Italian landscape macrosystem (ILM) from urban pressure to a National Wildway

Bernardino Romano; Andrea Agapito Ludovici; Francesco Zullo; Alessandro Marucci; Lorena Fiorini; Bernardino Romano; Andrea Agapito Ludovici; Francesco Zullo; Alessandro Marucci; Lorena Fiorini

doi:10.3934/environsci.2020032

AIMS Environmental Science

2020, Volume 7, Issue 6: 505-525. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2020032

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Research article Special Issues

Italian landscape macrosystem (ILM) from urban pressure to a National Wildway

1.
University of L'Aquila-DICEAA-Via Gronchi 18 - 67100 L'Aquila - Italy
2.
WWF Italia ONLUS - Via Po 25/c - 00198 Roma - Italy

Received: 13 September 2020 Accepted: 13 November 2020 Published: 24 November 2020

Thirty years after the widespread establishment of the concepts of environmental continuity in Europe and Italy, linked to the EU Habitat Directive and the Natura 2000 project, these have almost completely lost their impetus. After having fostered a very intense scientific and political/administrative/managerial period, these concepts have produced only a few virtuous examples of implementation. The study presented in this paper shows that today national environmental quality is almost entirely based on land use categories that are scarcely protected and not subject to sufficiently binding planning. Moreover, their functional structure and extension/quality depend on how the local and global market impact spatially complementary categories mostly affected by anthropic action, which instead undergo efficiently planned changes. From the fundamental paradigm of "ecological networks" the interests of the scientific world and local authorities have shifted to other fronts, losing that physical and conceptual cohesion inherent in "environmental continuity" as a value in itself. The availability of recent, very advanced data helps take stock of this issue and verify critical points on the national territory that have been unresolved for several decades, but still rife with potential for the application of models of international value.
- landscape macrosystem,
- urban pressure,
- land biopermeability,
- national wildways,
- Italian landscape
Citation: Bernardino Romano, Andrea Agapito Ludovici, Francesco Zullo, Alessandro Marucci, Lorena Fiorini. Italian landscape macrosystem (ILM) from urban pressure to a National Wildway[J]. AIMS Environmental Science, 2020, 7(6): 505-525. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2020032

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Abstract

Thirty years after the widespread establishment of the concepts of environmental continuity in Europe and Italy, linked to the EU Habitat Directive and the Natura 2000 project, these have almost completely lost their impetus. After having fostered a very intense scientific and political/administrative/managerial period, these concepts have produced only a few virtuous examples of implementation. The study presented in this paper shows that today national environmental quality is almost entirely based on land use categories that are scarcely protected and not subject to sufficiently binding planning. Moreover, their functional structure and extension/quality depend on how the local and global market impact spatially complementary categories mostly affected by anthropic action, which instead undergo efficiently planned changes. From the fundamental paradigm of "ecological networks" the interests of the scientific world and local authorities have shifted to other fronts, losing that physical and conceptual cohesion inherent in "environmental continuity" as a value in itself. The availability of recent, very advanced data helps take stock of this issue and verify critical points on the national territory that have been unresolved for several decades, but still rife with potential for the application of models of international value.

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