Speaker
Description
The paper presents a reflection on the proposed reform of the national urban planning law (Law 1150/1942), developed by the Italian National Institute of Urban Planning (INU, 2022) and titled 'Law of Fundamental Principles and General Rules for Land Governance and Planning’. This proposal is the result of a process initiated during the INU congress in 2022 to integrate contributions from the national debate, regional legislative innovations, and practical experiences gained across various territories. The proposed law seeks to provide the country with innovative general principles that serve as a shared framework for regional legislation, enabling a redefinition of land governance as a 'broad set of interacting functions’.
The fundamental principles, rooted in solid institutional collaboration, underscore: i) integrated territorial planning; ii) territorial equity and the inclusivity of urban systems; iii) public participation in planning processes; and iv) the imperative to preserve efficient territorial resources and unspoiled environmental assets for future generations. These principles embody new paradigms in planning, designed to confront contemporary climatic, environmental, social, and economic challenges.
Within this framework, the planning system is restructured using the method of interinstitutional co-planning—a collaborative and horizontal process guided by the principles of subsidiarity, adequacy, competence-based collaboration, and coherence. The planning system is divided into territorial planning and urban planning, each associated with distinct instruments. Territorial planning includes tools such as the Regional Landscape Plan (PPR), the Regional Territorial Plan (PTR), and the Metropolitan Strategic Plan (PSM). Urban planning introduces the General Urban Plan (PUG), which is already in effect and has been tested in some of the most innovative and forward-thinking regions. The PUG represents a significant innovation, fundamentally reshaping the national framework to align with the structure of planning instruments. It is arguably the most groundbreaking and experimentally challenging element, as it must integrate the contents of territorial planning tools (PPR, PTR, etc.) at the local scale. Additionally, it differentiates between structural-strategic, regulatory, and operational functions:
- The structural-strategic function translates the objectives and purposes of municipal land governance into terms of performance, quality, and impacts at the landscape, historical-cultural, economic, and social levels. It identifies and intervenes in both urbanized and agricultural areas, without granting building rights, but instead shaping choices and development forecasts. These are primarily focused on urban and territorial regeneration, land consumption containment, and the sustainability of urban transformations;
- The regulatory function pertains to areas of the territory not subject to urban transformations or complex urban regeneration. These include agricultural areas, natural spaces, and existing settlement and infrastructure systems, which are to be preserved, consolidated, and requalified through urban and building regulations. This component of the PUG assigns building rights and is implemented through direct interventions;
- The operational function addresses interventions and projects for complex urban and territorial regeneration, developed as an implementation of and in alignment with the structural-strategic component.
The paper, based on a critical and descriptive examination of the proposed law, aims to highlight key technical-disciplinary and conceptual issues related to its guiding principles, their implications for the redesign of the planning system and land governance, and the General Urban Plan with its tripartite function. Simultaneously, it reflects on ongoing regional experiences (e.g., Marche Regional Law No. 19 of November 30, 2023), based on the principles of the INU proposal. In doing so, it explores the 'open space of research' that lies between theoretical principles not yet in force and ongoing practical experiments.
References
INU - Italian National Institute of Urban Planning (2022) Law of fundamental principles and general rules for land governance and planning (proposal).
Kingdom of Italy (1942) Law of 17 August 1942, No. 1150, Urban Planning Law.
Marche Region (2023) Regional Law of 30 November 2023, No. 19.
| Keywords | Spatial planning law; development control; participation; governance; climate change; |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
