The present paper was prompted by the activity carried out within the scope of an EU-funded project (WARMEST). It calls to analyse the reasons for the degradation of the Patio de Los Leones, which attracts over 2 million tourists per year to Granada in Spain. We review here the most advanced studies and regulations on the assessment of the social impact of mass tourism and present a novel methodology to analyse its effects. We dug into the material available on social networks—especially feedback to posts published on major relevant sites—and got a comprehensive picture of the thoughts that were expressed there and a comprehensive assessment of the citizens’ opinion on the social impact of tourism in Granada. Thus, we obtained a new indicator called “C.1.2 index modified”, which measures the level of dissatisfaction of citizens with the tourists’ pressure; we propose to replace the existing ETIS index with C.1.2, which is mainly based on direct surveys that are often carried out with very limited resources. At the end of the research, we could point out topics that are especially important to the citizens, thus allowing us to define a strategic action plan with a bottom-up approach.

BIM technologies provide tools and processes to support the entire life of a project effectively, from strategic planning to maintenance. Although this method takes its first steps in the architectural field and also infrastructure design processes currently make frequent use of BIM tools. This paper aims to apply the BIM oriented design method to the underground railway extension in the metropolitan area of Catania in order to show the potential of BIM tools in managing all the components of a multi-disciplinary infrastructure project.

In recent years, the concept of transit-oriented development (TOD) is increasingly applied to urban development based on the principles of smart growth and sustainable development. The growing complexity of urban systems and metropolitan areas requires an integrated strategic vision. This means addressing the issues of mobility and accessibility and their impact on the urban environment. Catania metropolitan area is characterized by a highly urbanized settlement with high percentage of urban sprawl. The General Master Plan of the city, shaped in 1964 and finally endorsed in 1969, severely reduced the opportunity for new developments by allocating areas for new urban facilities. The process of urban sprawl is mainly characterized by residential settlements. This aspect together with an inadequate road network and an insufficient public transport service brought to the growth of private cars on the roads, generating serious traffic congestion and making Catania based on a car-oriented model. Lately these conditions are changing as a consequence of the development of the underground metro network that connects the main city’s service centers like the hospitals, the university (and soon also the Airport) to the city center. To achieve sustainable transportation and resolve the aforementioned problems, we have applied TOD criteria to some of the main city’s transport junctions (selected using the Multi Criteria Decision Aid methodology) in order to fulfills the principle of sustainable transportation.

The goal of this paper is to present a methodology for setting priorities among interventions in the old city center of Florence, going from the conservation to the regeneration of its heritage. The proposed methodology is based on specific methods of analysis of degradation and parameters for the optimization of construction costs. The methodology can be considered an additional part of the Management Plan of the site of the Historic Center of Florence (adopted for the first time in 2016 and now updated with the inclusion of a buffer zone) that “represents an important tool for the conservation and enhancement of the Heritage and is also a source of address for the choices that the Administration is called to adopt regarding the use of the city and its spaces”. The application of the method, in addition to being in harmony with some of the action projects of the second macro-area of the new Management Plan, also has points of contact with the provisions of the Municipal Operational Plan that provides for a reinterpretation of the existing building heritage. From the monitoring of individual buildings, aimed at their preservation, we will move to study the relationships that promote the creation of joint construction sites, thus optimizing costs.