Stefano Aragona (p)

Alessandro Lorenzo Palma

Artificial Intelligence, AI, can be of great use in the anthropization processes of the territory and urban centers. For many years, territorial planners and urban planners have been calling for the creation of Observatories to follow, evaluate choices and implementations. What Kevin Roose reports in the 2023 ar-ticle in the New York Times about conversations with AI devices is astonishing Although several of the chatbot's statements and responses present some incon-sistencies and could be a free association – but with internal coherence – of the billions of data, of a multidisciplinary nature. Of this we have no proof of the op-posite nor of the correctness of this sentence except through “human” verifica-tion. With AI there is the possibility of making a sort of increasingly larger virtual reproduction of what is observed. That is, the holistic approach can be increasing-ly approached. And this allows the construction of increasingly complex and “complete” scenarios.
But precisely because of the methods of building AI, i.e. feeding it with “data” which are in any case “phenomenal” even if translated into quantitative and/or qualitative indicators, it is still a “partial” action both from a territorial perspective both environmental and social. Action which in fact, in relation to these aspects, risks being “conservative” of the status quo.
We are now all aware that the ecological footprint of everything we build, and of its management, is an insurmountable limit already indicated in the 1972 Report in The Limits to Growth: basic elements of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Thus, AI could offer us enormous and unexpected op-portunities of the circular economy, that is, the cornerstone of new methods of development and therefore of anthropization, allowing us to ride on the long wave of the Ecological Transition
Therefore, the writing highlights these aspects, potential and limitations in order to provide the most operational indications possible.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Sustainability, Ecological Approach

Giuseppe Pace (p), Donna Johnson

Stefano Aragona

In the contemporary discourse on sustainability, the focus has increasingly shifted towards the implementation of green projects and the transition to sustainable practices. This paper aims to critically examine this paradigm shift under the lens of individual and collective desires, by investigating three green initiatives in Louisiana (US), results of the EU-funded project "Transition with Resilience for Evolutionary Development" (TREND). Selected projects are in the field of shared mobility ("Ridesharing for small University towns"), of green energy neighbourhoods (Trinity Bluff community Project), and inland sustainable ports (ArkLa Inland River Port Initiative). The first part delves into the motivations behind the adoption of these green projects. It explores the interplay between personal values, societal pressure, and economic incentives in shaping community desires for a sustainable future. The second part scrutinizes the effectiveness of these green projects, by assessing their environmental, social, economic and cultural impact, thereby providing a holistic evaluation of their potential success. The third part discusses challenges and opportunities encountered during these investigations and highlights the importance of resilience, adaptability, and innovation in overcoming these hurdles. Finally, a reflective analysis aims at aligning our desires with the actual outcomes of green projects and sustainable transitions. It emphasizes the need for continuous learning, adjustment, and collective action in our pursuit of sustainability. This comprehensive exploration provides valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners involved in environmental management, sustainable development, and green innovation. It invites readers to question, “Is it really what we want?” and more importantly, “Is it what the planet needs?”

Gabriella Pultrone (p)

Giuseppe Pace

The challenge of climate change and of mitigation and adaptation measures aimed at addressing its causes and effects occupies an important space in the objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda, in the Green Deal and in National Recovery and Resilience Plans. Although a large part concerns environmental matters, many other sectors are affected, considering that the negative effects of climate change also have serious repercussions on human rights, as well as on economic aspects. Local administrators of municipalities, cities and metropolitan areas must act to address climate change, making their territories more resilient. Actions that must be framed within climate governance and national and international objectives, and which require project partnerships and tools that can be activated in the different phases that characterize a correct climate policy of local authorities, according to a proactive and systemic approach, and no longer dedicated solely to the management of emergencies or to combating extreme events, but aimed at qualifying local development in a more general and lasting sense. Managing climate impacts requires responses from many actors, coherence, and public sharing. Cities are in fact an area with high resilience potential connected to the presence of advanced (ecological) and innovative (smart and digital) services capable of contributing to safety and the improvement of adaptation capabilities, such as advanced monitoring and alert systems in case of emergencies and the presence of assets to be used for adaptive purposes, such as natural, “blue” and “green” networks. Local governments can often be more innovative and more sensitive to environmental aspects than regional and national governments, anticipating trends capable of extending to the rest of society, such as laboratories for experimenting with eco-friendly cultures. Ultimately, local authorities are in a privileged position to involve citizens and communities in the design and implementation of climate policies, not only by working to promote new behaviors but also by committing to the widespread application of green technologies, advanced devices capable to enable fundamental prevention and planning services and strategies. In this framework, capitalizing on the ecosystem services that nature can provide, urban authorities take a leading role in developing green and blue infrastructure programs to mitigate, manage and prevent such effects. Therefore, the paper proposes some significant case studies – such as Amsterdam, the Great Manchester, Barcelona, Paris and Sevilla – under the EU Urban Innovative Actions, concerning the 2014-2020 programming period, and with reference to the topic of climate adaptation.

Giacoma Tiziana Gallo (p)

Gabriella Pultrone

Title abstract: From the "Intelligent Buildings" program to the new "Intelligent Cities" urban design methodology

TOPIC

Special Session themes:
S57 Government of Anthropization Processes: Domain of the Territories and Cities, Climate Changes;
S77 Collective Smartness to Foster Sustainability Transitions of Places: Smart Cities, Regions, and Energy Communities

General themes
G06 Regional and Urban Policy and Governance
G18 Climate Adaptive and Resilient Regions and Cities

Policy and Project: “Città Intelligenti” method for urban planning and design

Abstract
My work starts by the creation of "Intelligent Buildings" program that is a strategic urban regeneration plan for adaptation and mitigation to climate change with 0 land use.
For further information, below is the link to my report at the VII RUN of Urban Planning in Riva del Garda, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMIANJ-XbXQ
The "Intelligent Buildings" program for Fano, that is the first real use of the plan, it has just been included among the best practices in the position paper "Urban settlements in the national plan for adaptation to climate change", year 2023, ASVIS1, and if applied systematically capable it can attract around 250 million euros extra budget, over the next 7 years.
Later I drew up the technical-economic feasibility plan for the sustainable variant project of the PRG of via Canellina, Municipality of Gradara, awarded as best practice in October 2023 during the States General of Smart Cities, held in Padua://www.greencitynetwork.it/portfolio_page/gradara-sviluppo-area-a-ridotta-carbon-footprint/
I’m currently in charge of drafting a PUG on the model of the E.I. program at the Municipality of Crispiano, with the aim of attracting citizens and investors to a sustainable southern village, guaranteeing the respect and valorisation of the cultural and environmental heritage and the maximum feasibility of interventations.
The entire PUG, designed in compliance with the ESG 2030 agenda, was designed as a CER (Renewable Energy Community): https://www.econopoly.ilsole24ore.com/2022/05/31/rinnovabili-urbanistica-crispiano/
It is precisely in the development of this new planning approach I identify the "Città Intelligenti" method that I present you.

Note
1:https://asvis.it/public/asvis2/files/Pubblicazioni/PositionPaper/2023/PositionPaperASviSGoal11_Pnacc_Insediamenti_Urbani_nov2023.pdf

5 Keywords: Urban Regeneration, Climate Change, energy community, sustainable urban planning, integrated actions

Paola Nicoletta Imbesi (p)

Giacoma Tiziana Gallo

In the past few years, the issue of land consumption, considered as a phenomenon of anthropisation of agricultural and natural land, has largely entered the disciplinary and cultural debate in our country, characterising the current planning phase according to two main aspects.
The first happening, linked to the economic crisis that has characterized our country in recent years, seems to be expressed in the strong reduction of land pressure (with a radical re-dimensioning of the entire building sector) and, on the contrary, in a different, unseen articulation of the demand for new building and regeneration of the built environment that is now felt even in medium and small centers. Settlement sprawl processes and increasing degradation and abandonment of rural territories gradually highlight the ineffectiveness of functionalist disciplinary models aimed at clearly distinguishing between settlement (urban) and territorial dimensions. These processes lead to the definition of a new rurururban territory and in parallel new management processes capable of pursuing objectives environmental and housing quality but also sos-tenability of development models.
The second, which is finding its way to the institutional level concerns tools and procedures for reducing land consumption. Land consumption has as a direct consequence the loss of ecosystem services, which have a very high cost in environmental and social terms in the coming years that not even the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRP) could offset. The issue of land consumption has strong implications in terms of climate change and hydrogeological risk by making our territory even more fragile: increasing urbanized land contributes to the growth of total human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, mainly through deforestation and habitat conversion for agriculture, and at the same time to the loss of biodiversity and unprecedented land degradation. The settlement patterns of the sprawling city "use" previously rural spaces by amplifying the degree of housing fragmentation and land infrastructure. This implies parallel increases in costs related to energy consumption, soil sealing, increased demand for transportation, and pollution-increasing urban vulnerability and its effects on climate change.
The contribution will propose the experience carried out in Cerveteri for the drafting of the new General Regulatory Plan: a territorial project, oriented quantitatively and qualitatively in the face of the changing needs of social demand and massive development pressure that has involved its territory (going from 26,772 inhabitants in 2001 to 38,056 in 2023, Istat data).

Alessandro Lorenzo Palma (p), Luca La Notte, Biagio Di Pietra, Ruggero Nissim

Paola Nicoletta Imbesi

The Renewable Energy Directive (RED) and the inherent recent update (EU/2018/2001 - EU/2023/2413) promote the uptake of renewable energy communities (RECs) and Jointly Acting Renewable Self-Consumers (JARSCs) for the local production and shared consumption of energy, as an alternative to the classic model based on centralized production, transmission, and distribution. The rising of RECs and JARSCs allows rethinking the morphological organization of land from an ecological perspective, towards cities increasingly designed on a human scale. Renewable energy sources (RESs) are fundamental for the diffusion of the rising RECs, where Photovoltaic (PV) is the most employed technology, especially in an urban context, due to its performance, application flexibility, longevity, and affordability. Since RESs provide intermittent power production and the energy demand of consumers is growing and becoming more variable, the application of Demand Side Management strategies, such as the load shifting operated by storage systems, is urgent to maximize the energy self-consumption (SC) and self-sufficiency (SS) of RECs. We conducted an extensive experimental study on an energy micro-community consisting of a building served by a 12 kW PV system and a heat pump (HP) combined with hot/cold water and Domestic Hot Water storages, controlling the production, storage and use of electrical and thermal energy by means of a Programmable Logic Controller (test facility S.A.P.I.EN.T.E. located in ENEA Casaccia)[1, 2]. We set up a power-to-heat strategy: by using a Proportional-Integral-Derivative control we tracked the power produced by the PV system and used it to drive the HP in real time, maximizing SC and SS, since the HP does not need to draw energy from the grid. The thermal energy produced in excess of the load (real or emulated) is stored. Thus, taking advantage of the high coefficient of performance of the HP used to produce and store thermal energy, we increased in value the electrical power coming from the PV. In our investigations, we demonstrated SS and SC values of 96.7% and 83% respectively, again emphasizing and promoting a new sustainable model of advantageous energy production and use.

[1] DOI: 10.12910/EAI2020-077
[2] DOI: 10.1109/BLORIN54731.2022.10028501