TOWARD SUSTAINABLE SETTLEMENTS. A MODEL FOR CERTIFICATION OF QUALITY URBAN PLANNING

This study take place Elaboration of tools for the organization sustainable urban settlements. Urban ecosystem is dynamic organism composed by natural environments, buildings and social-economics aspects, to which corresponds a natural, artificial and social capital. In many best practices of international experiences it’s revealed the necessity to allow the coexistence between a new urban settlements and a pre-existent high-ecological value, that brings to new solutions and experimentations about renewable energies. While on building scale there are a lot of international studies and experiences, this method for the first time allows an integrated approach to energetic evaluation of settlements on urban scale. This study presents a model which analyzes impacts that urban intervention determines on human capital, natural capital and artificial capital on local scale. The method, developed in accordance with the DPSIR scheme, introduces the development of a sustainable index obtained through linear combination of indicators which can monitor impacts on single actions on different capitals. The applications put in evidence that this index can be used both to evaluate the transformations determined by local plans and to propose strategies of improvement according with the Municipal Urban Plan. This is an evaluation frameworks developed to better support urban policies and decisional processes. The application can support the single designer or Public Administration to control the distribution and organization of surfaces, seeking the protection of soil and water, guaranteeing a better life quality for the users of urban spaces. This methodology introduce the development of urban layout tools that can guarantee the verification of sustainability content and energy efficiency of urban transformations. Future developments are: the possibility to use the model both as instrument of evaluation and as support instrument of decisions; go toward as certification of sustainability of the settlements