complex and hard to govern due to the plurality of actors and governmental levels at Alpine and regional/provincial levels. The present article sheds light on this framework, analysing specifically the three above-mentioned governance issues: governance structures, stakeholders’ involvement mechanisms, and links with the existing wider-scales strategies. While discussing these topics, it then refers specifically to South Tyrol for the case study. Based on the documental analysis of the climate adaptation strategies and resultant findings, the preferred governance mechanism for addressing the specific climate adaptation challenges of Alpine regions would involve adopting some of the regulations included in regional mono-sectoral plans. These regulations do not relate to wider-scale strategies at the macro-regional level and refer just to the administered territories. The participation of local institutions and citizens in defining and implementing these regulations is limited and not incentivized. Although important, interactions across Alpine, national, and sub-national policy domains are limited. These limitations are revealed in South Tyrol and partially also in other European Alpine regions.
Valentina Cattivelli. Climate Adaptation Strategies and Associated Governance Structures in Mountain Areas. The Case of the Alpine Regions. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2810 .
AMA StyleValentina Cattivelli. Climate Adaptation Strategies and Associated Governance Structures in Mountain Areas. The Case of the Alpine Regions. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (5):2810.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValentina Cattivelli. 2021. "Climate Adaptation Strategies and Associated Governance Structures in Mountain Areas. The Case of the Alpine Regions." Sustainability 13, no. 5: 2810.
This paper describes the measures adopted by Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna (two Italian regions) for planning their peri-urban areas at regional level. Peri-urban territories merge urban and rural features and extend beyond the municipal administrative boundaries. This prevents their precise delimitation, as well as the adoption of municipal plans for their governance that are coherent with their spatial, economic and social development. As a consequence, many municipal authorities do not give significant attention to these territories and adopt territorial plans that are exclusively based on the urban-rural dichotomy or land-use micro-transformations. Since their jurisdiction extends to a supra-municipal level, the regions could play a decisive role in peri-urban governance. This is the case of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions, among the few in Italy to have drawn up specific legislative and planning documents aimed at supporting the spatial urban-rural equilibrium in the urban fringes. As demonstrated at the end of a documental analysis concerning spatial planning laws and plans, both regions have experimented with specific measures to address the agro-environmental balance and urban regeneration in peri-urban areas, but they do not delimit them spatially or adopt specific measures for their governance. Furthermore, they do not engage in joint regulation or planning of the urban macro-region that extends across their regional territories, from Varese (North Lombardy) to Rimini (South-East Emilia-Romagna), resulting from the merging of their peri-urban areas.
Valentina Cattivelli. Planning peri-urban areas at regional level: The experience of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna (Italy). Land Use Policy 2021, 103, 105282 .
AMA StyleValentina Cattivelli. Planning peri-urban areas at regional level: The experience of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna (Italy). Land Use Policy. 2021; 103 ():105282.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValentina Cattivelli. 2021. "Planning peri-urban areas at regional level: The experience of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna (Italy)." Land Use Policy 103, no. : 105282.
Recent economic, demographic, and spatial changes have profoundly modified urban and rural areas and generated new territories, characterized by varying degrees of urbanity. The classification methods traditionally used to identify them are based on the distinction between urban and non-urban areas and are no longer functional to describe the territorial outcomes of these transformations. New methods have therefore been formulated and implemented in recent years to replace them. EUROSTAT has developed and updated periodically its own methods, intended to methodologically support scholars to read territorial diversities and transformations. Being the basis for the production of official statistics and data comparison between regions, these methods have fully replaced all the other methods that singular statistical offices of European countries had previously developed. Several government institutions began adopting specific territorial classifications in their strategic planning documents. These methods differed from those implemented by statistical offices, providing a more accurate and detailed framework for national and regional policies. This also happened in Italy, with ISTAT (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica—National Statistical Office) and many governmental institutions (e.g., National Government Institutions, Department for Economic Development and Cohesion, Ministry for Agricultural Policies, National Rural Network), experimenting with their own urban–rural classification methods to map all or part of the Italian territory. This paper offers an overview of the methods formulated and implemented in Italy over the last 15 years by ISTAT and governmental institutions. During this time, these institutions have developed six different methods to define urban and rural territories and to delimit territories with several degrees of urbanization, such as peri-urban areas. Specifically, ISTAT uses the EUROSTAT method to produce international and national statistics. Governmental institutions adopt methods based on economic and demographic data, which identify various territorial categories in addition to urban/rural ones, in their strategic planning documents. These findings result from desk research based on an analysis of official documents and scientific papers.
Valentina Cattivelli. Institutional Methods for the Identification of Urban and Rural Areas—A Review for Italy. Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions 2021, 187 -207.
AMA StyleValentina Cattivelli. Institutional Methods for the Identification of Urban and Rural Areas—A Review for Italy. Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions. 2021; ():187-207.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValentina Cattivelli. 2021. "Institutional Methods for the Identification of Urban and Rural Areas—A Review for Italy." Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions , no. : 187-207.
Food security faces many multifaceted challenges, with effects ranging far beyond the sectors of agriculture and food science and involving all the multiscale components of sustainability. This paper puts forward our point of view about more sustainable and responsible approaches to food production research underlying the importance of knowledge and social innovation in agroecological practices. Increased demand for food worldwide and the diversification of food choices would suggest the adoption of highly productive, but low-resilient and unsustainable food production models. However, new perspectives are possible. These include the revitalization and valorization of family-based traditional agriculture and the promotion of diversified farming systems as a social and economic basis to foster social-ecological conversion. Additionally, they encompass the forecasting of the Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) and the drafting of a new agenda for food sovereignty. Thanks to a desk analysis, the study describes and discusses these perspectives, their trajectories and action research implications. The results suggest the need to adopt a more inclusive and systemic approach to the described problems, as the solutions require the promotion of responsibility within decision makers, professionals and consumers. This appears essential for reading, analyzing and understanding the complex ecological-functional, social and economic relations that characterize farming systems, as well as mobilizing local communities.
Livia Marchetti; Valentina Cattivelli; Claudia Cocozza; Fabio Salbitano; Marco Marchetti. Beyond Sustainability in Food Systems: Perspectives from Agroecology and Social Innovation. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7524 .
AMA StyleLivia Marchetti, Valentina Cattivelli, Claudia Cocozza, Fabio Salbitano, Marco Marchetti. Beyond Sustainability in Food Systems: Perspectives from Agroecology and Social Innovation. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (18):7524.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLivia Marchetti; Valentina Cattivelli; Claudia Cocozza; Fabio Salbitano; Marco Marchetti. 2020. "Beyond Sustainability in Food Systems: Perspectives from Agroecology and Social Innovation." Sustainability 12, no. 18: 7524.
This paper draws on the theoretical framework based on social innovation determinants to analyze how and to what extent the recent and self-organized initiatives for food provisioning are contributing to increase food accessibility at the time of personal and mobility restrictions due to Covid-19. Based on this, the paper firstly maps the initiatives activated during the first months of the Covid-19 emergency (March and April 2020) in the urban–rural territories in the province of Naples (Italy). Secondly, it characterizes these initiatives in relation to their capacity to enhance outcome and social well-being, as well as to involve local society in answer to social challenges through a desk research. Thirdly, the paper describes the case of Masseria Ferraioli, which emerges as social innovative best practice among the previous mapped initiatives. Even in these days, the Masseria distributes to people who cannot afford the purchase due to the emergency vegetables grown on land confiscated from the Camorra, the local mafia. Its configuration as social innovative experience is also confirmed directly by the Masseria´s project manager, who was required to answer to a semi-structured interview. Based on the evidence of the desk research and this interview, the paper demonstrates the importance of the combined commitment of local communities and volunteering association as a reaction to food provisioning problems in the time of Covid-19, as well as an increasing interest in reconnecting with local food practices, above all when food access has become a priority.
Valentina Cattivelli; Vincenzo Rusciano. Social Innovation and Food Provisioning during Covid-19: The Case of Urban–Rural Initiatives in the Province of Naples. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4444 .
AMA StyleValentina Cattivelli, Vincenzo Rusciano. Social Innovation and Food Provisioning during Covid-19: The Case of Urban–Rural Initiatives in the Province of Naples. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (11):4444.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValentina Cattivelli; Vincenzo Rusciano. 2020. "Social Innovation and Food Provisioning during Covid-19: The Case of Urban–Rural Initiatives in the Province of Naples." Sustainability 12, no. 11: 4444.
Urban gardens have attracted considerable academic attention in recent years. Several studies have, in fact, emphasized their positive contribution in terms of social integration, community health, urban regeneration, and food security, and explored individual gardeners´ motivations behind these practices. While these topics are well-documented with reference to metropolitan urban areas, few studies have been carried out in relation to other contexts such as mountain areas. This limited interest is probably due to the reduced urbanization of these areas, a preference for other forms of horticulture (essentially those practiced in people’s own homes) or the use of different solutions to mitigate the negative effects of social problems. The recent proliferation of urban gardens in South Tyrol (IT) makes this mountain province an interesting laboratory for practices and narratives associated with socially innovative urban gardening experiences. This paper presents a characterization of all urban gardening initiatives in South Tyrol through cartographical representation. It explains gardeners´ and public institutions´ motivations, as well as non-gardeners’ perceptions of urban gardening. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in the various South Tyrolean municipalities where urban gardening projects have been undertaken. The results suggest the great importance of the social and environmental aspect of urban gardens, and an interest in reconnecting with food practices even when food access is not a priority.
Valentina Cattivelli. The Motivation of Urban Gardens in Mountain Areas. The Case of South Tyrol. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4304 .
AMA StyleValentina Cattivelli. The Motivation of Urban Gardens in Mountain Areas. The Case of South Tyrol. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (10):4304.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValentina Cattivelli. 2020. "The Motivation of Urban Gardens in Mountain Areas. The Case of South Tyrol." Sustainability 12, no. 10: 4304.
Interest in urban gardening is growing as a means of enhancing social contact and reusing urban spaces. This practice in fact has positive effects in social and environmental terms. Positive effects include the increased social integration of people at risk of exclusion (elderly people, above all), the reduction of anthropic pressure on natural resources (the soil in particular) as well as the green requalification of vacant spaces. Because of these effects, urban gardening has spread especially in extensively urbanized and metropolitan areas where land consumption and pollution are more intensive, and also social distress and loneliness are more diffuse. Milan, New York and Barcelona are just a few examples of large metropolises where urban gardening is widely spread. On the contrary, urban gardens are not very common in mountainous areas, within which the reduced anthropic pressure and the permanence of communities of people who still help each other act as inhibitors. The regional graphic in this paper illustrates the spatial distribution of urban gardens in South Tyrol, a mountainous region in the north of Italy. Here, urban gardens are few and unevenly distributed. They are mainly concentrated in large municipalities and the provincial capital situated at a relatively low altitude above sea level (five of the eight municipalities with urban gardens which have answered to our investigation are situated on average at 250 m). They are absent in mountain municipalities above higher altitudes (from 1000 m upwards).
Valentina Cattivelli. The urban gardens in South Tyrol (IT): spatial distribution and some considerations about their role on mitigating the effects of ageing and urbanization. Regional Studies, Regional Science 2020, 7, 206 -209.
AMA StyleValentina Cattivelli. The urban gardens in South Tyrol (IT): spatial distribution and some considerations about their role on mitigating the effects of ageing and urbanization. Regional Studies, Regional Science. 2020; 7 (1):206-209.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValentina Cattivelli. 2020. "The urban gardens in South Tyrol (IT): spatial distribution and some considerations about their role on mitigating the effects of ageing and urbanization." Regional Studies, Regional Science 7, no. 1: 206-209.
Mountain farming is a major disseminator of (agri)-cultural values in the Alps (Kianicka et al 2010); however, due to current agro-structural transformations, its role in promoting these values is changing (EUROMONTANA 2018).
Verena Gramm; Christian Hoffmann; Valentina Cattivelli. Transmitting and Transforming (Agri)-Cultural Values of Mountain Farming: Farm-Based Educational Services in South Tyrol. Mountain Research and Development 2019, 39, D21 .
AMA StyleVerena Gramm, Christian Hoffmann, Valentina Cattivelli. Transmitting and Transforming (Agri)-Cultural Values of Mountain Farming: Farm-Based Educational Services in South Tyrol. Mountain Research and Development. 2019; 39 (4):D21.
Chicago/Turabian StyleVerena Gramm; Christian Hoffmann; Valentina Cattivelli. 2019. "Transmitting and Transforming (Agri)-Cultural Values of Mountain Farming: Farm-Based Educational Services in South Tyrol." Mountain Research and Development 39, no. 4: D21.
An evaluation of the effect of the conservation agriculture (CA) on agro-environmental aspects is needed at the farm scale in intensive production systems, which are likely prone to reduce soil fertility. Here, as part of the HelpSoil LIFE+ Project and involving 20 farms in the Po valley (Northern Italy), we have estimated the soil organic carbon (SOC) content, SOC stock, crop yield, biological fertility, soil biodiversity, and economic efficiency under different agricultural systems (CA and conventional, CvtA) at the beginning (March 2014) and end (October 2016) of the experimental period. CA was mostly represented by no-till practice (NT) coupled with the cultivation of winter cover crops. Minimum tillage (MT) was considered as CA or CvtA practice according to the farm design. The CA practices have been implemented on the monitored farms at different times (Long-term = before 2006, Medium-term = between 2006 and 2013, Short-term = after 2013). A direct comparison between CA and CvtA of soil-related variables, yields, and costs was performed on 14 out of the 20 farms; data were statistically treated with a linear mixed model. Overall, CA resulted in significantly higher SOC content, SOC stock, biological fertility, QBS-ar, and earthworms for the Medium-term group. Considering the effect of tillage practices observed on the 20 farms, SOC content was the highest in NT for the Long-term group. The biological fertility index was higher in NT and MT compared to CvtA within the Long-term and Medium-term groups in 2016. QBS-ar was the higher in MT and NT than CvtA for the Long-term and Medium-Term groups. The number of earthworms was the highest under NT for the Long-term group. Maize, winter wheat, and soybeans yields were generally 1 t ha−1 higher in CvtA than in CA, but this did not reach statistical significance. The cost for herbicides was 18% more expensive in NT, whereas the fuel consumption and total costs for weeding operations did not differ between NT and CvtA. The overall outcome of the analysis was that CA is a viable solution for intensive farms in the monitored area, but further skills need still to be acquired in to enhance its economic feasibility.
A. Perego; A. Rocca; Valentina Cattivelli; Vincenzo Tabaglio; Andrea Fiorini; S. Barbieri; Calogero Schillaci; M.E. Chiodini; S. Brenna; Marco Acutis. Agro-environmental aspects of conservation agriculture compared to conventional systems: A 3-year experience on 20 farms in the Po valley (Northern Italy). Agricultural Systems 2018, 168, 73 -87.
AMA StyleA. Perego, A. Rocca, Valentina Cattivelli, Vincenzo Tabaglio, Andrea Fiorini, S. Barbieri, Calogero Schillaci, M.E. Chiodini, S. Brenna, Marco Acutis. Agro-environmental aspects of conservation agriculture compared to conventional systems: A 3-year experience on 20 farms in the Po valley (Northern Italy). Agricultural Systems. 2018; 168 ():73-87.
Chicago/Turabian StyleA. Perego; A. Rocca; Valentina Cattivelli; Vincenzo Tabaglio; Andrea Fiorini; S. Barbieri; Calogero Schillaci; M.E. Chiodini; S. Brenna; Marco Acutis. 2018. "Agro-environmental aspects of conservation agriculture compared to conventional systems: A 3-year experience on 20 farms in the Po valley (Northern Italy)." Agricultural Systems 168, no. : 73-87.
Today, the suburban is the predominant portion of each area. It combines the main features of urban and rural areas and it is therefore difficult to locate. Despite these difficulties, the policy makers should zone their territories and incorporate the results in the existing planning instruments. The distinction among territories is important to better orient local actions. This paper proposes aims to understand how some Italian regional legislators have defined the surrounding areas in their zoning laws and plans in force.
Valentina Cattivelli. Defining periurban areas: la previsione di questi territori negli strumenti urbanistici di alcune regioni italiane. Aestimum 2014, 79 -93.
AMA StyleValentina Cattivelli. Defining periurban areas: la previsione di questi territori negli strumenti urbanistici di alcune regioni italiane. Aestimum. 2014; ():79-93.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValentina Cattivelli. 2014. "Defining periurban areas: la previsione di questi territori negli strumenti urbanistici di alcune regioni italiane." Aestimum , no. : 79-93.