Marco Modica (p)

The Brundtland Commission Report of 1987 offered the first appearance in policy debate of what was conceptualized later as SLA(Sustainable Livelihoods Approach). The report put the concept of sustainable development firmly on the global political agenda. It defined sustainable development as: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development’s report , 1987 p.41).
This definition, as already noted since the beginning, contains two key concepts:
i) the concept of ‘needs’
ii) the concept of scarcity of resources and the limitations imposed by both state of technology and social organization on capacity of the environment to meet present and future needs.
From this simple definition a huge debate has resulted and it poses the basis for the development of an ideological framework of society progress, This progress is based on citizen participation in decision making, generation of economic surpluses and technical knowledge on a self-reliant and sustained basis, solutions for the tensions arising from disharmonious development, preservation of the ecological basis for development and a flexible administrative system that has the capacity for self-correction.
These considerations have served as a common ground for numerous sustainability standards and certification systems in recent years. Aim of this paper is to review most of indicators for urban sustainability to provide a list of key characteristics that have typically been included in such kind of analysis and to support policy makers in developing tools for the assessment of sustainable urban neighborhoods. The main results underline the following key characteristics of urban sustainability: intergenerational equity, intragenerational equity, protection of the natural environment, use of renewable resources, economic diversification, community self-reliance, individual well being, satisfaction of human needs and reduction of ecological footprint).
The paper is organized as follow: the next section gives a general overview of urban sustainability. Section 3 provides a framework for sustainability assessment. Section 4 answers to the question: what is an urban sustainability indicator. Section 5 reviews the literature on urban sustainability indicators. Section 6 gives a general overview of the European database useful for sustainability indicators and finally, Section 7 concludes.

Miguel Ángel Almazán Gómez (p), Rosa Duarte, Julio Sánchez-Chóliz

A MRIO-GIS model for the Ebro Basin
In order to be able to assess water uses and to get a deep socio-economic and environmental view, the present work aims to construct a multiregional input-output (MRIO) model for the Ebro River Basin and linking it with Geographical Information Systems (GIS). In this way, the environmental impacts will be identified much more concretely and the river can be treated as a water stream. In other words, we will be able to identify the pollution hotspots and quantify the environmental damage in concrete areas and also along the water stream. In addition, being able to recognize the river as a water stream allows for simulate more realistic scarcity scenarios.
The River Ebro flows for a distance of some 565 miles (910 km) in a southeasterly direction across northeast Spain to its delta on the Mediterranean coast midway between Barcelona and Valencia. It has the largest discharge of any Spanish river, and its drainage basin, at 33,000 square miles (85,500 square km), is also Spain’s biggest. The Ebro River Basin (ERB) is a NUT-1 area, which provides water to more than three million people in more than 1,700 towns and villages. The basin is characterized by high levels of evaporation and evapotranspiration, and low, irregular rainfall. Another main feature about this basin is that contains partially, nine autonomous communities of Spain: Aragon, Cantabria, Castile la Mancha, Castile-Leon, Catalonia, Valencian Community, La Rioja, Navarre, and Basque Country, So the developing of its input-output table (IOT) implies to construct a MRIO table.
This integrated table and the associated model would be the first for this large region. The main data, for 2010, come from the Regional IOTs (updated to 2010 using the GRAS algorithm), the Spanish interregional trade (c-intereg) database and the Environmental Satellite Accounts from Spanish Statistical Institute. The regions are not completely in the basin, so, we approach the part of each of the sectors that are inside the basin with data from regional statistical institutes. As the effects in water resources are usually located in small and specific areas, and MRIO models usually inform about environmental impacts at the country or regional level only, we propose to extend the MRIO model with GIS layers using ArcGIS software. In this way, we will be able to estimate the water footprint for specific hotspots in the water stream and to propose and analyze scarcity scenarios.

Pietro Bonifaci (p), Stefania Tonin

Porto Marghera is one of the largest Italian industrial areas, located on the mainland five kilometers away from Venice, on the edge of the lagoon. Its development has begun during the second decade of the twentieth century, with the displacement in the area of the commercial port, previously located on the Isle of Venice. After the second world war, the industrial site has expanded thanks to the establishment of chemical and petrol-chemical industries. Next to the chemical industries, till the end of the seventies, the area has grown following the expansion of the metallurgical industry. Starting from the late seventies, the site has faced a decline in the employment. Besides, in the last twenty years, the number of firms have increased, and the core activities of the area have shifted toward the logistic and commercial sectors. Meanwhile, thanks to the increased environmental concern of the public, and to the introduction of EU regulations, the issue of the contaminated soils has emerged, and in 1998 the industrial site of Porto Marghera was included into the national priority list.
In this situation, the issue of the remediation of the contaminated areas become a priority. Several agreements among local, regional and National institutions, as well as industry associations and other public bodies such as the Port Authority, have been carried out during the last years in order to manage the remediation and the redevelopment of the industrial area. In this context, the relations among stakeholders and institutions play a pivotal role in the definition of policies and strategies for the future of the area.
In order to delve into the role of the different actors that are involved in the remediation and redevelopment of the site, a Social Multi Criteria Evaluation (SMCE) has been performed in the research here presented. SMCE allows structuring the problem under investigation on the basis of the expectation of social actors involved in the transformation of the area. By means of literature and documentation review, a set of criteria has been selected, and development alternatives have been constructed considering stakeholders’ needs. Then, criteria have been weighted and alternatives assessed by stakeholders themselves within a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis framework. A conflict analysis finally integrates the research, which results are used to foster the social learning among stakeholders and decision makers about the future of the area.

Daniel Felsenstein (p)

Arthur Grimes

Much effort in post-disaster reconstruction is directed at enabling cities to 'bounce- back' to their former state. This paper simulates the long run impacts of an earthquake on the urban system with a view to highlighting the complexity of restoring the urban equilibrium and rejuvenating city life. A dynamic agent-based simulation model is presented. It is used to simulate disaster outcomes relating to both stock and flow attributes of the urban environment. Stock attributes refer to changes in land use and fixed investment in residential and non residential capital. Simulation outcomes are articulated in terms of time to recovery, land use rejuvenation and CBD shifting. Flows attributes relate to labor market conditions post disaster. The two are dynamically related. A large scale shock to the urban system has a powerful, brief effect that links stocks to flows. It rapidly reduces capital stocks and generates social changes altering the local demographic composition. This has particular labor market effects that exerts a downward force on wages initially driven by a reduction in marginal productivity generated the sudden decline in capital stock. While damage to physical stock is dramatic, visible and easily simulated, flow effects are harder to capture. Wage rigidities slow down the actual decline in wages, dictating a longer process and the renewed accruing of capital. This paper models and simulates the flow impacts that accrue from a shock to capital stock. In both cases, attention is paid to the effectiveness of urban policies aimed at restoring the urban equilibrium. In terms of capital stock policies relate to land use regulation, public provision of shelter and the restoration of damaged urban services. For labor markets, we simulate different outcomes on employment, wages and population derived from interventions aimed at restoring capital stock. Policy simulations imply that interventions directed at rebounding to pre-shock state do not do well and may even inhibit urban stability.