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Dr. Sergio Serra
DICAAR, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, Via Santa Croce 67, 09124 Cagliari, Italy

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0 Cultural Heritage
0 Ecosystem Services
0 Land Use Planning
0 Landscape Planning
0 Urban Regeneration

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Cultural Heritage
Landscape Planning
Ecosystem Services
Urban Regeneration
Urban and regional planning

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Journal article
Published: 29 June 2021 in Sustainability
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In Italy, after the introduction of the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape in 2004, the Regional Landscape Plan (RLP) has acquired a coordination role in the urban planning system, for the implementation of policies for landscape protection and valorisation. The case study of the RLP of Sardinia is a paradigmatic application to the coastal area of the island, which is considered most vulnerable and subject to settlement pressure. The objectives of preservation and valorisation of the territorial resources should be transferred into local planning instruments by adopting strategies aimed at the preservation of the consolidated urban fabric, at the requalification and completion of the existing built-up areas according to the principles of land take limitation and increase in urban quality. The paper investigates the state of implementation and the level of integration of landscape contents in the local plans that have been adapted to the RLP, using a qualitative comparative method. In addition, the results of the plan coherence checks, elaborated by the regional monitoring bodies after the adaptation process, have been analysed to identify the common criticalities and weaknesses. The results highlight the lack of effectiveness of the RLP, after more than a decade since its approval, considering the limited number of adequate local plans and the poor quality of their analytical and regulative contents in terms of landscape protection and valorisation. Conclusions suggest some possible ways to revise the RLP, focusing on the participation of local communities and the development of a new landscape culture.

ACS Style

Anna Colavitti; Alessio Floris; Sergio Serra. Mind the Gap: Why the Landscape Planning System in Sardinia Does Not Work. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7300 .

AMA Style

Anna Colavitti, Alessio Floris, Sergio Serra. Mind the Gap: Why the Landscape Planning System in Sardinia Does Not Work. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (13):7300.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Colavitti; Alessio Floris; Sergio Serra. 2021. "Mind the Gap: Why the Landscape Planning System in Sardinia Does Not Work." Sustainability 13, no. 13: 7300.

Journal article
Published: 11 May 2021 in City, Territory and Architecture
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In recent years, the influence of neoliberal principles has led to an experimental application of new market-oriented approaches in the field of urban studies, in order to achieve different objectives of public interest, from the compensation of land use restrictions to the acquisition of areas for public services. Also in Italy, the use of equalization and non-financial compensation mechanisms has been influenced by internationally consolidated models, such as the Transfer of Development Rights programs (TDR). The key issue concerns the legal autonomy of development rights from land ownership, allowing their trade in the municipal market and thus, in theory, balancing private and public benefits. The scientific debate focuses on the several opportunities, in terms of planning effectiveness and flexibility, but also envisages the risk to generate unfairness, deregulation and other speculations. The paper aims to assess the positive and negative impacts of a generalized use of TDR in the urban governance and in the real estate market, adopting a case study research method. The experience of Milan has been investigated, analyzing the municipal registry of development rights. The results highlight strengths and weaknesses of the market of development rights application, in particular the risk of encouraging real estate speculation, in the same way as financial markets. Conclusions suggest the need of a more effective integration of market-based tools in the planning and regulatory framework, avoiding that their uncontrolled use could weaken the role of public authority in the local government.

ACS Style

Sergio Serra. Urban planning and the market of development rights in Italy: learning from Milan. City, Territory and Architecture 2021, 8, 1 -17.

AMA Style

Sergio Serra. Urban planning and the market of development rights in Italy: learning from Milan. City, Territory and Architecture. 2021; 8 (1):1-17.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sergio Serra. 2021. "Urban planning and the market of development rights in Italy: learning from Milan." City, Territory and Architecture 8, no. 1: 1-17.

Journal article
Published: 02 April 2021 in Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning
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Landscape has acquired great importance in the urban and territorial policies of European countries after the European Landscape Convention. Italy has a long tradition in the protection of landscape and cultural heritage, characterised by a particular attention to the history and the identity culture of the communities. The main rule in this field, the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape of 2004 (Urbani Code), refers to a mix of environmental, cultural, and social factors belonging to different types of natural and urban landscapes that Regional Landscape Plans have to identify, sharing with local communities. The most important innovation concerns the attempt to overcome the binding and regulatory approach, only focused on protection constraints, in order to generate high awareness about the identity value of landscape and to encourage a more democratic community participation in the landscape policies. The ineffectiveness of landscape policies is often due to the lack of sharing of the landscape vision and planning approaches established at regional level, with local authorities and settled communities. This paper reflects on the topic of inter-institutional collaboration between national, regional, and local authorities, by focusing on the process of adaptation of urban local plans to the regional landscape plans and comparing different regional contexts. The article highlights a strong delay in the approval of regional landscape plans and a relevant inter-institutional conflict in the co-planning phase with the national authority, leading to the ineffectiveness of landscape plans in the transfer of regional landscape planning guidelines to the local landscape scale, with relevant consequences on territorial government, between conservative measures and transformation drivers.

ACS Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. Regional Landscape Planning and Local Planning. Insights from the Italian Context. Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning 2021, SI, 81 -91.

AMA Style

Anna Maria Colavitti, Sergio Serra. Regional Landscape Planning and Local Planning. Insights from the Italian Context. Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning. 2021; SI (7):81-91.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. 2021. "Regional Landscape Planning and Local Planning. Insights from the Italian Context." Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning SI, no. 7: 81-91.

Journal article
Published: 27 October 2020 in City, Territory and Architecture
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In Europe, the debate on the recovery of the historic centres has been developed, over the years, around the balance between conservation and transformation needs in order to meet the new demands of the contemporary world. In the field of urban planning, the strictly conservative and binding approach has gradually been supported by flexible and consensual mechanisms that act as a stimulus to private initiative in the redevelopment and regeneration of the historic urban landscape. The consolidated Italian experience in the policies for the protection and enhancement of historical settlements is being significantly innovated after the entry into force of the Urbani Code, which extends the character of landscape heritage to the historic urban fabric, transferring to the regional authorities the task of establishing the specific regulations for its use and transformation. The Region of Sardinia has achieved an important role in the implementation of policies for the recovery and redevelopment of the historic centres identified by the Regional Landscape Plan (RLP). The common and consolidated practice is still characterized by the use of traditional regulative instruments, in particular the detailed plan, which provide rules for the requalification of the compromised urban fabrics through a set of rules and guidelines to be applied to the replacement of recent buildings and the renovation of urban patterns that for density, ratios between solids and voids, heights, alignments and elevations are incompatible with the values of the context. The constraint and binding approach is effective in the conservation strategies but often inadequate to implement actions of integrated redevelopment of urban fabric altered by new buildings in contrast with the historic urban landscape features, also due to the global crisis situation and the shortage of public funding. The paper proposes the use of the non-financial compensation tool, based on the granting of bonus development rights to realising on site or in alternative locations, in order to encourage urban regeneration projects that also involve the replacement of buildings incompatible with historical urban landscape morphological patterns. The integration of a methodology for assessing the financial feasibility of the demolition and reconstruction of the incompatible structures in the planning process, as tested in the case study of Villasor municipality, has allowed the elaboration of a model to support the use of a compensation mechanism for the redevelopment of historical settlement values. In this perspective, the paper aims to investigate the opportunities provided by market-oriented and flexible approaches to support and promote private urban regeneration projects. In particular, it illustrates the experimental results of a methodology for the analysis of the urban fabric that takes into account the factors influencing the feasibility of the intervention of demolition and reconstruction of the incompatible buildings. Finally a model for the assessment of any bonus in terms of additional building capacity is suggested, to be granted to private operators as an incentive to ensure the cost-effectiveness of the project.

ACS Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. Non financial compensation for the redevelopment of the historic urban landscape: the case study of Villasor in Sardinia (Italy). City, Territory and Architecture 2020, 7, 1 -15.

AMA Style

Anna Maria Colavitti, Sergio Serra. Non financial compensation for the redevelopment of the historic urban landscape: the case study of Villasor in Sardinia (Italy). City, Territory and Architecture. 2020; 7 (1):1-15.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. 2020. "Non financial compensation for the redevelopment of the historic urban landscape: the case study of Villasor in Sardinia (Italy)." City, Territory and Architecture 7, no. 1: 1-15.

Conference paper
Published: 30 September 2020 in Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency XV
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The 2011 UNESCO Recommendation defines the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) as a stratification of historical, cultural and natural values, which broadens the notion of “historic centre” to include the social, environmental and economic components of the urban and geographical context. Italian urban planning has so far adopted a conservative and binding approach to the protection and valorisation of historic settlements. Regulatory planning tools have often failed to combine the protection of physical heritage with the general improvement of urban quality and socio-economic conditions. The limitations of traditional planning can be identified in the difficulty to interpret the urban complexity and in the lack of projects and actions monitoring. The paper investigates the critical issues arising from the application of the traditional planning models for the historic centre, focusing on the case study of the Sardinia Region. The objective of the study is to identify some fields of innovation in the use of planning tools, that take into consideration the characteristics of local contexts and the needs of communities, as recommended by UNESCO. New technologies can contribute to a regularly updated knowledge framework and to the involvement of private actors in regeneration projects. The study shows that the continuous evolution of socio-economic conditions in cities requires open and flexible decision-making based on the principles of sustainability, social inclusion and innovation. The conclusions highlight the need for a review of approaches and tools to give more dynamism and effectiveness to the planning process, including the integration of innovative methods and technologies.

ACS Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Alessio Floris; Sergio Serra. Challenges and Opportunities for the Historic Urban Landscape Planning. The Sardinia Region Case Study. Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency XV 2020, 12255, 407 -421.

AMA Style

Anna Maria Colavitti, Alessio Floris, Sergio Serra. Challenges and Opportunities for the Historic Urban Landscape Planning. The Sardinia Region Case Study. Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency XV. 2020; 12255 ():407-421.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Alessio Floris; Sergio Serra. 2020. "Challenges and Opportunities for the Historic Urban Landscape Planning. The Sardinia Region Case Study." Transactions on Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency XV 12255, no. : 407-421.

Journal article
Published: 20 March 2020 in Sustainability
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Human well-being is determined by multiple factors related to health, social relations, safety, environment, landscape, cultural heritage, and quality of services. The Italian planning system provided a set of “urban standards”, in terms of threshold values of areas per inhabitant destined for public services and facilities. The application of urban standards, for a period of more than fifty years, did not result in a broad improvement of life quality in the urban areas. This paper discusses the issue of urban facilities in Italy in order to evaluate the opportunity to innovate traditional standards according to the environmental and ecological paradigm, focusing on the benefits provided to humans by natural ecosystems, the so-called ecosystem services (ESs). The paper investigates the evolution of the Italian planning practice through the introduction of quality standards and innovative tools able to meet the ever-changing social demand. The research aims to verify if the ES concept is really implemented in the Italian planning practice and if the ecosystem approach has a real impact on political decision-making. Using a comparative method, four case-studies of urban municipal plans are selected and analyzed in order to identify different approaches and possible fields of innovation. The research highlighted a lack of integration of ecosystem services approach in the land use decisions, although there is an in-depth survey on the state of conservation of ecological and environmental resources. The local experiments of qualitative standards represent an attempt to deal with specific ecological emergencies, namely flood risk, air, water, and soil pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Conclusions discuss, from an international perspective, the need to revise the traditional planning approach in the field of public services and facilities, taking into account the influence of ecosystem services on human well-being.

ACS Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Alessio Floris; Sergio Serra. Urban Standards and Ecosystem Services: The Evolution of the Services Planning in Italy from Theory to Practice. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2434 .

AMA Style

Anna Maria Colavitti, Alessio Floris, Sergio Serra. Urban Standards and Ecosystem Services: The Evolution of the Services Planning in Italy from Theory to Practice. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (6):2434.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Alessio Floris; Sergio Serra. 2020. "Urban Standards and Ecosystem Services: The Evolution of the Services Planning in Italy from Theory to Practice." Sustainability 12, no. 6: 2434.

Journal article
Published: 19 February 2019 in Land Use Policy
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Using natural land for the transformation of settlements into extensive and sprinkled agglomerations is particularly clearly seen in the urban and the metropolitan contexts. The European Union provisions will move the European Countries towards the target of zero land-take by 2050, including regulatory measures and incentives to pursue this goal. This paper proposes to assess the effectiveness of the regulatory approach adopted by Italy for landscape planning. In particular, the Landscape Plan developed by Sardinia Region will be analysed. This one aims at limiting the urban expansion for the construction of new housing units only as a result of actual housing requirements that cannot be met only through the recovery and reuse of areas. Focusing on the case of Cagliari metropolitan city, the study assesses the increase in the urbanised areas as well as the incoherence among the demographic trends – the housing needs and the planning of new residential expansion in the municipal urban plans adapted to the Regional Landscape Plan. The research highlights the ineffectiveness of landscape planning regulation in the reduction of land-take phenomenon and the need for a strategy at the supra-municipal scale to coordinate urban demand planning.

ACS Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. THE ROLE OF REGULATION IN THE LAND-TAKE CONTROL. THE ITALIAN CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN CITY OF CAGLIARI. Land Use Policy 2019, 83, 270 -281.

AMA Style

Anna Maria Colavitti, Sergio Serra. THE ROLE OF REGULATION IN THE LAND-TAKE CONTROL. THE ITALIAN CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN CITY OF CAGLIARI. Land Use Policy. 2019; 83 ():270-281.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. 2019. "THE ROLE OF REGULATION IN THE LAND-TAKE CONTROL. THE ITALIAN CASE OF THE METROPOLITAN CITY OF CAGLIARI." Land Use Policy 83, no. : 270-281.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2018 in ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI
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ACS Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. Pianificazione paesaggistica e contenimento del consumo di suolo. Il caso dell'area metropolitana di Cagliari. ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI 2018, 75 -100.

AMA Style

Anna Maria Colavitti, Sergio Serra. Pianificazione paesaggistica e contenimento del consumo di suolo. Il caso dell'area metropolitana di Cagliari. ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI. 2018; (122):75-100.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. 2018. "Pianificazione paesaggistica e contenimento del consumo di suolo. Il caso dell'area metropolitana di Cagliari." ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI , no. 122: 75-100.

Articles
Published: 08 August 2018 in Planning Practice & Research
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Scientific literature points out the need for the heritage conservation disciplines to influence the research on the Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) in urban ecosystems. However, there are still some unclear points in this linkage that our study investigates through a comparative analysis of the integrated planning tools for the landscape and cultural heritage produced by Tuscany and Apulia, the most advanced Italian regions in this field. The paper encourages a debate on the techniques and indicators related to the cultural capital that the policy makers and researchers should consider when implementing the CES assessment for the urban ecosystem planning.

ACS Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Alessia Usai; Sergio Serra. Towards an Integrated Assessment of the Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Policy-Making for Urban Ecosystems: Lessons from the Spatial and Economic Planning for Landscape and Cultural Heritage in Tuscany and Apulia (IT). Planning Practice & Research 2018, 33, 441 -473.

AMA Style

Anna Maria Colavitti, Alessia Usai, Sergio Serra. Towards an Integrated Assessment of the Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Policy-Making for Urban Ecosystems: Lessons from the Spatial and Economic Planning for Landscape and Cultural Heritage in Tuscany and Apulia (IT). Planning Practice & Research. 2018; 33 (4):441-473.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Alessia Usai; Sergio Serra. 2018. "Towards an Integrated Assessment of the Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Policy-Making for Urban Ecosystems: Lessons from the Spatial and Economic Planning for Landscape and Cultural Heritage in Tuscany and Apulia (IT)." Planning Practice & Research 33, no. 4: 441-473.

Journal article
Published: 24 May 2017 in Papers in Regional Science
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In recent years many countries all over the world adopted a variety of preservation tools and market-oriented solutions to contain land consumption. Among these countries Italy slowly began to incorporate the principles of the free market into the urban planning programmes. The United States Transfer of development rights programmes (TDR) represent a reference point for a market-based approach in the field of environmental preservation policies. In this paper we compared the criteria successfully adopted by the US TDR programmes to the specifications adopted by the municipal plans of three important Italian cities (Milan, Rome and Florence) and we discussed their efficacy to control the urban growth.

ACS Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. The transfer of development rights as a tool for the urban growth containment: A comparison between the United States and Italy. Papers in Regional Science 2017, 97, 1247 -1265.

AMA Style

Anna Maria Colavitti, Sergio Serra. The transfer of development rights as a tool for the urban growth containment: A comparison between the United States and Italy. Papers in Regional Science. 2017; 97 (4):1247-1265.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. 2017. "The transfer of development rights as a tool for the urban growth containment: A comparison between the United States and Italy." Papers in Regional Science 97, no. 4: 1247-1265.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2016 in SCIENZE REGIONALI
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ACS Style

Annamaria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. Controllare l'impossibile. Urbanistica e consumo di suolo nella sfida per la città futura. SCIENZE REGIONALI 2016, 101 -122.

AMA Style

Annamaria Colavitti, Sergio Serra. Controllare l'impossibile. Urbanistica e consumo di suolo nella sfida per la città futura. SCIENZE REGIONALI. 2016; (1):101-122.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Annamaria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. 2016. "Controllare l'impossibile. Urbanistica e consumo di suolo nella sfida per la città futura." SCIENZE REGIONALI , no. 1: 101-122.

Journal article
Published: 01 August 2013 in ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI
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ACS Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. Il piano particolareggiato per il recupero del centro storico di Cagliari. prime considerazioni critiche sulla proposta di piano. ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI 2013, 74 -106.

AMA Style

Anna Maria Colavitti, Sergio Serra. Il piano particolareggiato per il recupero del centro storico di Cagliari. prime considerazioni critiche sulla proposta di piano. ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI. 2013; (107):74-106.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Anna Maria Colavitti; Sergio Serra. 2013. "Il piano particolareggiato per il recupero del centro storico di Cagliari. prime considerazioni critiche sulla proposta di piano." ARCHIVIO DI STUDI URBANI E REGIONALI , no. 107: 74-106.