Speakers
Description
Mountain areas represent a key domain where scientific literature recognizes emerging cultural and settlement trends that attribute centrality to mountains as privileged sites for experimenting with alternative lifestyles, in contrast to those commonly characterizing lowland urban contexts (Dematteis, 2020). Moreover, at the European level, mountains have been acknowledged for their economic, environmental, energy, and cultural significance, serving as water reservoirs, sources of renewable energy, major tourism hubs, and repositories of biodiversity. At the same time, their vulnerabilities linked to climate change and its cascading effects on broader territorial contexts have also been highlighted.
These dynamics threaten the proper exchange of flows and services, including Ecosystem Services (ES), originating in mountain areas and providing substantial benefits to lowland territories. Numerous studies and research initiatives have applied the ES paradigm to spatially represent ecological and environmental characteristics, supporting territorial governance processes and addressing contemporary challenges related to climate change. This raises the critical question of the appropriate scale at which ES should be assessed: ecosystem performance depends on spatial configurations that identify both service-providing and beneficiary areas (Corrado et al., 2019).
The paper examines the case of the Metropolitan City of Turin (CmTo) in the Piedmont Region (Italy), where mountain areas account for 53% of the territory and host 23% of its 312 municipalities. This context is part of an Alpine metro-mountain system, where economic, social, and cultural dynamics are shaped by mountain-lowland interactions (Dematteis, 2018).
Building on these premises, the study presents the results of an ES analysis in the CmTo area, aiming to assess the relationships and flows between mountain and lowland areas and highlight the role of high-altitude territories in the broader metropolitan system of reciprocal interactions.
This application is based on the latest scientific knowledge regarding soil ecological functions, drawing on findings from the EU Life SAM4CP Project (2014–2018) (1). The project, developed by CmTo in collaboration with DIST-Politecnico di Torino, ISPRA, CREA, and CSI Piemonte (Giaimo & Barbieri, 2018; Giaimo, Barbieri & Salata, 2019), received formal recognition from the European Commission for its results, particularly for the use of the open-source plugin Simulsoil.
Currently under revision (2), Simulsoil is being updated to better support metropolitan land-use planning and soil consumption monitoring. This study leverages soil analysis methodologies using the Habitat Quality and Carbon Storage and Sequestration statistical models embedded in Simulsoil.
The findings underscore the crucial role of ES analysis as an integrated tool for supporting spatial planning processes at the territorial and municipal level.
Notes
(1) Co-financed by the European Commission – DG Environment under the LIFE+ 2007–2013 program.
(2) In May 2024, DIST-Politecnico di Torino (lead: C. Giaimo) was awarded a contract for the "In-depth study and update of the evaluation methods for key Ecosystem Services calculated by the SimulSoil software application, developed within the EU LIFE SAM4CP project, and acquisition of contextual data necessary for the biophysical and economic assessment of the considered Services."
References
Corrado, F., Lazzarini, L., Pantaloni, G.G. and Giaimo, C. (2019) ‘Verso un paradigma qualitativo per affrontare consumo di suolo e vocazioni funzionali nella Città Metropolitana di Torino’, in Talia, M. (ed.) La città contemporanea. Un gigante dai piedi d'argilla, Conference Proceedings, Urbanpromo XVI Edizione Progetti per il Paese, 15 November 2019. Roma-Milano: Planum Publisher.
Dematteis, G. (2020) ‘I servizi ecosistemici nella riproduzione dei sistemi territoriali. Osservazioni da una ricerca sugli scambi montagna-città’, in Poli, D. (ed.) I servizi ecosistemici nella pianificazione bioregionale. Firenze: Firenze University Press.
Dematteis, G. (2018) ‘La metro-montagna di fronte alle sfide globali. Riflessioni a partire dal caso di Torino’, Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine, pp. 47-57.
Giaimo, C., Barbieri, C.A. and Salata, S. (2019) ‘Ecosystem Services Based Approach for Participatory Spatial Planning and Risk Management in a Multi-Level Governance System’, in Brunetta, G., Caldarice, O., Tollin, N., Rosas-Casals, M. and Morató, J. (eds.) Urban Resilience for Risk and Adaptation Governance. Theory and Practice. RESILIENT CITIES. Cham: Springer, pp. 59-74.
Giaimo, C. and Barbieri, C.A. (2018) ‘Ecosystems services, spatial planning and contemporary city. The experience of the Life Sam4cp project, Urbanistica, 159, pp. 114-124
| Keywords | Ecosystem Services, Governance and Metropolitan Planning, Metro-Mountain. |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
