Silvia Iodice | Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II" (original) (raw)

Papers by Silvia Iodice

Heatwaves are one of the most concerning consequences of climate change, with record-breaking tem... more Heatwaves are one of the most concerning consequences of climate change, with record-breaking temperatures becoming more frequent and intense, and projected to continue. Extreme heat is particularly alarming in cities, where it leads to the Urban Heat Island effect. This effect causes higher local temperatures and urban areas to become hotter than surrounding suburban regions and rural areas. This is connected to the presence of more sealed surfaces and higher density of both people and heat-emitting infrastructures. We need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit climate change. At the same time, we should adapt by diminishing exposure and vulnerability and increasing the overall resilience and adaptive capacity of cities. The deployment of green and blue infrastructures is one of the most effective measures to counteract the urban heat island effect. However, the combination of several strategies adapted to the local circumstances is the most powerful. This policy brief focuses on how to tackle severe heat in cities and provides recommendations, best practices and analytical tools that can be used by local authorities.

The theme of the reuse of disused religious cultural heritage has been the focus of attention in ... more The theme of the reuse of disused religious cultural heritage has been the focus of attention in the national and international debate for years. The vastness and importance of this heritage, a connotation element of the landscape and of the life of the communities born around it, highlights with extreme urgency the open question on its future and therefore on the identification of strategies consistent with the complex of values of which it is bearer. The different approaches adopted in cases of reuse already carried out showed the strengths and weaknesses of the implemented processes and drew attention to the need to identify shared guiding criteria for the development of an exportable but also adaptable methodology to different contexts. The summer school “New scenarios for disused monastic heritages. Lucca cases between monastic memories and Puccini's legacy” represented an opportunity for fruitful interdisciplinary debate to deepen the theme of the reuse of religious cultur...

Aestimum, 2016

This position paper critically analyses the process to implement the UNESCO Recommendation on the... more This position paper critically analyses the process to implement the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (2011), exploring evaluation tools, innovative business / management models and financing tools for the conservation and regeneration of Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), to make it operational in the perspective of a circular economy model of sustainable development for city / territory system regeneration. Through evaluation tools, it is possible to pass from general principles to operational practices; to produce empirical evidence of the economic, social and environmental benefits of HUL integrated conservation and regeneration. The challenge of generating a symbiosis between conservation and transformation issues requires adequate evaluation methods, business, management and financing tools, engaging civil society and local stakeholders, capturing both HUL tangible and intangible values to turn the historic urban landscape into a driver of sustainable growth....

Aestimum, 2021

The urban regeneration of historic centres is an extremely topical issue in the contemporary deba... more The urban regeneration of historic centres is an extremely topical issue in the contemporary debate and is an essential prerequisite for the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals. Adaptive reuse of the abandoned heritage represents an effective strategy to give new life to abandoned or underused portions of territory, hosting functions more suited to the needs of the contemporary city and its characterizing phenomena. This work is the result of an experimentation that has as object of investigation the historic centre of Naples where, according to some recent data, there has been a significant increase in Bed and Breakfasts, some often as result of cultural heritage reuse processes. After having spatially represented the market values of residential buildings through the elaboration of a Geographic Information System, it was possible to verify the existence of a relation between the dynamics of the real estate and the rise of new accommodation facilities, often located in historic buildings subjected to adaptive reuse processes.

Waste Management , 2021

Construction and Demolition Waste represents a priority stream for the European Union and has a l... more Construction and Demolition Waste represents a priority stream for the European Union and has a large potential for closing the material circulation loop in line with the Circular Economy principles. The present
study focuses on the socio-economic and environmental implications of the management of such waste in the Campania Region (Italy), with the aim of documenting the benefits of recycling actions and landfill avoidance. By using local primary data, and complementing them with data from literature and datasets, three scenarios have been investigated: i) Status Quo, i.e., a baseline scenario presenting the current management of Construction and Demolition Waste in the Region; ii) a Linear Economy scenario, considering the total flow disposed of in landfill and iii) a Best Practice scenario based on the implementation of selective demolition practices and increased recycling for the production of high-quality recycled aggregates. Special attention has been paid to the land use and socio-economic implications linked to the management of this flow, which are rarely considered. We quantify that, with the implementation of best practices, ca. 18 Mkg CO2 -eq. can be saved annually relative to the Status Quo alongside creating additional 1,000 jobs-eq. and incurring important benefits on land use. The results stress that the potential environmental and social benefits of selective demolition and best practices are significant, but the incurred economic costs may hinder their application and the resulting development of more circular economy actions in the construction sector, highlighting the need for incentives and tools to facilitate this
transition.

Sustainability , 2021

Cultural heritage (CH) is considered a key element of cities and regions’ identity and uniqueness... more Cultural heritage (CH) is considered a key element of cities and regions’ identity and uniqueness, contributing to people's wellbeing and health, as well as jobs creation, environmental regeneration and place attractiveness. The adaptive reuse of abandoned and underused CH can be a sustainable strategy for heritage conservation, stimulating local development processes. However, heritage conservation needs large investments, while the resources available are scarce, and investment
projects are subject to high uncertainties. Therefore, a careful assessment of impacts is needed to orient and direct CH adaptive reuse projects towards sustainability. Recent studies approach the adaptive reuse of abandoned buildings and sites as an effective circular economy strategy, potentially contributing to climate objectives through environmental regeneration and the reduction of natural resources consumption. However, evaluation tools to assess the impacts and orient adaptive reuse interventions in the perspective of circularity are lacking. Through the analysis of 76 literature sources on CH impacts, this article explores how indicators are currently used in CH research and practice as impact assessment tools. More than 3500 indicators were retrieved and classified. Finally, this article proposes a comprehensive evaluation framework to assess the impacts of cultural heritage adaptive reuse in the perspective of the circular economy. The results showed that, while some indicators are available, many circularity aspects are not considered in the current studies on CH impacts.

SMC - Sustainable Mediterranean Construction, 2020

The 2030 Agenda and the New Urban Agenda represent two important strategic documents for achievin... more The 2030 Agenda and the New Urban Agenda represent two important strategic documents for achieving a more sustainable, resilient, fair and inclusive future. Both focus on the need to move from principles to actions and highlight the need for appropriate implementation tools, including those related to urban and territorial planning and evaluation approaches to support decision-making processes. The identification of new organisational models for cities is even more significant following the COVID-19 pandemic, as it is necessary to rethink the space of the city to limit concentration and overcrowding. Therefore, the aim of this work is to meet the needs of the community by identifying new models for the realisation and management of urban services with a view to the standards perequation. The experimental application is focused on the Municipality of Pozzuoli (Italy).

BCD. Bollettino del Centro Calza Bini, 2019

L’attivazione di un processo di gestione, recupero, rigenerazione e riciclo dei paesaggi di scart... more L’attivazione di un processo di gestione, recupero, rigenerazione e riciclo
dei paesaggi di scarto, definiti “wastescape”, costituisce la sfida affrontata nell’ambito del Progetto Horizon 2020 “REsource Management in Peri-urban Areas: Going Beyond Urban Metabolism” (REPAiR). Secondo i principi dell’Economia Circolare, i wastescape possono essere considerati una risorsa innovativa per la rigenerazione dei territori in crisi, consentendo un cambio di paradigma in grado di determinare molteplici e differenti implicazioni ambientali, economiche, sociali e culturali. Esplorare approcci e tecniche sinergiche per affrontare e gestire il cambiamento implica anche considerare i rifiuti che caratterizzano i wastescape, in particolare i rifiuti derivanti dall’attività edilizia, come uno strumento per attivare nuovi modelli di utilizzo sostenibile e circolare delle risorse territoriali e individuare strategie di sviluppo integrate, eco-innovative e “place-based”.

WASTE AND WASTED LANDSCAPES: FOCUS ON ABANDONED INDUSTRIAL AREAS, 2020

Urban ecosystems, in their complexity, like living organisms, have their own metabolism , whose f... more Urban ecosystems, in their complexity, like living organisms, have their own metabolism , whose functioning is linked to the presence of input and output streams. These metabolic flows define the interconnection of different life cycle phases and determine the presence of wasted landscapes, i.e. portion of territory waiting for the activation of regeneration actions. The present paper focuses on the abandoned industrial areas that characterize a portion of the Metropolitan Area of Naples, defining a spatial identification methodology and connecting them to the production of Construction and Demolition Waste, in a multi-scale perspective.

GIS day 2016. Il GIS per il governo e la gestione del territorio, 2016

Resilience is defined as the capability of a system to remain stationary and keep its structure u... more Resilience is defined as the capability of a system to remain stationary and keep its structure unchanged in case of external disturbances. With the aim of facing the resilience assessment, we propose the concept of “ecosystem health”, developed by Robert Costanza in the context of ecology and formed by three categories: 1) “vigor”, which measures the metabolism of the system; 2) “organization”, i.e. the number and diversity of interactions between the components of the system; 3) “resilience”, i.e. the ability of the system to remain stable after an external stress. An ecosystem is healthy when it is able to balance these three components. Translating these parameters from the environmental sphere to the urban one, the aim of this paper is to propose an evaluation approach of urban ecosystem health referring to the Metropolitan Area of Naples (Italy) and developing a Spatial Decision Support System, through the integration of the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) with Geographic Information System (GIS).

Europa XXI, 2018

Across Europe, the current system of waste management is responsible for environmental pollution ... more Across Europe, the current system of waste management is responsible for environmental pollution , leading to the need of a transition towards a circular economy model, and towards systemic approaches for achieving sustainable objectives. Interpreting waste as resource-through the development of eco-innovative solutions-can play a positive impact on the quality of life and of the environment. REPAiR 1 research project proposes eco-innovative strategies, in order to co-design and assess solutions, involving a series of decisional problems that require the development of Spatial Decision Support System, described in their general structure and with a focus on the REPAiR project.

TRIA. Territorio della Ricerca su Insediamenti e Ambiente, 2018

The aim of the present article is to deepen the knowledge phase of the territory, which precedes ... more The aim of the present article is to deepen the knowledge phase of the territory, which precedes the application of a Geodesign process, focusing on the “Buffer Zone” of the UNESCO site of Pompeii. By implementing the concept of “integrated assessment”, a framework for describing the spatial complexity is proposed, with the aim of defining a methodology of analysis that is preparatory to the application of a Geodesign process. With this purpose, a cognitive phase is structured, divided into seven reference systems,represented through maps elaborated with the Geographic Information System (GIS). The evaluation is carried out through the “Vector MCDA” plugin and the GeoTOPSIS algorithm.

Le Valutazioni Ambientali, 2017

Il fenomeno del cambiamento climatico, generando pressione sugli ecosistemi naturali ed umani, ri... more Il fenomeno del cambiamento climatico, generando pressione sugli ecosistemi naturali ed umani, richiede l’attuazione di strategie di mitigazione e di adattamento che possono essere implementate meglio se supportate da sistemi di valutazione in grado di facilitare la fase di decision making. Il presente articolo propone una metodologia che consiste nel valutare la qualità degli habitat, attraverso l’utilizzo del modello InVEST (Integrated Valutation of Ecosystem Services and Trade off), implementato da un software open source finalizzato a mappare i servizi ecosistemici, applicato al territorio dell’Area Metropolitana di Napoli. L’obiettivo è quello di classificare il territorio in base al livello di qualità degli habitat che lo contraddistingue, individuando le aree di maggiore vulnerabilità, in cui sono necessari specifici interventi di tutela. L’applicazione proposta mira quindi a facilitare la creazione di una base informativa che possa incrementare il livello di conoscenza e consapevolezza del territorio, stimolando scelte pianificatorie sostenibili.

The concept of urban resilience describes the capacity of a system to recover its functionality a... more The concept of urban resilience describes the capacity of a system to recover its functionality after a disturbance. Considering that every city is unique, the aim of the paper is to apply the concept of ecosystem health to the Metropolitan Area of Naples (Italy), classifying the territory according to its urban health. Three different perspectives have been considered: “vigour”, “organisation” and “resilience” and according to this framework, a system of indicators has been developed, identifying their territorial distribution. The application provides a subdivision of the Metropolitan Area in different zones with various degrees of resistance to risks and vulnerabilities. The evaluation has been carried out integrating Geographic Information System and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis.

Agribusiness Paesaggio & Ambiente, 2016

Urban Planning, Landscape and Evaluation: a Proposal for the Urban Operational Plan of Cava De' T... more Urban Planning, Landscape and Evaluation: a Proposal for the Urban Operational Plan of Cava De' Tirreni. The aim of the paper is to provide a support to evaluation in planning through an application based on the proposal of the Municipal Urban Plan of Cava De' Tirreni (Province of Salerno, Italy). The goal is to elaborate a Decision Support System to evaluate the landscape and territorial integration of possible alternatives of Operational Plans, which are usually formed after public announcements to select, in a competitive way, the interventions to be implemented in transformation areas. Starting from the concept of landscape areas that divide the municipal territory, the proposed procedure helps the selection of the first Operational Plan, choosing three different urban areas for the experimentation application. The study is articulated in tree steps: 1) check of conformity; 2) economic and financial feasibility, and 3) performance of the plan actions, considering a suitable system of indicators through which verify the goals achievement. The evaluation has been carried out by means of integration between MCDA and GIS, in particular using the ELECTRE multicriteria method.

Il cambiamento climatico, che porta a prevedere un notevole aumento delle temperature, rende le c... more Il cambiamento climatico, che porta a prevedere un notevole aumento delle temperature, rende le città un luogo privilegiato in cui sperimentare pratiche di mitigazione ed adattamento insieme a percorsi di rigenerazione basati sul concetto di resilienza urbana.
Tuttavia gli ecosistemi urbani, ibrido di componenti naturali e manufatte, sono ancora
incapaci di attuare un ciclo autorigenerante che permetta loro di riorganizzare le proprie componenti sociali, economiche ed ambientali in presenza di perturbazioni esterne. Di fronte a queste problematiche, la fase di valutazione rappresenta un passaggio obbligato, in quanto permette di supportare i delicati processi decisionali legati al cambiamento climatico ed alle conseguenze che esso determina. In ragione di ciò, il presente articolo si prefigge di indagare i possibili approcci valutativi che si possono adottare per analizzare tali tipologie di ecosistemi nell’ottica del cambiamento climatico, con la finalità di delineare tutte le questioni e le componenti di cui tener conto per dare vita ad un possibile approccio integrato di valutazione.

The aim of the paper is to provide support to an evaluation in urban planning, creating a useful ... more The aim of the paper is to provide support to an evaluation in urban planning, creating a useful approach for the choice of future alternative Operational Plans in Cava De' Tirreni (Salerno). They represent planning tools that are usually formed after public announcements to select the interventions to be implemented in the areas of transformation identified by the general Municipal Urban Plan. A suitable system of territorial indicators to verify the achievement of such goals is also taken into account. With reference to three different urban areas, the evaluation has been carried out by Multi-Criteria Decision Aid (MCDA), using the PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organisation-al Method for Enrichment Evaluation) multi-criteria method and GAIA (Graphical Analysis for Interactive Aid) tool.

Conference Presentations by Silvia Iodice

Circular Economy Strategies in the Historic Built Environment: Cultural Heritage Adaptive Reuse, 2019

Circular Economy (CE) is currently promoted through policy, urban and regional strategies as well... more Circular Economy (CE) is currently promoted through policy, urban and regional strategies as well as emerging as a relevant research sector. Within this context, circularity in the built environment is attracting attention with applications in many design and urban projects. The general principles of CE are applied to existing and new buildings, focusing on the "end-of-life" stage and developing sustainable innovative solutions to optimize dismantling and reuse of materials and technological parts of buildings. However, in historic urban areas the principles of dismantling and reuse of materials remain barely applicable (end-of-life), as well as the application of standard renewable energy systems (usage), due to cultural heritage unique characteristics and heritage regulations oriented to its preservation, conservation and transmission to future generations. As a consequence, adaptive reuse of cultural heritage seems to be the one of the most viable solution to apply CE in the historic built environment. In this article, we aim to identify CE solutions and to lay the foundation for the future development of a system of indicators able to support circular adaptive reuse choices in the historic built environment. The starting point is the Horizon 2020 "CLIC" project (Circular models Leveraging Investments in Cultural heritage adaptive reuse), which focuses on adaptive reuse as a key strategy for CE implementation in historic cities and regions. The concepts of Circular Economy, Circular Built Environment and Circular Urban Metabolism are explored. Under these perspectives, three representative case studies are described: the first is "De Ceuvel" project in Amsterdam, a second application at a different scale is referred to "Rehafutur Engineer's House project" (France), and finally, the circular adaptive reuse of a rural village in Spain, within the "ReDock project" in the Altiplano region in Spain, is explored. Conclusions highlight the need of suitable indicators synthesizing theory and practice of CE in historic built environment, starting from the recognition of multiple impacts of cultural heritage adaptive reuse practices.

Books by Silvia Iodice

Regenerative Territories, Dimensions of Circularity for Healthy Metabolisms, 2022

Urban Metabolism (UM) is a scientific phenomenon that comprises individual processes taking place... more Urban Metabolism (UM) is a scientific phenomenon that comprises individual processes taking place in all cities at different spatial and temporal scales and that is based on the principle of conserving mass and energy. Analysing the metabolism of a city allows one to evaluate the impacts of urban functioning, taking into account the flows of energy, water, nutrients and waste and the materials in general that circulate within a city, and contributing to a multidimensional assessment of sustainability. Many authors have explored the phenomenon of UM and experimented with indices and evaluation methods, but there is still no consensus on the best assessment methods to use. The present paper presents an overview of UM assessment methods, particularly Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and its possible uses for supporting territorial regeneration. A literature analysis is conducted of the evolution of this method in relation to scales that are different from the single product scale. LCA aims to assess the environmental impacts of the life cycles of single industrial products and services, but over the years it has gained increased attention in the urban planning field. Life cycle, in general, refers to all the phases that characterise the life of elements, comprising not only a single product, but extending this concept also to the wider territorial system. The concept of the life cycle of territorial systems is related to the evolution of the territory as a heritage and as a system of environmental, social and economic resources and services, whose transformation is linked to the different forms of governance. The territorial life cycle is formed by interconnected phases, referred to as the sub-systems of the resources and performance of a territory, that follow a predefined plan scenario. Consequently, the life cycle concept can be compared to that of change and it is closely linked to the analogy of ecosystems and the urban environment, which views the city as an entity in constant transformation. In the last few years, there has been an increase in activity in the LCA application field, with the introduction of scale variations and of the distinction between applications at the level of the single product and applications at the meso and macro levels. In other words, this approach is evolving and applications and hypotheses involving scales different from the micro scale are becoming popular. In this regard, extending the LCA tool to a meso perspective on a municipal scale or an individual urban district scale could prove to be a valid tool for assessing the sustainability of a territory with regard to the metabolic flows and the evolution of its life cycle.

MATERA, CITTÀ DEL SISTEMA ECOLOGICO UOMO/SOCIETÀ/NATURA IL RUOLO DELLA CULTURA PER LA RIGENERAZIONE DEL SISTEMA URBANO/TERRITORIALE, 2020

Gli ecosistemi urbani, intesi come interazione di componenti naturali, sociali e costruite, sono ... more Gli ecosistemi urbani, intesi come interazione di componenti naturali, sociali e costruite, sono costituiti dalla simultanea interrelazione di processi umani ed ecologici. Questi processi sono generatori di flussi metabolici di materia ed energia in entrata e uscita, che garantiscono il funzionamento ecosistemico e determinano il susseguirsi di diversi cicli di vita. La città di Matera si configura come un perfetto esempio di ecosistema urbano in cui si sono evoluti diversi cicli vitali, non solo dovuti al peculiare carattere dei luoghi e alla morfologia territoriale, ma anche grazie alla sapiente messa in opera di sistemi metabolici circolari, come quello legato alla risorsa acqua. Tuttavia gli ecosistemi urbani, nella maggior parte dei casi, si configurano come delle fonti di vulnerabilità causate dal disequilibrio nella gestione delle risorse e dalla presenza di flussi metabolici di tipo lineare, che determinano la formazione di rifiuti ed emissioni non più immessi nuovamente nel sistema. Per questa ragione è necessario garantire un’azione di controllo e quantificazione dei suddetti flussi attraverso la selezione di opportuni indicatori. Pertanto, la seconda parte del paper riporta alcune iniziative in tal senso, con particolare focus sui Sustainable Development Goals in relazione alle azioni di monitoraggio avviate a diverse scale territoriali.