Peri-urban Open Spaces and Sustainable Urban Development Between Value and Consumption

Current rates in population growth and urbanization are threatening sustainability. Increasing soil consumption and dwellings with inadequate characteristics need to be counteracted to ensure well-being of present and future populations. Urban planning is currently characterized by an approach based on standards and restrictions, and, as such, is unable to cope with the above problems. An Ecosystem Service (ES) approach can be valuable in assessing current quality of life in urban settlements and in planning for its improvement. Green open spaces and relationships between urban, peri-urban and rural areas are very important in the provision of Ecosystem Services (ESs) to built-up areas. While many authors focus on approaches aiming to provide a monetary value for ESs, others are more interested in how to operationalize ES use in planning, without having to assess ES monetary value. The authors propose an integrated AMCGIS approach aiming to improve planning by providing a three-dimensional spatial analysis of productive, protective and cultural-recreational ESs based on the integration of the three RGB channels. Resulting maps provide a spatial representation of the mix of the three ES categories and stress the multifunctional role of many open spaces. Although the model requires further refinement and testing, preliminary results show that this approach may represent an innovative tool both for urban planning and design and for monitoring and correcting urban projects that are already underway.