Urban form and city environment. A proposed methodology for understending sustainability

The paper deals with the experience of a four-year research at the University of Naples ???Federico II??? jointly carried out with the National Research Council (IRAT-CNR) and with the support of a private company (EUASIA LTD) specializing in eco-cultural tourism. The study is focused on the environmental performances of the urban space of a number of small towns and villages of Southern Italy according to the assumption that in such places, elements of the ancient settlements are still recognizable. The paper proposes a knowledge-oriented methodology aimed at enhancing the significance of the urban form in terms of relationships between natural and built environment, empirically demonstrating the existence of a (somehow implicit) ecological design approach of the primary urban patterns that characterizes urban signatures [Alberti, 2007] in terms of pattern itself, building shape, use of materials and construction technologies. The research point out the value of the original construction process and it aims at highlighting the coherence between urban form and the natural environment, notably focused on the sustainable use of the local resources (vegetation, soil and water) that correspond to the ecological cycles and is adapted to human activities. This important realtionship could help to build up both social and economic sustainability and to develop an innovative approach to urban planning and urban design. The new approach can be applied to historical urban contexts as well as to the planning of new settlements plannin