Implementing the environmental dimension of the EU’s Urban Agenda 2014-2020

Keywords: EU's Urban Agenda, Sustainable Mobility, Greenways

Abstract

This work illustrates the planning experience carried out by five municipalities of Western Sicily (Italy) in the the framework of the EU’s urban agenda 2014-2020. The planning process has led to the definition of a Strategy for Sustainable Urban Development (SSUD), whose general objectives are strengthening territorial cohesion and increasing accessibility to local resources. The SSUD action plan, being funded with around 70 millions euro, gives specific importance to sustainable mobility as a mean through which such objectives can be better achieved and reciprocally integrated.

After a brief description of the territory targeted by the SSUD (section 1), the paper focuses on the greenway concept within the broader debate on sustainable mobility. In section 3, a series of evidences are provided to identify the demand and potential for the development of sustainable mobility infrastructures in the five cities. In the fourth section, after describing the expceted results of the action plan in the field of sustainable transport, it is argued why in such specific territory a greenway is the best solution to increase accessibility to a broad range of resources and functions (natural sites, landscapes, cultural heritage, urban functions).

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Author Biographies

Ignazio Vinci, Department of Architecture, University of Palermo

He is Associate Professor of Urban planning at the University of Palermo. As researcher and consultant he has worked extensively on urban policy in Europe and Italy, urban regeneration and local development, strategic planning, innovation in spatial planning and territorial governance. On these topics he has published around 120 works, including his latest book The spatial strategies of Italian regions (2014). Between 2014 and 2015 he was guest lecturer at the University College of Dublin (UCD), while since 2015 is member of the Governing Board of the European Urban Research Association (EURA).

Fabio Cutaia, Department of Architecture, University of Palermo

He is PhD in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Palermo with a thesis on the evaluation of landscape resources in the spatial planning processes. His interests include the analysis of landscape transformations, the urban development dynamics and the innovation of spatial planning instruments. Author of several publications in scientific journals, conference proceedings, books and chapters, at this moment he is working in the field of ecosystem services, green infrastructures and sustainable.

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Published
2019-08-31
How to Cite
VinciI., & CutaiaF. (2019). Implementing the environmental dimension of the EU’s Urban Agenda 2014-2020. TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, 12(2), 139-146. https://doi.org/10.6092/1970-9870/6136