Planning new towns and public open spaces. The role of nature and urban agriculture

The research finds its scientific approach in studies conducted over the last few years at the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, dell'Ambiente, del Territorio e Architettura (DICATeA) of the University of Parma. The research takes into account the reality of a continual urbanization of the territory, aware of an ever greater consumption of the soil resources as well as the cultural and territorial differences, after having reviewed significant examples of founded cities while exploring the concept of the garden city and its subsequent application to the English new towns and the French ville nouvelle so as to focus on the cities of the latest generation. The first part of the research uses a special indexing tool which analyzes a conspicuous number of new cities on the international scene, recording identity information of each case study as the cognitive framework of the location, dimensional and quantitative data whle studying the master plans for a more in depth study relative tothe topics of urban design and the built environment, public open spaces and green areas, alternative energy, sustainability and synergy between nature and structure. The second thread of the research analyses the theme of how the production of foodstuffs tends to influence more and more the ordinary practice of planning and designing the city. It closely examines the transformations induced by the target of increasing the share of nature and open spaces dedicated to urban agriculture in the design of urban and rural settlements. Starting from the role of agricultural spaces in the design of new cities, especially in reference to models in emerging countries; it deals withthe more specific approach of the eco-neighborhoods and how they dealt with the issue of self-sustaininment of their inhabitants to then concentrate the last part on the discussion of urban-rural integration models such as the urban-rural agri-villages