Urban green planning in Europe is of crucial importance for the sustainability of cities. Despite the existence of numerous best practices, in Italy the integration between green plans and urban planning tools still presents difficulties. This study focused on an analysis of Italian case studies that have engaged in innovative urban planning, assigning green areas a strategic role in the development of cities. The comparative analysis involved the green plans of Torino and Bolzano and the local urban plans of Prato and Bologna. The selection of cases was based on a multifaceted evaluation framework encompassing reference regulatory context, plan nature, environmental characterisation, vision and main objectives, priorities and implementation tools, communication and participation, and monitoring and management. Analysis of these case studies led to the identification of best practices for integrating human and environmental dimensions in local urban planning. However, the results indicate that integration of urban greening and local planning policies is frequently impeded by regulatory discrepancies and the varying impact capabilities of urban planning instruments. Despite the limited nature of the sample analysed, the study proposes a model of synergy between urban greening and local planning, suggesting an opportunity to create innovative interpretative and evaluative criteria for regulatory plans.

In a context of environmental and socio-economic challenges, metropolitan areas represent a fundamental territorial scale for addressing cohesion, competitiveness, and sustainability, key priorities in European territorial development. Accessibility to services is crucial, as it reflects the right to full citizenship, particularly in territories where attractive urban centres coexist with peripheral areas. Balancing these dynamics is a major challenge for metropolitan governance and planning, especially in Italy, where Metropolitan Cities (MCs) have been institutionalised for over a decade. This paper examines spatial structure, accessibility, and governance through a comparative analysis of three Italian MCs in the Po Valley macro-region, a polycentric system along the Mediterranean Corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network. Despite overall interconnections, the MCs display different settlement and accessibility patterns. The Metropolitan City of Turin is selected as a case study for its territorial diversity, metropolitan-mountainous character, misalignment between administrative and functional boundaries, and accessibility limitations. The research examines current planning instruments and governance-government arrangements of the case study in addressing these challenges. Findings, framed within the decadal review of Italian MCs, emphasise the need for greater coordination between plans, policies and programmes, combined with strengthened inter-municipal collaboration and territorial representation, to support a multi-level governance framework capable of coherent, effective, and balanced metropolitan development.