Urban Landscapes : Environmental Networks and the Quality of Life

Today, more than 50% of the world's population lives in cities and is subject to particular environmental and economic impacts against the backdrop of an evolving planetary crisis. This book explores the intimate relationship between the quality of life of city dwellers and the quality of urban landscapes, including those regenerated through green spaces and environmental networks. Starting from the concept of "landscape" as defined by the European Landscape Convention (i.e. "an area, perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors"), it expands upon, in particular, the interactions between the different biotic and abiotic components that contribute to the quality of the landscape and the environment. In the first part of the book, the author examines fundamental concepts and discusses a variety of relevant topics, such as the city under transformation, waste spaces, smart communities, regeneration programs, the role of environmental networks, and new instruments for decision making. The second part is devoted to a case study of the Italian Adriatic city that highlights the need for interdisciplinary interaction among researchers in apparently disparate fields, including ecology, forest botany, chemistry, biology, geology, sociology, economics, architecture, and engineering.

Roberta Cocci Grifoni is graduated in Physics and completed a Ph. D in Applied Physics. She is actually researcher of Environmental Applied Physics and assistant professor, at School of Architecture and Design at Camerino University, Italy. Her investigation fields include air quality modelling, model evaluation techniques, sensitivity and uncertainty studies, models for environmental control, parametrization of the Planetary Boundary Layer, statistic filling and time series, computational fluid dynamic simulations, outdoor thermal comfort and energetic efficiency in buildings. She has participated in many researches in the field of environmental design, such as: LIFE+ Natura "SUN LIFE"; FAR Research Quality of the Landscape and Quality of Life in the Sustainable Adriatic City"; "Access2 Mountain" - South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme SEE/B/0007/3.1/X - "Sustainable mobility and tourism in sensitive areas of the Alps and the Carpathians. From 2002 she is Fellow of Wessex Institute of Great Britain. She is author of 4 books, some chapters of books and over 60 papers on international and national journals devoted to research fields ranging from air quality, boundary layer physics, themophysical properties of fluid system, outdoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency. Massimo Sargolini is Full Professor in Urban, Territorial, and Landscape Planning. He is coordinator of international research projects on inner areas, relationship between planning of protected areas and ordinary planning, quality of landscape and quality of life, and carries out scientific responsibility tasks in national and international organizations: member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN, director of the Research Center on Territory and Landscape (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa, UNICAM), director of the Master course on Landscape Planning and protected areasmanagement, director of the interdisciplinary research platform SUSTAINSCAPES, member of the Landscape Scientific Board of INU (Italian Urban Planning Institute), member of the Technical-Scientific Committee of the Extraordinary Government Commissioner for Reconstruction - Earthquake 2016, coordinator and responsible of the Reconstruction and Development of the University of Camerino after the Earthquake 2016. He's author and coordinator of extensive scientific multi-disciplinary researches, international research projects, spatial planning and project activities concerning city and territory, environment, landscape, nature conservation (particularly protected areas), and risk management. He has published a large number of books and articles on these matters. Rosalba D'Onofrio is Researcher of Urban Planning in the School of Architecture and Design " E. Vittoria" at the University of Camerino, where she teaches Urban Planning and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the "Parks and Landscape" Master. In her professional and academic career she was involved in landscape design, design of parks, urban planning and design. She has participated in many researches in the field of environmental design, such as: LIFE+ Natura "SUN LIFE"; FAR Research Quality of the Landscape and Quality of Life in the Sustainable Adriatic City"; "Access2 Mountain" - South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme SEE/B/0007/3.1/X - "Sustainable mobility and tourism in sensitive areas of the Alps and the Carpathians. She published many articles and some books in environmental and landscape fields, such as: R. D'Onofrio (2012), "Towards sustainable urban planning in times of climate change", Urban Planning and Regional Development- WASET 2012; R. D'Onofrio (2012)," Form of the City, Urban Sustainability, and Landscape Quality", in M. Sargolini, Urban Landscapes. Environmental Networks and Quality of Life, Springer Milan; R. D' Onofrio, Massimo Sargolini (edited by), Resilient Landscapes for Cities of the Future