Integrated Evaluation for the Management of Contemporary Cities

As a kind of “table of contents”, this Introduction proposes the main issues of the historical and conceptual development of the theory of value, as a possible perspective for a more general revolution of human civilization. The long and strenous course of studies I have been developing for 50 years is consistent with the Laudato si’ Encyclical by Pope Francis in several issues concerning human ecology and ecological economics. The starting point of this process is the natural foundation of the human capacity to develop its own ethical profile on the one hand and the divinity of the mystery of the creation of physical law, since the very beginning of the Universe, on the other hand. The descending “new-value theory” here summarized comprises and informs many of the novel evaluative approaches concerning the dialectic between social systems, “evolving in value” along a complex and “far-from-equilibrium” trajectory.

No doubts European culture has a Christian origin, although most European bureaucrats and politicians shamefully disregard this. The Christian origin can be recognized in the urban, linguistic and cultural characteristics that have contributed to produce the one of the broadest cultural heritage in the world, especially in Italy. The aim of this paper is to analyze the contents of the encyclical “Laudato sí ” to verify whether it contains methodological and technical approaches that could be helpful for environmental evaluation. To this end, the paper analyzes and compares three encyclicals: the first, “A Quo Primum” by Pope Benedict XIV (14 June 1751) on the role of the Christians towards the Jews; the second, by Pope Benedict XVI “Spe salvi” (30 November 2007) on the role of faith/hope; and the third “Laudato sí” (24 May 2015) by Pope Francis, on the role of integral ecology. The encyclical “Laudato sí ” is especially refuted for the improper, and sometimes incorrect, use of theories, methods and data concerning ecological, environmental and physical issues.

Are we talking about urban regeneration by force or necessity? It is perhaps opportune a more careful reflection, which also concerns the ethics of the profession and its tasks.

Analyzing and exploring new solutions for urban-space organization is fundamental in a modern multi-cultural society composed of active and participative citizens. We therefore have to adopt a new and innovative form of project processing, dedicated to the needs (both spatial and residential) of the new actors of society, in particular those belonging to the weak categories in contemporary Europe that should, in principle, be more and more open and integrated. Starting from the interaction and exchange between different points of view or cultural and religious backgrounds, it will be possible to construct a solid base and reference for the design of new urban spaces, as well as the restoration and requalification of existing ones, in a way to meet the expectations of the population, and suited to fostering the integration, and active and democratic participation of the citizens in the society, also taking into account the environmental sustainability. Adopting a well-defined mediation strategy is crucial in order to reach this aim. The elaboration of the concept of places of mediation will be the subject of this contribution.

Friedrich Schumacher, a pioneer of so-called “sustainable development”, called for an evolution of economic thinking and a departure from laissez-faire’s materialism (Friedrich Schumacher (1911–1977) was a philosopher and an economist who strongly criticized materialism, capitalism and agnosticism. Religions fascinated him, in particular, Buddhism, although also Catholicism had considerably influenced his thoughts. He highlighted the similarities between his economic thinking and the papal encyclicals that have deal with economic issues, such as Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum and Pope John XXIII’s Mater et Magistra. Keynes himself was fascinated by his theories, enough to recommend him for a position at the University of Oxford). According to these assumptions, a man, in order to achieve self-affirmation, must aim at satisfying his own needs through the fair use of resources. He has to shift the goal from the maximization of consumption and profit, typical of the traditional economy, to the achievement of people’s well-being. This theory shares many similarities with the introduction, in Bhutan, of the Gross National Happiness Index, which integrates the traditional Gross Domestic Product in the assessment of the country. When Bhutan is ranked only in accordance to the Gross Domestic Product, it underachieves; but when the Gross National Happiness Index is used, it reaches the highest positions on a global scale. Several institutional researches proposed other alternative indexes that assess the “well-being” of a nation, such as the UN’s Human Development Index (1990), the New Economic Foundation’s Happy Planet Index (2006) and the more recent Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Report, drawn up in 2009 (AAVV in Human development report 2015—Work for human development, United Nations Development Programme, New York, 2015). Along with this willingness to change, this contribution starts with the acceptance of the inadequacy of the GPD index for the appraisal of “fairness”, in consistency with the famous quote stated by Kennedy in (Speech at Kansas University, 8 May 1968) “Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile”; then it investigates the relationship that occurs between economics and religion, focusing on the content of Pope Francis’s encyclical “Laudato Si”. Finally, it proposes a resemantization of the paradigm of sustainability based on Pope Francis’ thought expressed in his encyclical “Laudato Si” for the valuation of interventions on buildings, infrastructures, cities and territories. This latter aims at reducing the large number of techniques developed by the scientific community to a more structured vision and, mostly, at translating them into a common language, in consistency with the content of the encyclical.

Starting out from the admonitions of the encyclical letter by pope Francis, this contribution aims to define the value of social agriculture as an instrument of integrated development of the territory able to foster, just for its own peculiarities, the creation of dense systems of relationships among the various stakeholders that operate in synergy for the local development of the territory and the creation, therefore, of shared capital. The analysis, through the first results of a case study involving various social agricultural enterprises that operate in the metropolitan area of Catania, has enables the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the relationships that are generated between the various subjects that interact at the territorial level (network), using the methodology of Social Network Analysis (SNA).

In the last years the number and the magnitude of the oppositions to new public (and private) works have increased all over the World, but the reasons of the op-position are difficult to identify. There are several international examples of conflicts originating from environ-mental oppositions as the mobilization in Istanbul in defense of Gezi park, the toppling of the government in Madagascar over land-grabbing, and the aboriginal ‘Idle No More’ movement in Canada against fracking activities. In Italy the most famous environmental conflict is the opposition to High Speed Rail in Val di Susa, but recently the referendum on the drilling in the Mediterranean sea has seen a very huge opposition front which includes also influential member of Catholic Clergy. But at the same time similar works didn’t face any (or so hard) opposition in different areas and periods. So we can hypnotize that the conflict is site specific but what are the determinants of the conflict? Can we explain the relevance of the conflict with the territorial vulnerability? How can the vulnerability be measured? What are the main dimensions of vulnerability? Several scientists analysed the relationships between the oppositions, which can degenerate in conflict, even violent, and the vulnerability of the territories where the public works are planned. The aim of the present paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the recent ad most relevant scientific papers which study the relationship between vulnerability and conflict by means of a bibliographic approach. Bibliometric approaches analyze scholarly publications and scientific production through various quantitative techniques, with the main goal of revealing how different research topic and specific scientific domains are conceptually and intellectually structured. Bibliometrics borrows the information it needs directly from the bibliographic description of scientific documents, available for download on several databases. The bibliographical data gathered in this study was collected from 682 articles from a wide range of journals available in the Thomson Reuters’ ISI Web of Knowledge; the search criteria included the joint appearance of the terms “vulnerability” and “conflict”. For the purpose of this research different methods have been employed to map the scientific production and to gather information about this research topic. The results of the analysis show an increasing interest in studying the relationship between conflict and vulnerability and the extension of the semantic context including several scientific fields.

Urban rehabilitation through the redevelopment of public properties in disuse is among the main issues of urban policies in the Euro area. However, since 2008, mainly due to the economic downturn, the enhancement of public properties has been characterized by an impasse. At this time, the tendency in all European countries is to entrust the valorization of public buildings in disuse to new special entities, in terms of sales to third parties as well as rationalization for the economic management of the property. In this framework, this research aims to propose a decision-support methodology for public and private subjects involved in the valorization of public properties. In particular, the model enables the assessment of the financial feasibility of the initiatives, in relation to the investment risks.

This paper proposes an integrated evaluation approach as a support tool for the design of urban regeneration operations in historic centers, and it highlights the need for innovative assessment and design strategies useful for generating greater involvement and community awareness. In particular, the study proposes an Embedded Mixed-Methods Approach focusing on the case study of Trieste (northern Italy). The evaluation framework is based on the integration of the Multi Attribute Value Theory (MAVT) with various other methods, such as SWOT Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, the Public Space Quality Protocol and the NAIADE technique. The results illustrate the ability of the proposed methodology to promote a successful network of actions and strategies for the regeneration of historic centers.

Pope Francis’s encyclical provides researchers concerned with the problem of the urban periphery with three suggestions. The first is to renounce any specialized approach that is based on an acritical confidence in the power of science and technology to solve the complex problems of today’s world, particularly those that concern the environment and the poor. The second is to adopt an approach based on a “culture of care” for nature and for the most vulnerable people, and third approach is to include people (especially those who are weakest) in transparent decision-making processes that affect the quality of their lives. Starting from these suggestions, and from Renzo Piano’s statement that, at present and in the future, “the mission of architecture is to save the outskirts” through “a huge work of mending”, we believe that researchers should, with humility, make use of the ‘urban-mending’ approach when dealing with the complexity of regeneration projects. At the levels of both the architectural project and urban planning, they should adopt an integrated, interdisciplinary approach that is lighter and more sensitive than those used in the past. This will help them to face up to the multidimensionality and complexity of redeveloping peripheral areas. All stakeholders, especially the weakest people in society, should be empowered and involved in public decision making and planning implementation. Finally, genuine participation of the marginalized, excluded and disaffected inhabitants of peripheral areas (i.e., the outcasts) can be achieved using a “deliberative-democratic” approach.

After the third industrial age, knowledge sharing into creative practices has emerged—in line with the concept of creative city expressed by C. Landry in the late 1990s—as a significant option for re-development. A changing vision towards new economic models of activities fostering creativity and social inclusion has emerged in recent studies, from the suburbs of European cities as well as those of Third World countries. Therefore, the first reference to the Encyclical Letter Laudato Sì regards the concept of “cultural ecology” and attention to the patrimony, such as “a part of the shared identity of each place and a foundation upon which to build a habitable city” (§ 143) together with the concept of “economic ecology”, such as “a humanism capable of bringing together the different fields of knowledge, including economics, in the service of a more integral and integrating vision” (§ 141). Furthermore, the creative city relates to the potential of shared human and organizational resources in critical neighborhoods, which can be promoted and supported by forms of public-private partnership. The paper analyzes the potential evolution of a shared economy through the idea of the creative industry, conducted on the local community level, and describes the feasibility analysis and creative experimentation conducted in the city of Turin. It compares the case study and a range of international interventions aimed at fostering inclusive processes, in reference to:Cultural mapping of public space, in relation to perception and social interaction aspects;Creative and social activities of co-design and self-construction to improve the inclusive use of outdoor public spaces in the suburbs;Training and experimentation activities providing an introduction to the creative industry, through independent production and informal economy centers.Finally, the scenario concerns new forms of convergence among professional figures involved in social innovation.

In the field of economics, assessments involve the consideration of the complex market relationships that directly affect economic goods, often having to consider also the possibilities of recovery, reuse, or land transformation. Financial and economic assessments mainly concern investment decisions finalized to the allocation of private and public resources. Multidimensional assessments rationalize the choices driven by conflicting criteria and objectives. The aim of the paper is to highlight the specificities of various types of assessments that have as object HCERs and, at the same time, we want to identify some correspondences between these aspects of the past and the future perspectives highlighted by the encyclical letter “Praise Be to You” of the Holy Father Francis “on care for our common home”. First, the characteristics of HCERs and the purposes that motivate their assessment are examined. Finally, a brief critical analysis about the various types of HCERs assessment was presented.

The “challenge of complexity” is one of the many points of convergence between the Encyclical Laudato si’ and the evolution of post-modern scientific thought. This study aims to analyze how complexity represents the essential element of the profound renewal in the scientific paradigm of the discipline of evaluation, particularly in regard to the theory of value, the categories of value, and the instruments of multi-criteria evaluation. Some contemporary theories of value propose, in fact, a complex source of value, such as surpluses of energy and of information (Ecological Economics) or as the creative and synergistic combination of three surpluses, namely energetic and non-entropic, genealogical-ecological, and scientific-cultural (the “Nuova Economia” of Francesco Rizzo). These theories derive from a new interpretative key founded on the alliance between the natural sciences and the humanities. The creation of new categories of value, the social use value and the total economic value, constitute, moreover, the response of the science of evaluation to the social and disciplinary need to express a complex value that goes beyond both the private use value and the (normal and speculative) exchange value, and which include the multiplicity of values (ethical, aesthetic, economic, cultural, scientific, political, juridical, and equitable) that express the human being as a whole, no longer reduced merely to the homo economicus. The demand for the resolution of complex problems involving public and private territorial assets has led to the elaboration of models of multi-criteria evaluation through which to recompose the conflicting dualities of equity/efficiency, quality/quantity, and local/global into a uni-duality. In these models, the absence of a monetary unit of measurement constitutes an opportunity for re-founding a system of common social values and for allowing the participation of local communities in decision-making processes (Bentivegna 2016). The evaluation discipline, furthermore, may continue to participate directly in the great cultural, spiritual, and educational challenges contained in the Encyclical, to change the style of life and the patterns of production and consumption, making its own contribution in three spheres: scientific-cultural, through studies and research orientated towards the promotion of the culture of complexity, of multidisciplinarity, and of environmental protection; social-territorial, through collaboration with public institutions to elaborate operative instruments (models) of social participation in local decision-making processes; and educational, through the qualification and training of architects and engineers.

World economic growth has been made possible by the ability to harness the energy of fossil fuels. From the Industrial Revolution to the present, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by about 30% (IPCC in Changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. 2016), and these environmental changes have led to significant climate change effects, such as rising temperatures, water shortages, soil loss and the ‘intensification of the process of desertification. Western societies are characterized by high energy consumption and, with the population growth and economic growth in emerging countries, the effects will tend to be increase more and more. Current patterns of production and consumption have proven unsustainable, and we need radical changes to escape this vicious circle affecting humanity. But, it is necessary first of all to realize that constant economic growth and the indiscriminate us of the energy sector are physically impossible on a planet of finite size and limited resources. In the encyclical, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis fully embraced the message of environmental economists defining the environment as a “good that the market mechanisms are not able to defend” (paragraph 190). The Pope appears to be in tune with what has been stated by the scientific literature about the possible roads to take to resolve the problem: “the consumption of fossil fuels must decrease without delay” (165), simultaneously, “the transition from the use thereof to renewable energy sources should not be hindered, but accelerated “(26). It is necessary to adopt a circular pattern of production to ensure resources for everyone by using, in particular, renewable energy progressively, thus reducing dependency on fossil fuels. In this sense, the agricultural world, thanks to renewable resources and the adoption of advanced practices such as anaerobic digestion, could play a role of fundamental importance to an economy based on sustainable use of resources and circularity. The chain of biogas, in fact, is based on a natural biological process which, starting from the residues of agricultural activities, can produce electricity, heat or biomethane, in addition to the digestate, a byproduct of the anaerobic digestion process, which can be used in agriculture to improve soil fertility through the continuous recycling of organic substances. This paper aims to show how the creation of an anaerobic digestion plant on a farm might be the answer for the attainment of an advanced agricultural model, competitive and sustainable, both in environmental and economic-tale: the perfect example of a circular economy.

Over the last decades, sustainability concerns have been at the heart of the debate on the future development of cities worldwide. These challenges are key issues in the Pope’s Encyclical Letter Laudato Sì of 2015, where an integral vision of ecology is proposed. In this framework, the article focuses on cultural ecology, defined as the interaction between culture, man, and environment, providing a parallelism between the encyclical letter and the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape, adopted by UNESCO in 2011. Both documents stress the relevance of cultural heritage for urban sustainable development, the need for a comprehensive approach and the contribution that impact assessment tools could give to achieve this objective. Discussing the case of Liverpool (UK), this paper highlights the limits of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for an adequate consideration of cultural heritage and outlines the potentialities of Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) toward an “integral ecology” in urban contexts.

Increasing private-sector participation to improve the efficiency of infrastructure services was a growing trend in Europe in the 1990s. Dissatisfaction with state solutions, ever-tightening government budgets and technical innovation favored therefore the privatization of the utilities sector and even water utilities. The privatization of water services was generally regarded as the supreme failure of the (welfare) State that turned water into a commodity. The paper presents a critical review of the privatization process of water services in Italy and provides a theoretical insight into critical issues related both to the regulatory framework and pricing mechanism and to make-or-buy decisions. The aim of the paper is to show how the State (i.e., the institution-of-institutions) and the Market can be conceived of not as opposing entities but in a complementarity perspective, according to which the State expresses in the broadest terms society’s organization and historical course and intervenes to correct market failures.

The Encyclical Letter Laudato sì of the Holy Father Francis on Care for Our Common Home recognizes historic, artistic and cultural patrimony—which is, like the patrimony of nature, under threat—«part of the shared identity of each place and a foundation upon which to build a habitable city» (§ 143). At the same time, social love—a key to authentic development—«moves us to devise larger strategies to halt environmental degradation and to encourage a “culture of care” which permeates all of society» (§ 231). The theme of the care of the historic, artistic and cultural patrimony for a “human and sustainable city” is traditionally a matter of concern for the appraisal and evaluation disciplines which, starting from the formulation of the “social use value”, have offered a meaningful development of methodological frameworks and innovative approaches. In this perspective and in the light of the significant and audacious reflections which the Holy Father Francis proposes on a possible “theology of the city”, the article seeks to address the issue of finding the necessary resources for the “care” of historic, artistic and cultural patrimony—in Italy diffusely “world heritage sites”—also considering the most recent ministerial initiatives for their valorization. With specific reference to the financial mechanisms and to the fiscal incentives to encourage the support of the private subjects in the conservation activities, if on the side of the public cultural goods, the most recently provisions tries to align Italy to others European countries, on the side of the cultural goods of private property, the question of the incentives is more delicate and complex, as this article will try to highlight.

By highlighting the (hidden) relationships between ecology and economics, a case-study is utilized in order to both underline the ambiguities of translating the concept of “resilience” in planning theory and practice and to suggest a rethinking of the current “green rhetoric” in favor of a more inclusive approach aimed at social justice.

The Earth (Mother and Sister, according to Encyclical Letter) cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the Earth’s goods (Laudato si’, 2) and calls all people to global ecological conversion in key sectors, such as excessive energy consumption in urban areas and buildings and the consequent additional pollution. This research is devoted to answer the encyclical’s call by conceiving, designing and experimenting experiences of related to the Green City and Green Building. It deals with energy consumption in urban and construction management and CO₂ emissions. Through the establishment of a specific methodology and experimentation on unprecedented city and district scales, the study compares energy consumption and CO₂ reduction of different scenarios of interventions based on the main pillars of Green Conservation and Ecological Retrofitting. A Valuation Framework, enabled by Web-GIS tools, supports the present research, to integrate: unprecedentedly detailed 3D city-modelling; alternative scenarios (Sustainable vs. Business-as-Usual BAS) for whole-city energy management; cost estimates for investments in alternative urban scenarios; valuation of energy management in an alternative scenarios; overtime economic and financial analysis, comparing various scenarios. case study: a real-world design and social experimentations have been activated in Reggio Calabria (Italy) and Boston (USA). Two case studies constitute two case studies. The first one is going to be implemented in the real world as an experiment entitled <Sustainable Urban District Retrofitting> in an urban neighborhood whose features include: 6,400 residents; 490,000 m2 of total area; 125 urban blocks; 840 buildings; 2,500,000 m3 of constructions; 800,000 m2 of apartments; around 6,600 apartment units.The key outcome of real-world experimentation is the “ecological passivation” (i.e., insulation works and material for non-consumption of energy).A global appraisal of experimentation provides valuation of the economic and ecological aspects quantifying the initial slightly higher costs of passivation and assessing the number of years needed to pay-back the additional cost of investment by the offset of a large saving in ongoing energy spending. It has been demonstrated, both theoretically and practically, that it is possible to reduce energy consumption up to 50%. Attributions: Massimo D. E. par. 2, 7. Musolino M. par. 5, 6. Malerba A. par. 1, 3.

This paper pays particular attention to one of the many participatory models present in the landscape of urban and territorial planning. Specifically, the Action Planning model was chosen, a model used in Anglo-Saxon countries to identify the problems and needs of the inhabitants of a given territory, through the involvement of interested parties or stakeholders. The model is applied in Sicily, to Villaseta, a small rural settlement, located south-west of the city of Agrigento, which consists primarily of affordable and social housing. It is a suburb without identity, left to itself, where—despite the valuable cultural, historic, scenic and, most importantly, human resources—one notes the presence of degradation, hardship and social exclusion. The quality of life is poor, the housing requires serious restoration work and a large number of public spaces are unused, due to decades of failure in the management policies of the local government.

The paper seeks to investigate the role of multicriteria analysis approaches to support landscape and territorial planning. In particular, the project for the revitalization of the Ceva-Ormea railway line (northern Italy) is the starting point for the analysis. The goal of landscape enhancement is to turn the abandoned trackside into a greenway and to propose the recovery of the stations for tourist purposes. The use of PROMETHEE II will try to guide the decision maker’s choice, using a set of criteria for evaluation. A number of experts have been involved in the weighting of the criteria in order to evaluate the project from various points of view.

The Encyclical Letter (Laudato si’, 2) teaches that Earth cries out because of the harm Humanity has inflicted on her by its irresponsible use and abuse of the Earth goods, such as soil, and it calls people to global ecological conversion in key sectors such as soil to replace consumption as the basis for urban development via new buildings and the consequential pollution of areas and landscape. This research is devoted to answer the encyclical call by conceiving, designing and testing cases of Historic Center treasuring, an alternative to new buildings, additional development and further urban sprawl. This research tries to enhance the process of urban sustainability by the mean of a new methodology for Historic Center that includes total knowledge, analysis, valuation, treasuring and valorization. Attributions: Malerba A. authored § Abstract, 2; Massimo D. E. authored § 3, 4; Musolino M. authored § 1, 5.

The Encyclical Letter Laudato Sì of the Holy Father Francis on “Care for our Common Home” holds human society responsible for the achievement of a fairer world, through research into solutions to environmental problems and a moderate and efficient use of nonrenewable resources. It recalls that energy usage is one of the major factors of environmental pressure and shares the crucial questions of current European and international energy policies. In Italy, for the electric sector, energy policy requires the increase of energy production by renewable sources and the development of a transmission grid able to support a diffused and non-programmed production of electrical energy (a smart grid), as it is the case for energy production through photovoltaic power stations near the consumption centers. In this line, the present paper proposes an evaluation model for verification of local aptitudes for green-energy self-sustainability based on the use of photovoltaic technology built on surrounding, abandoned agricultural land. The model combines the analysis of geo-referenced data, elaborated by the GIS tool, providing knowledge of the territory and the verification of technical feasibility of the diffused power stations, and financial analysis of the project. The application of the model to a case study confirms that it could be useful for local governments in planning energy self-sustainability interventions and in the negotiation phase of project financing.

Activities and institutional initiatives related to urban regeneration are now characterized by approaches that involve the environmental aspect, increasingly accompanied by objectives related to improving the liveability of cities, social inclusion and a mix of neighborhoods and cities. In this respect, there is a strong parallel between the approach also used in significant experiences and the words of the encyclical “Laudato si” of Pope Francis. Indeed, arguing that a true ecological approach is always a social approach (§ 49), the inseparability of the two aspects of development of the city is asserted. The framework in which this symbiosis finds its best combination is the urban space. Its centrality, in tune with what the Pope says (pp. 150, 151), is the goal of some instances of rethinking the city or parts thereof described in the paper.

This contribution highlights the complexity of the problem of evaluation of urban regeneration projects, with reference to the time variable and to the impacts of ethical nature and social justice related to the concept of sustainable development.

This paper proposes a cause to reflect on adaptation to climate change at the urban level and the implications it may have on the environmental planning process of a city, in accord with principles endorsed in the papal Encyclical “Laudato si”. Because cities are both largely responsible for climate change and the major victims, it is evident that cities are also the places in which to test innovative climate-change adaptation technologies. In this sense, the implementation of urban-adaptation policies represents a challenge for urban planners and policy makers who question the autopoietic capacity of urban systems and are obliged to rediscover, review and incorporate new criteria and project categories.

The Encyclical “Laudato si’” pushes scholars and researchers to reflect on the fact that «We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental» and, at the same time, that «Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature» (§ 139). This means that an integral ecological approach, based on a new paradigm of justice and equity, should be adopted. The neoclassical view of economics sharply separates the economic and the social sphere, and, in so doing, it has excluded the problem of inequality from economic analysis. Economic evaluations (cost-benefit analysis) claim to be able to consider intra- and intergenerational equity, by applying a system of distributional weights and a social-discount rate. Nonetheless, they remain anchored to the efficiency criterion. The paper proposes a reflection on whether to adopt new evaluation approaches and tools in decision making when the equity criterion is called into question. In particular, it suggests two possible ways. Related to intra-generational justice, the first approach suggests the adoption of evaluation strategies that are able to consider the distributional effects of the project on the capacity of the participants to influence the decisions (deliberative democratic evaluation). Related to intergenerational justice, the second approach fosters the adoption of the precautionary principle, which suggests an extremely cautious, risk-averse attitude, in defence of future generations.

In the present context of continuing economic and financial crisis and increased social disadvantage, particularly marked in the Mezzogiorno of Italy, the experience of the Antonio Genovesi Prize was born. It’s a prototypical experiment of collaboration among the university, local government, business and local banks for economic, social, cultural and environmental development in the provinces of Salerno, Avellino and Napoli and overall for the implementation of useful synergies for the establishment of stronger growth prospects. This initiative has initiated to develop the economic feasibility profile for over 70 projects in five years, since 2011, for an investment budget of more than 500 million euros (De Mare et al. in La valutazione finanziaria di progetti per il rilancio del territorio. Applicazioni a casi reali. Franco Angeli, Milano, 2012). This report aims to represent and to highlight the effects of the actions undertaken through related activities at the regional level (Bottero et al. in Proc Soc Behav Sci 223:923–928, 2016). As a function of the increasing relevance of extra-monetary repercussions for investment decision makers, this paper estimates such social and environmental effects attributable to examined projects. This is in accordance with recent EU guidelines (see, the Social Impact Agenda for Italy). This association was founded in 2016 to collect the experience of the Social Impact Investment Taskforce (SIIT), launched in 2013 during the UK Presidency of the G8, to bring social-impact investments to the forefront of national agendas. This is about those initiatives strongly desired by Pope Francis in his Encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015) and able to give an answer to often unsatisfied needs for health, disabilities, new and more sustainable ways of living, social exclusion, promotion of cultural heritage (Nesticò et al. in Sustainability 7(11):14661–14676, 2015), cooperative management of goods and sharing economy platforms. In the manner shown and with the aim of collecting information in particular on occupational and environmental effects, the use of cross-sectoral matrices enable the prediction of the impacts on regional economy arising from concrete realization of interventions planned in the construction industry.

New forms of appropriation of economic activities that had ceased or were in the process of failure, have been recently established in Italy. These initiatives are carried out by the cooperation of laid-off workers and/or workers subsidized by governmental unemployment insurance, and they are inspired by experiences on an international scope, such as South American empersas recuperadas. Therefore, former workers organized as cooperatives try to recover the company in which they were previously employed with the acquisition of business units or through purchase agreements, becoming directly involved in the management and leadership of the firms. In this way, the workers become entrepreneurs by resorting to workers’ buy-outs (WBO). The aim of this paper is to investigate the phenomenon of WBO initiatives in relationship to the social resilience of the territory. More precisely, in this work, the authors shed light on WBO actions meant as initiatives for companies restoration from the bottom, such as with other bottom-up actions as in the context of public real-estate regeneration. Through a multivariate analysis, the WBO initiatives have been investigated concerning their uneven geographical distribution in Italy.

The convergence between the concept of sustainable development and the theoretical framework of cultural-heritage preservation underlines some key issues: the tangible and intangible nature of benefits associated with cultural capital; intergenerational equity meant as the fair distribution of wealth, utility and resources among generations, in addition to the intra-generational one; the precautionary principle; and the multidimensionality of cultural heritage. As public goods, non-rival and non-exclusive, cultural resources are characterized by the presence of various categories of value that contribute to determining the Total Economic Value (V.E.T.). Given the risk of being under-supplied in the economy if these kind of goods are disregarded from appraisals, specific evaluation methodologies have been introduced with the aim of assigning a monetary value. In this context, the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) has been applied to estimate the economic benefits generated by the realization of a bicycle and pedestrian trail, considered as a non-marketed and complex good for the wide, and sometimes divergent, range of interests and values (economic, aesthetic, cultural, educational, political) attached to them. Consistently with the guidelines provided by the NOOA Panel, the CVM survey has been developed by the use of the Double Bounded Dichotomous model. In the absence of market prices that express the value of the benefits generated by this slow mobility project, respondents have shown a propensity for the implementation of the hypothetical scenario under valuation, thus demonstrating great awareness of the overall benefits associated with the project.

This contribution deals with the relationship between the spirit of the valuation logic and the city as capital asset, by considering the space/time asymmetry that concerns the land-resources allocation pattern. Such asymmetries, necessary for the economy, raise relevant issues about solidarity, typically involving the science of valuation committed in the achievement of economic fairness. The ethical content of urban policy cannot be defined outside of the cognitive and heuristic functions that are activated by practicing the judgment over the entire spectrum, ranging from statements of fact, through value judgments, up to the judgments of merit attributed in decision making. The study is in two stages. The first one concerns the “ecology of realty” centered on the ethics of limit. The second one defines the ecology of city, centered on the ethics of capital.

The paper deals with some features of the “ecology of value”, centred on the “ethics of valuation”, and of the “ecology of time” cantered on the “ethics of time”. In this framework it indicates what influence the encyclical Laudato si’ exerts on the evaluation processes, starting from the relationship between judgments of fact and value judgments, and between value and price. Referring to the normative function of appraisals, these reflections specify in which sense the capitalization rate is a framework for the representation and the government of the transformation processes concerning the urban housing stock, in a specific sense, and the city, in a general sense. For this purpose, the Keynesian macro-economic model is recalled as a general matrix explaining the constructive role that the monetary and real estate capital plays within the urban policies.

The article presents the theoretical and methodological basis for structuring a research project aiming at identifying and carrying out micro-actions of urban acupuncture. An actual project has been launched to requalify the neighborhood Vucciria—an existing paradigmatic and highly degraded area in the historic center of Palermo—acting through small architectural, social and cultural interventions. The project, now on-going, and whose various phases are described, involves both residents and regular public-space users. The assessor plays a pivotal role as coordinator between the various entities and groups involved; his coordination efforts are badly needed also when identifying and managing funding sources and re-directing the available resources to new virtuous processes of urban regeneration.

Regarding environmental sustainability, the encyclical “Laudato si” considers cities as living laboratories of nature-based solutions, capable of protect and promoting the population’s health status, as well improving sustainable land use and biodiversity. Densely-built urban contexts are affected by high levels of outdoor air pollution, coming from smog and fine particles, caused by vehicular traffic and the combustion processes of buildings’ heating systems. These pollutants cause several health issues, such as asthma, inflammatory and degenerative diseases and respiratory, cardiovascular and stress-related illnesses. At the same time, green areas are capable of absorbing toxic substances and of filtering polluted air. Taking into account the lack of green areas in urban environments, green roofs are delivering excellent alternatives for future implementations. A calculation model, named Green SOAP (Green Solutions for Outdoor Air Pollution), has been developed that quantifies green roofs’ capability to reduce air pollutants, with positive benefits on the environment, the population’s health status and the economic sustainability of the National Healthcare System. The research work has been structured in three macro-phases. A preliminary phase takes care of the state-of-the-art definition, through comparison with reference scientific bibliography; the proposal phase concerns the calculation model’s development; and the implementation phase consists of the application of Green SOAP in the “Città Studi” neighborhood, a case study identified in the city of Milano. The calculation-model application, according to the percentages defined by the morpho-typological analysis of the buildings, has shown that, with the new green roofs’ construction, it’s possible to reduce the pollutants approximately as high as 18.09 μg/m3 of PM10, 13.56 μg/m3 of PM2.5 and 7.24 μg/m3 of O₃ each year. Nowadays, Green SOAP is being implemented within several contexts to verify its consistency and to increase the sample of case studies.

Natural disasters are some of the major causes of intra-generational disparities. Nevertheless, their more remote causes must be sought in the difficulty local and national communities experience implementing inter-temporal allocation policies. The consequent failures of the territorial policies trigger new inter/intra-generational disparities whose effects will eventually accumulate as causes of further entropy decay. The latter cannot be metabolized by the social system and remains an environmental trace. Due to pressing budget constraints, it is increasingly difficult to generalize proactive behaviors: this has an impact on the individual tendency towards temporal continuity, resulting in a further reduction of the resilience of urban territorial systems (cities and infrastructures) whose allocation policies are strongly imbalanced towards the present. The contribution focuses on the issue of intergenerational solidarity in the context of disaster prevention and management and therefore on the indicator of this solidarity, the social discount rate. Finally, it presents a summary of two case studies on floods and earthquakes.

The paper recounts the evolution of Italian urban planning, starting from 1150/42 Act, which was restricted to the technical procedures to plan local public facilities. In order to achieve the above aim, three milestones are considered: the National Planning Act, the 765/67 Act and the Territorial Government Acts, approved by regions after the 3/2001 Constitutional Act. How does one measure the local public facilities in the General Municipal Plan (GMP)? Is the diversity of different needs of the various populations groups considered? The GMP views the population demand as a unicum, ignoring almost completely age, gender, religion and social differences. The local public facilities, also called Urban Standards, have been sized and allotted based on a hypothetical demand in the various Homogeneous Territorial Zones (HTZs). Is this a further limitation of rational-comprehensive urban planning? By a critical interpretation of the regional acts, approved after the year 2000, arise various different interpretations of Urban Standards: These range from the perspective of solely quantification to quality indicators needed to respond to the new land demand, expressed by a changed (socio-economic) morphology of the communities, defined over the past two decades. Could the performance standards make a contribution to solving the problem of the various population in anthropized territories? The paper will try to make a contribution, after a description of the current state of the art, to the disciplinary discussion.

The Encyclical Letter “Laudato Sì” (“Praise be to you”) gives space to an important reflection on the social and environmental development dimensions as well on the relationship between economic growth and human progress. The Letter proposes an explicit critique to the current economic system, based on the neoclassical paradigm, and it claims some not strictly traditional economic issues. Starting from this critical analysis, the Letter offers an in-depth reflection that moves from the decisions making processes and the objectives of economic policies up to the evaluation tools, which should be able to support an effective care of the Earth, dubbed as a “Common Home”. In order to overcome prejudices and the traditional perspectives and to seriously tackle the environmental and social challenges, the Encyclical Letter tries to broaden the concepts of value and progress. There are several causes for reflection: from the critique to methodological individualism (and the consequent representation of choices based on preferences not structured as needs) to the lack of recognition of the special harmony between humans and nature. Similarly to the Marxian thought of men’s alienation, it underlies the identity value of places, so to make the reduction of environmental and public goods to mere commodities controlled by the market unacceptable. The answer to this challenge cannot be vague ecology. For this reason the Letter calls for a new definition of the relationship between human beings and nature, starting from the Judeo-Christian anthropocentrism, which recalls that kind of reciprocity and which doesn’t assign to man the role of lord of the universe, but rather of responsible administrator. This new definition is based on some deep-rooted principles: the limits of resources and technology’s power, the social limits of affluent societies, the acceptance of the steady state condition, the attention to diversities, capabilities, willingness to participate by local communities, the individual character of well-being and life projects, the exhortation for a distributive justice into and between generations. The change of paradigm should be radical and subjected to mediation. In this framework the Encyclical Letter assigns to the Appraisal discipline a fundamental role for pursuing the envisaged changes and it outlines some operational assumptions to make the evaluation activities a real support to policy making.

The case study described here is part of an urban-regeneration project in Calenzano, one of the peripheral municipalities that form part of the metropolitan area of Florence. It is considered in the light of some observations made by Pope Francis in his encyclical, Laudato si’. When the Pope argued that “It is not enough to seek the beauty of design” (§ 150), he attributed a wider role and greater responsibility to the architect, who must take into account people’s quality of life, the ways in which they adapt to their environment, their social life and their need for mutual assistance. At the same time, the encyclical suggested that experts should take account of the limits of the “technocratic paradigm” (§ 101), which leaves the solution to environmental problems to technocrats and market forces. Renzo Piano devised the concept of “urban mending” as a means of renewing the urban periphery, and it seems to go in the same direction as the encyclical. This paper describes how the project was carried out, with particular attention to how decisions were made in line with the Pope’s encyclical and Renzo Piano’s vision.

Urban energy-district projects introduce outstanding technological innovation in buildings and energy systems increasing sustainability in city neighborhoods. Such projects generate additional co-benefits for the city beyond changes in physical elements and development of social and institutional relationships (e.g. local employment, environmental quality, public health, property values, innovation attitude, etc.). Since exceeding main declared goals or not always clearly foreseen in the early project phase, these co-benefits are often not properly understood and considered. However, only their explicit recognition will make possible their inclusion in the assessment of the whole project’s performance. From these considerations, this study faces the issue of engaging project partners in assessing co-benefits in order to consider a broad spectrum of relevant, positive effects in the evaluation process. Group knowledge and group thinking of this complex topic are investigated through the world café method, providing an atmosphere of trust and open discussions among participants. This empirical work lays the foundations to go beyond the mere economic measure as the sole criterion for assessing project effects, also including changes in end-user behavior and intangible assets.

The ecologic issue highlighted by the Encyclical letter Laudato Si’ (Francesco 2015) is a complex problem involving environmental, economic and social aspects. The aim of this paper is to propose an Integrated Assessment (IA) framework based on the systematic application of the Stakeholders’ Analysis (SA), the Strategic Choice Approach (SCA), the MACBETH Multicriteria Analysis and the Discounted Cash Flow Analysis (DCFA) to support the decision process related to the requalification of districts facing urban and social decline. In the proposed approach, the SA is used to determine the key actors involved in an urban and territorial transformation. While the SCA is used to identify potentialities and constraints of an urban area to define a master plan, the MACBETH method is applied to compare various alternative projects, and the DCFA aims at evaluating the economic performance of the proposed intervention. As a case study, the IA framework has been applied to a simulated academic process for the transformation of the Tür und Taxis district near the Molenbeek district in Brussels (Belgium). During the research, we interfaced with many real stakeholders involved in the transformation of those areas.

The introduction of Public Deliberative Practices approach is not recent among all decision-making processes that are—directly or through associations representing collective interests—oriented to community involvement. Although the use of these practices is consensus-oriented, the pursuit of specific knowledge and choice democratization, involving communities and their territories together with man-made environments, become ever more important since it offers opportunities for discussions that designers, planners, promoters of processes are often reluctant to undertake. Now that Pope Francis claims that “A consensus should always be reached between the different stakeholders, who can offer a variety of approaches, solutions and alternatives”, the evolution of decision-making processes, forged over the past 10–20 years finds a new opportunity for legitimation. The theme of the Ministry of Defense’s actions concerning the disposal and development of the built heritage—widely debated during recent years—is likely to be one of the paradigms of transparency within the declined decision-making process, in particular, in relation to the Participatory Spaces Planning. The goals of the Ministry of Defense for the property sector are the rationalization and development of military infrastructures—in line with art. 26, DL 133/2014, so-called “Sblocca Italia”—through the optimization of the ones still needed and the allocation to other purposes of those not essential anymore. Once accepted, this scenario for urban and economic regeneration, aimed at increasing social welfare and quality of life, is necessary to establish a path for transformation, including participatory-planning processes starting from citizens’ involvement. The recent and quick progress of Information Construction Technology (ICT) Systems that facilitate a successful organization of information allows the optimization of the decisional process and the achievement of more readable and, if possible, more sharable results between public entities and private citizens.

In Italy, the Legislative Decree 49/2010, issued according to the European Directive 2007/60/EC, introduced the Flood Risk Management Plans (PGRA) as a mandatory requirement for the flood-risk areas to reduce the impact of flooding on human health, environment, cultural heritage and economic activities. The PGRA plays a crucial role for the prevention and sustainable planning for risk areas, through the identification and evaluation of appropriate interventions, in contrast to the traditional approach based on emergency actions. Starting from the analysis of the PGRA requirements and contents, this paper aims to highlight the role of evaluation with respect to the plans implementation and the multidimensional issues emerging when laws and standards are applied. Many evaluation issues are still open, such as: (i) the uncertainty due to the long-term perspective generally used within this kind of investment decision; (ii) the estimation of the complex social impact of vulnerable areas; and (iii) the definition of a social discount rate able to reflect the intertemporal preferences of today’s generation over future ones.

Recently in Italy, new enhancement forms of real-estate property based on grass-roots participation came to light. The development of these initiatives enabled bottom-up valorization to become a viable alternative to the current forms of reuse of the public assets promoted by the public authorities. On closer look, some experiences are more successful than others that fail in a short time. This seems to depend on the presence of the social entrepreneur, a specific actor able to efficiently coordinate and manage the bottom-up, value-creation process. The aim of this paper is to investigate the role of the social entrepreneur and the way in which he/she promotes the public real-estate properties’ enhancement through grass-roots participation. Comparing two emblematic case studies in Italy, distinguished by the presence-absence of the social entrepreneur, the paper points out the role and the importance of this actor, a catalyst able to seize the economic and the social opportunities gathering around the initiative; to design an overall business strategy; and to involve the citizenry to strengthen these bottom-up initiatives.

Following the events of the still unfolding economic and financial crisis involving real estate, there has been a growing awareness of having to formulate proposals and scenarios (in real estate) that have the characteristics of socially responsible investments; therefore, in line with the papal Encyclical Laudato Si’, these proposals and scenarios must aim at growth based on a development that is “sustainable”, both environmentally and socially. Settlement production processes are starting to be carried out in the form of “Impact Investments”, responsible investments related to ethical finance. Based on these premises, this paper will: (i) briefly analyze the nature of an “Impact Investment” and what characterizes and sets it apart from “Traditional Investments”; (ii) then, based on the analyses made, it will be possible to identify the elements for formulating a procedure (of the multicriteria type) aimed at assessing an “Impact Investment” in real estate. Lastly, the procedure will be applied to a case study involving a social-housing initiative in the Municipality of Ladispoli (Rome).

The Pope’s encyclical Laudato si’ draws our attention to the great challenges posed by sustainability objectives, questioning the institutions, the scientific community and civil society regarding the policies to be adopted and the tools to be used. This contribution focuses on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as an important tool to ensure sustainable development and reach a high level of environmental protection. In particular, considerations are explored by presenting a thought-provoking case study on the SEA of the urban plan for the municipality of Marzano di Nola, located in the province of Avellino in the Campania region. More specifically, this paper provides an integrated evaluation method to support the preparation of the preliminary environmental assessment report and the construction of scenarios for the adoption of urban plans, as an innovative tool that integrates objectives and multidimensional (economic, environmental and social) components, but also various approaches and models for the construction of a long-term shared vision.

The publication of the encyclical Laudato si’, the second written by Pope Francis, is an exhortation addressed not only to Catholic Christians, but to the whole of humankind, so that everyone cooperates for the “care of the creation”. This paper refers to the fourth chapter of the letter, which suggests an “integral ecology” that respects the interconnection among the environmental, human, cultural, social and economic aspects. Indeed, the Local Center for the Arts and Culture La Vetreria realized in the independent Municipality of Pirri in Cagliari, examined in this study, constitutes an example of urban regeneration that springs from the restoration of abandoned industrial buildings and passes through the qualification of the urban space to finally reach the multiscalar regeneration of the area including physical, economic, social and cultural aspects. The works, following the examples of urban regeneration identified in the academic literature as cultural regeneration, integrate spaces specifically designed for cultural activities with areas for recreational and leisure activities. This mix of urban functions is supposed to exert great attraction over the population, so that the area connects itself to the urban routine becoming a daily destination, independent of occasional events. The research question is about the success of this project. It has been questioned whether it has been able to generate genuine urban regeneration. Visual analysis, supported by longitudinal and cross-sectional quantitative analysis of economic and demographic data, highlights the results and critical aspects of the project. It shows that economic and social conditions of the area did not actually improve. Despite the successful beautification of the area, the project has not been able either to attract other investments or to trigger socioeconomic upward mobility among the local residents. Thus, it has to be concluded that it failed to achieve its original aim.

The argument of Pope Francis’ “Laudato si’” Encyclical was developed around the concept of “integral ecology”: «Since everything is closely interrelated and today’s problems require a vision capable of taking account every aspect of the global crisis, I suggest we now consider some elements of an integral ecology, one which clearly respects its human and social dimension» (Pope Francis 2015). With regard to investment initiatives, the pursuit of not only financial but also social, cultural and environmental objectives requires a careful and accurate analysis of the various risk components associated with this concept. The objective of this paper is to strongly focus on the concept of risk and the techniques that are commonly used for risk analysis in the economic evaluation of projects. Also included are the identification of critical issues and outlining of potential successful research prospects that are linked to the entire process.