RICERCA ITALIANA     

INTEGRATED EVALUATION AND MONITORING IN LARGE DISTRESSED AREAS DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES

Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"

Abstract

The large majority of European cities contain vast urban areas that present serious problems from an environmental, social and economic point of view. The phenomenon, certainly not new, is assuming dimensions and characteristics that require a particular level of attention from the European Union and local and national governments. It is possible to state that the presence of large urban distressed areas is modifying the organisation of urban space, not only in terms of location, external economics, the use of the historical city and the capital, but also in terms of the behaviour of businesses, the community, the market and institutions. These are the areas in which the indicators denounce situations of stress, high levels of immigration, of mobility and, simultaneously, accumulations of obsolete and decaying buildings, high levels of unemployment, etc.
The entire research programme is to last 24 months and is to be composed of three general operative phases. The singular operative units may be subdivided, based on specific requirements, into further sub-phases. The research programme will give full autonomy to the local units, who will remain in continuous communication through periodic study seminars and exchanges of information via internet. This will allow the different units to interact in a synergetic manner using complementary contributions and the examinations of the individual contributions as a base for the critical analysis of the entire research team.
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Principal Investigator

Saverio Antonio MICCOLI Università degli Studi di ROMA "La Sapienza"

Research Objectives

The general objective of the research is the definition and experimentation with procedures of evaluation and monitoring useful for structuring suitable strategies of intervention for the re-design of large distressed areas. Integrated evaluations and monitoring of these areas represent obligatory steps in order to respond to the insufficiency of participation in decision-making, the lack of entrepreneurial activity and responsibility, the lack of initiatives from the financial sector relative to the support of proposed interventions, the limited capacity to delineate new scenarios and the high percentage of unsuccessful projects.
The research will investigate the criteria used in defining the technical and operative characteristics for the evaluation and monitoring of "typical cases" of strategic investment and, in particular, those used to control the efficiency and effectiveness of policies for territorial government. During the last ten years, even in Italy, urban transformations have been characterised by new and more frequent forms of interaction between public and private subjects.
The regeneration of abandoned industrial sites has assumed an ever-greater dimension in the former production areas created in the principal Italian cities during the 1950's, 60's and 70's. Production was interrupted not only for questions of an economic nature, but also for environmental reasons, as part of the growing attention of national and international legislation to >>>

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

The theme of the urban transformations is widely documented. In particular it is interesting to look at the example of abandoned urban areas, above all for the complexity and the interweaving of questions of evaluation relative to these situations.
These sites, often located in areas that lack urban infrastructures and services, have come to represent the image of pollution, environmental risk and the lack of urban quality. In many cases they become the focal point of processes of urban decline. In terms of scale, they present themselves as vast territories that often exceed the dimensions of a single neighbourhood. Normally their impact is not limited to their specific site, but extends across the entire urban area. In this sense they play a strategic role in the functional structure of urban realities. Large abandoned areas are characterised by the unpredictability of their future development: as a result, any improvement must consider a series of problems that are tied to this situation of uncertainty.
While the benefits of the most important changes are systematically underestimated, the costs of requalifying abandoned areas tend to be overestimated. For example, during the initial phase of the process, the costs (in terms of effort, risks, quantities of money, etc.) must be immediately supported while the benefits are barely identifiable.
Local residents have very little influence in decision-making processes, while the decision makers play a very >>>