Climate change is only one of several pressure and drivers, such as natural disasters, improvemen... more Climate change is only one of several pressure and drivers, such as natural disasters, improvements in technologies and changing customers’ behaviors that water organizations have to relate and adapt to. This places new challenges (e.g. dealing with increased exposure, vulnerability, and uncertainty) to water management and require water organizations to change their perspective on how to deal with water issues. This paper builds on a literature review to identify dimensions and criteria of adaptive capacity and presents a conceptual framework to assess organizational adaptive capacity. The developed framework has been tested within the Municipality of Tomave (Bolivia). The paper results emphasize the incapacity to transform routines as the context is changing leads to the construction of barriers and to the inability of an organization to support the process of change of the society. In addition, the study emphasis that the development of a working system based on cooperation requires first that an organization acquires skills and adapt its routines to the new working system. Furthermore, the development of a participatory process of planning and implementation of policies would help to reduce the trade-offs and conflicts related to water management. Linked to this, the development of a system for monitoring and evaluation of policies implemented organization can contribute to build an iterative mechanism so to allow a redefinition and improvement of such policies.
Abstract. La mappatura dei piani e dei programmi in materia di Protezione Civile rappresenta una ... more Abstract. La mappatura dei piani e dei programmi in materia di Protezione Civile rappresenta una fase del processo di studio del territorio della provincia di Lecco, il quale s' inserisce all'interno di un progetto di ricerca multidisciplinare di più ampio respiro, MIARIA ...
The concept of urban resilience has so far been related mainly to climate change adaptation and d... more The concept of urban resilience has so far been related mainly to climate change adaptation and disaster management perspectives. Here we aim to broaden the discussion by showing how the framework of urban resilience should be related to wider sustainability challenges, including i) climate change and natural hazard threats, ii) unsustainable urban metabolism patterns and iii) increasing social inequalities in cities. Using three case studies (flood risk management in the Dutch polders, urban–rural teleconnections driving the Bolivian quinoa market, and spatial diversity in the adaptive capacity of Kampala slums), (1) we draw out significant insights related to scales and sustainability, which will push urban resilience research forward. The key “move” is to consider both spatial and temporal interactions, in order to shift from the mainstreaming of the resilience-building paradigm toward a critical understanding and management of resilience trade-offs. While urban resilience emerges not necessarily as a normatively positive concept anymore, we argue that addressing multi-scale and temporal aspects of urban resilience will allow greater understanding of global sustainability challenges.
In recent years, awareness of a need for more effective disaster data collection, storage, and sh... more In recent years, awareness of a need for more effective disaster data collection, storage, and sharing of analyses has developed in many parts of the world. In line with this advance, Italian local authorities have expressed the need for enhanced methods and procedures for post-event damage assessment in order to obtain data that can serve numerous purposes: to create a reliable and consistent database on the basis of which damage models can be defined or validated; and to supply a comprehensive scenario of flooding impacts according to which priorities can be identified during the emergency and recovery phase, and the compensation due to citizens from insurers or local authorities can be established. This paper studies this context, and describes ongoing activities in the Umbria and Sicily regions of Italy intended to identifying new tools and procedures for flood damage data surveys and storage in the aftermath of floods. In the first part of the paper, the current procedures for data gathering in Italy are analysed. The analysis shows that the available knowledge does not enable the definition or validation of damage curves, as information is poor, fragmented, and inconsistent. A new procedure for data collection and storage is therefore proposed. The entire analysis was carried out at a local level for the residential and commercial sectors only. The objective of the next steps for the research in the short term will be (i) to extend the procedure to other types of damage, and (ii) to make the procedure operational with the Italian Civil Protection system. The long-term aim is to develop specific depth–damage curves for Italian contexts.
Dryland and oasis communities in developing countries are considered to be among the most threate... more Dryland and oasis communities in developing countries are considered to be among the most threatened by climate change impacts and the consequences of increasing human pressure on the environment. For centuries nomads and oasis communities have been demonstrating their adaptive capacities and resilience by coping with tough environmental conditions. In the Moroccan Drâa Valley, we explore different top-down, bottom-up, regional and local adaptation strategies, applied in response to increasing droughts and desertification rates. The adaptations of different sectors and actors have been integrated in a regional study in order to frame them from both the resilience and sustainability perspectives. The findings underline that while human adaptive strategies are mostly capable of addressing stressors and enhancing resilience (in the short run) locally, ecosystems resilience and regional social-ecological sustainability are under threat. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of reframing resilient strategies in the light of sustainability and long term resilience perspectives.
This paper reports on a comprehensive vulnerability analysis based on a research work developed w... more This paper reports on a comprehensive vulnerability analysis based on a research work developed within the EC ENSURE Project (7FP) dealing with the assessment of different volcanic phenomena and induced mass-movements on Vulcano Island (S Italy) as a key tool for proactive efforts for multi-risk mitigation. The work is mainly focused on tephra sedimentation and lahar hazards and related physical, systemic and mitigation capacities.
La ricerca ha come obiettivo l'analisi della mobilità nei Territori Intermedi1. Tali territori so... more La ricerca ha come obiettivo l'analisi della mobilità nei Territori Intermedi1. Tali territori sono definiti come quelle «situazioni insediative che è possibile riconoscere nelle agglomerazioni attorno ai grandi nuclei urbani che attraversano una fase matura dei processi di urbanizzazione»2. In particolare il nostro studio si focalizza sui territori di prima cintura della città di Milano, sebbene la comprensione dei fenomeni di mobilità spinga la nostra indagine fino ai confini della Provincia. La ricerca inquadra una contraddizione in essere tra l’infrastruttura della mobilità, rigida e divisa in settori radiali, e le traiettorie reali di mobilità, trasversali e non sistematiche. Data la loro posizione mediana, i Territori Intermedi risultano un campo privilegiato per l’osservazione dei fenomeni di movimento. Da un punto di vista metodologico, la ricerca adotta gli strumenti delle microstorie e delle interviste quali chiavi di lettura del territorio in oggetto, allo scopo di ottenere una visione che sia al contempo ravvicinata e inter-scalare così da cogliere le relazioni tra i diversi livelli territoriali e quelli della pianificazione.
Climate change is only one of several pressure and drivers, such as natural disasters, improvemen... more Climate change is only one of several pressure and drivers, such as natural disasters, improvements in technologies and changing customers’ behaviors that water organizations have to relate and adapt to. This places new challenges (e.g. dealing with increased exposure, vulnerability, and uncertainty) to water management and require water organizations to change their perspective on how to deal with water issues. This paper builds on a literature review to identify dimensions and criteria of adaptive capacity and presents a conceptual framework to assess organizational adaptive capacity. The developed framework has been tested within the Municipality of Tomave (Bolivia). The paper results emphasize the incapacity to transform routines as the context is changing leads to the construction of barriers and to the inability of an organization to support the process of change of the society. In addition, the study emphasis that the development of a working system based on cooperation requires first that an organization acquires skills and adapt its routines to the new working system. Furthermore, the development of a participatory process of planning and implementation of policies would help to reduce the trade-offs and conflicts related to water management. Linked to this, the development of a system for monitoring and evaluation of policies implemented organization can contribute to build an iterative mechanism so to allow a redefinition and improvement of such policies.
Abstract. La mappatura dei piani e dei programmi in materia di Protezione Civile rappresenta una ... more Abstract. La mappatura dei piani e dei programmi in materia di Protezione Civile rappresenta una fase del processo di studio del territorio della provincia di Lecco, il quale s' inserisce all'interno di un progetto di ricerca multidisciplinare di più ampio respiro, MIARIA ...
The concept of urban resilience has so far been related mainly to climate change adaptation and d... more The concept of urban resilience has so far been related mainly to climate change adaptation and disaster management perspectives. Here we aim to broaden the discussion by showing how the framework of urban resilience should be related to wider sustainability challenges, including i) climate change and natural hazard threats, ii) unsustainable urban metabolism patterns and iii) increasing social inequalities in cities. Using three case studies (flood risk management in the Dutch polders, urban–rural teleconnections driving the Bolivian quinoa market, and spatial diversity in the adaptive capacity of Kampala slums), (1) we draw out significant insights related to scales and sustainability, which will push urban resilience research forward. The key “move” is to consider both spatial and temporal interactions, in order to shift from the mainstreaming of the resilience-building paradigm toward a critical understanding and management of resilience trade-offs. While urban resilience emerges not necessarily as a normatively positive concept anymore, we argue that addressing multi-scale and temporal aspects of urban resilience will allow greater understanding of global sustainability challenges.
In recent years, awareness of a need for more effective disaster data collection, storage, and sh... more In recent years, awareness of a need for more effective disaster data collection, storage, and sharing of analyses has developed in many parts of the world. In line with this advance, Italian local authorities have expressed the need for enhanced methods and procedures for post-event damage assessment in order to obtain data that can serve numerous purposes: to create a reliable and consistent database on the basis of which damage models can be defined or validated; and to supply a comprehensive scenario of flooding impacts according to which priorities can be identified during the emergency and recovery phase, and the compensation due to citizens from insurers or local authorities can be established. This paper studies this context, and describes ongoing activities in the Umbria and Sicily regions of Italy intended to identifying new tools and procedures for flood damage data surveys and storage in the aftermath of floods. In the first part of the paper, the current procedures for data gathering in Italy are analysed. The analysis shows that the available knowledge does not enable the definition or validation of damage curves, as information is poor, fragmented, and inconsistent. A new procedure for data collection and storage is therefore proposed. The entire analysis was carried out at a local level for the residential and commercial sectors only. The objective of the next steps for the research in the short term will be (i) to extend the procedure to other types of damage, and (ii) to make the procedure operational with the Italian Civil Protection system. The long-term aim is to develop specific depth–damage curves for Italian contexts.
Dryland and oasis communities in developing countries are considered to be among the most threate... more Dryland and oasis communities in developing countries are considered to be among the most threatened by climate change impacts and the consequences of increasing human pressure on the environment. For centuries nomads and oasis communities have been demonstrating their adaptive capacities and resilience by coping with tough environmental conditions. In the Moroccan Drâa Valley, we explore different top-down, bottom-up, regional and local adaptation strategies, applied in response to increasing droughts and desertification rates. The adaptations of different sectors and actors have been integrated in a regional study in order to frame them from both the resilience and sustainability perspectives. The findings underline that while human adaptive strategies are mostly capable of addressing stressors and enhancing resilience (in the short run) locally, ecosystems resilience and regional social-ecological sustainability are under threat. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance of reframing resilient strategies in the light of sustainability and long term resilience perspectives.
This paper reports on a comprehensive vulnerability analysis based on a research work developed w... more This paper reports on a comprehensive vulnerability analysis based on a research work developed within the EC ENSURE Project (7FP) dealing with the assessment of different volcanic phenomena and induced mass-movements on Vulcano Island (S Italy) as a key tool for proactive efforts for multi-risk mitigation. The work is mainly focused on tephra sedimentation and lahar hazards and related physical, systemic and mitigation capacities.
La ricerca ha come obiettivo l'analisi della mobilità nei Territori Intermedi1. Tali territori so... more La ricerca ha come obiettivo l'analisi della mobilità nei Territori Intermedi1. Tali territori sono definiti come quelle «situazioni insediative che è possibile riconoscere nelle agglomerazioni attorno ai grandi nuclei urbani che attraversano una fase matura dei processi di urbanizzazione»2. In particolare il nostro studio si focalizza sui territori di prima cintura della città di Milano, sebbene la comprensione dei fenomeni di mobilità spinga la nostra indagine fino ai confini della Provincia. La ricerca inquadra una contraddizione in essere tra l’infrastruttura della mobilità, rigida e divisa in settori radiali, e le traiettorie reali di mobilità, trasversali e non sistematiche. Data la loro posizione mediana, i Territori Intermedi risultano un campo privilegiato per l’osservazione dei fenomeni di movimento. Da un punto di vista metodologico, la ricerca adotta gli strumenti delle microstorie e delle interviste quali chiavi di lettura del territorio in oggetto, allo scopo di ottenere una visione che sia al contempo ravvicinata e inter-scalare così da cogliere le relazioni tra i diversi livelli territoriali e quelli della pianificazione.
Uploads
quelle «situazioni insediative che è possibile riconoscere nelle agglomerazioni attorno ai grandi nuclei urbani
che attraversano una fase matura dei processi di urbanizzazione»2. In particolare il nostro studio si focalizza sui
territori di prima cintura della città di Milano, sebbene la comprensione dei fenomeni di mobilità spinga la
nostra indagine fino ai confini della Provincia. La ricerca inquadra una contraddizione in essere tra
l’infrastruttura della mobilità, rigida e divisa in settori radiali, e le traiettorie reali di mobilità, trasversali e non
sistematiche. Data la loro posizione mediana, i Territori Intermedi risultano un campo privilegiato per
l’osservazione dei fenomeni di movimento. Da un punto di vista metodologico, la ricerca adotta gli strumenti
delle microstorie e delle interviste quali chiavi di lettura del territorio in oggetto, allo scopo di ottenere una
visione che sia al contempo ravvicinata e inter-scalare così da cogliere le relazioni tra i diversi livelli territoriali
e quelli della pianificazione.
quelle «situazioni insediative che è possibile riconoscere nelle agglomerazioni attorno ai grandi nuclei urbani
che attraversano una fase matura dei processi di urbanizzazione»2. In particolare il nostro studio si focalizza sui
territori di prima cintura della città di Milano, sebbene la comprensione dei fenomeni di mobilità spinga la
nostra indagine fino ai confini della Provincia. La ricerca inquadra una contraddizione in essere tra
l’infrastruttura della mobilità, rigida e divisa in settori radiali, e le traiettorie reali di mobilità, trasversali e non
sistematiche. Data la loro posizione mediana, i Territori Intermedi risultano un campo privilegiato per
l’osservazione dei fenomeni di movimento. Da un punto di vista metodologico, la ricerca adotta gli strumenti
delle microstorie e delle interviste quali chiavi di lettura del territorio in oggetto, allo scopo di ottenere una
visione che sia al contempo ravvicinata e inter-scalare così da cogliere le relazioni tra i diversi livelli territoriali
e quelli della pianificazione.