Spread Is Better: Suitability for Climate Neutrality of Italian Urban Systems

Abstract

In light of the challenges required by the European Green Deal policies concerning the achievement of climate neutrality by 2050, this paper analyses the suitability of different Italian urban systems for energy consumption and CO2 emission reduction. In anthropised territories, there are strong relationships between energy consumption, climate-changing emissions and settlement patterns. Lands considered low could increase their rating because they have far greater environmental, energy and land resources than more pivotal ones. After an Italian-scale overview of the ecosystem capacities, this paper develops a detailed study of three exemplary areas: the northeast, the northwest, and the central-west coast. The analysis uses Burkhard’s matrix for ecosystem values and the energy consumption 2021 report of the National Energy Authority. The first finding is that the northeast region, characterised by spread and rarefied urbanisation, has a peculiar suitability for climate neutrality. In the results, spread territories perform much better than centralised ones. The coexistence of little urban cores, space for vegetation and a widespread water network promotes synergies for enhancing an ecosystem approach to land design.