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Evaluation and the environmental democracy of cities: Strategic Environmental Assessment of urban plans in Italy

Author

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  • Bonifazi, Alessandro
  • Rega, Carlo
  • Torre, Carmelo Maria

Abstract

Cities stand up as a major concern for environmental governance and democracy, and an ideal target for theoretical investigations and practical innovations alike. Our work is concerned with reconstructing the links between democracy and the environment, by targeting urban governance and tapping into the institutional practices of Urban Planning and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). SEA is a major policy tool, and its interplay with planning unravels key issues in both urban governance and environmental democracy, including coping with fundamental risks, voicing non-human agents, managing commons, addressing environmental justice. The observations we present in this paper rest on two parallel approaches. First, we carried out a content review of 12 SEA reports concerning urban plans in Italy. Second, we were involved in two case studies concerning urban planning and SEA in the towns of Monopoli and Magenta. We point to some key reflections with the aim of opening up the discussion. Participation often languishes in institutional arenas, yet it thrives in other forms that affect decision-making. Negotiation around individual planning processes should be framed in the general governance arrangements that are constantly reshaped through interactions among fluid trans-organizational networks. Legally binding measures have an ambivalent relation with environmental governance strategies, and they are handled with difficulty by deliberative planning approaches. In mainstreaming new policy tools (such as SEA), procedural aspects are usually stressed, whereas a focus on process and desired outcomes could foster, respectively, capacity building and salience.

Suggested Citation

  • Bonifazi, Alessandro & Rega, Carlo & Torre, Carmelo Maria, 2008. "Evaluation and the environmental democracy of cities: Strategic Environmental Assessment of urban plans in Italy," MPRA Paper 11055, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:11055
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ezio Micelli, 2002. "Development Rights Markets to Manage Urban Plans in Italy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(1), pages 141-154, January.
    2. Dietz, Simon & Neumayer, Eric, 2007. "Weak and strong sustainability in the SEEA: Concepts and measurement," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 617-626, March.
    3. Andreas Faludi, 2007. "Territorial Cohesion Policy and the European Model of Society1," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 567-583, May.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Governance; Evaluation of Plans;

    JEL classification:

    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects

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