Assessing and managing the relationship between urban growth and greening goals for sustainable urban development. An innovative methodological approach.

Abstract

As part of the transformation and qualifying processes of cities and territories, considering the challenges posed by climate change and the ecological transition in progress, the need to define new methods for sustainable urban planning capable of analyzing, evaluating, and managing the complex relationship between urban growth and greening processes to guarantee adequate levels of urban liveability and sustainability has emerged in an increasingly evident way. The thesis deals with the complex relationship between urban growth and urban greening processes. Precisely, after the analysis of the state-of-the-art on the topics of urban growth, compact and dispersed, and greening processes, such as urban green areas, ecosystem services, and nature-based solutions, and the innovative methods and tools employed in urban planning to pursue this purpose, an innovative methodological approach based on innovative information technologies, such as artificial intelligence models and remote sensing techniques, and advanced geospatial analysis techniques, also shared via the web, for assessing and managing urban growth and greening processes is defined. The proposed methodological approach is applied to specific case studies, demonstrating that planners can employ this approach to make informed decisions regarding evaluating and managing urban growth and greening processes to make these processes truly sustainable. The analyses and experiments led within the thesis bring out the need for flexible, innovative, and integrated urban planning approaches that appropriately direct the urban and territorial planning decision-making processes for achieving sustainable and liveable development.