Environmental Networks for Smart Territories - Urban Landscapes: Environmental Networks and Quality of Life - page 67

In fact, it is clear that entities institutionally dedicated to the conservation
of biodiversity, not only among all protected areas, but also the environmental
services of the region and province and the managing entities of the Natura
2000 network , cannot fully undertake their tasks if they do not find an ade-
quate application of the tools controlling transformation activities in the terri-
tory. At the same time, amid the chaos of settlement sprawl that characterizes
the Adriatic city , ordinary and sectoral urban planning (for example, the
landscape plan, or everything regarding the organization of the infrastructure
system, programs of rural development, special plans for waste management,
mining, energy, and so on) urgently needs new directives and orientations for
the design of the latent city. The definition of a clear, shared framework that is
scientifically correct regarding priorities, critical aims, and project strategies
thus becomes an unavoidable step in transforming the REM from a simple
analysis and protection tool into a proactive one. In addition to its intrinsic
value, biodiversity is therefore viewed under the REM for the role it carries
out in the widest context of territorial management, and in particular for the
contribution it makes in defining the regional identifying system, through the
close interaction with the process of revision of the regional landscape plan
and its adaptation to the European Landscape Convention (ELC).
In this view, comparing the environmental network to the city takes on piv-
otal value due to the direct and indirect functions it will be able to carry out in
relation to increasing the overall quality of life of its citizens. Moreover,
strengthening the combination of services provided by the ecosystems while
respecting the protection of essential resources such as air, water, or land, is an
element of primary importance for the development of the “green economy”
recognized by the region as the master plan for facing the current serious eco-
nomic crisis. In this sense, the REM can become, on the one hand, a strategic
tool in the area of development policies put into place by different entities,
configuring itself to start the process of reaching the objectives defined by the
“National Strategy for Biodiversity” (Ministry of the Environment and
Territory, 2010) and the “EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020” (European
Commission; COM(2011) 244); on the other hand, it can become the basic
matrix , the framework for the formal and functional redefinition of the
Adriatic city. For all intents and purposes, it is configured as the basic network
in the reticular perspective within which the recent institutions of “smart
cities” 1 and “ creative cities ” 2 move. For this reason, as we will see from the

1 The debate on smart cities began ten6years ago. It has often concentrated on newly forming cities,
overlooking interventions on the existing city. Currently, however, it could support processes of
urban regeneration.
2 “Città creative (creative cities)” evokes the contemporary city when it is the engine of sustain-
able development, and therefore when it is more attractive, more dynamic, and more livable. For
more information, see: Florida R (2005) Cities and the Creative Class. Routledge, London; Carta
M (2012) Quel motore nelle città creative. In: Il Sole 24 Ore, 22/03/2012; Carta M (2012) Creative
city 3.0 New scenarios and project. List-Actar, Trento-Barcelona.