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Benefits and Co-benefits of Natural and Built Environment Requalification and Conservation Strategies: Advances in Multidisciplinary Valuation Approaches and Assessment Models

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Tourism, Culture, and Heritage".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 41493

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Marta Bottero

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Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
Interests: sustainability; decision support systems; sustainable development; environmental impact assessment; urban planning; built environment; economic appraisal; planning evaluation
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Prof. Dr. Chiara D’Alpaos

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Department of Civil Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
Interests: environmental and energy economics; investment decisions under uncertainty and dynamic stochastic optimization; regulation and management of public utilities; public procurement and efficient auction mechanisms; public policy valuations and multicriteria decision aiding
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Francesca Abastante

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Interuniversity Department of regional urban studies and planning, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, 10125, Italy
Interests: multi criteria decision aiding; Decision-making processes; uncertainty; sustainability assessment; urban policies development; decision support systems; indicators of sustainable development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is an increasing interest in the co-benefit concept, which has been recently adopted to define any positive impact or effect of a policy, program or project exceeding the primary project goal (IPCC, 2014). Urban and rural requalification and conservation projects and strategies generate a series of indirect and/or intangible benefits which may contribute to environmental, economic, and social improvement and positively impact individuals’ health and well-being.

Due to the worldwide relevance of co-benefits, there is an urgent need for innovative and robust models and tools to assess their value and to account in detail for the complexity of those co-benefits which are produced in urban and territorial transformations, as there are calls for them being fully included in public (and private) decision-making processes.

In this respect, over the last decade, a significant strand of literature has focused on the analysis and implementation of well-established valuation approaches and methods traditionally adopted in the evaluation of non-market goods and non-market effects, which in turn are grounded on individuals’ stated or revealed preferences to assess the monetary value of co-benefits associated with, e.g., policies aimed at mitigation of climate change effects and/or improvement in health and well-being of individuals and society. Simultaneously, many contributions in literature have investigated qualitative and multicriteria valuation approaches of externalities, which lead to significant advances in modeling and real world applications.

This Special Issue aims to stimulate the debate on co-benefit valuation approaches and contribute to the proposal of advanced valuation and assessment models of natural and environmental resources and cultural goods, specifically related (but not limited) to:

Stated preference methods (contingent valuation, conjoint choice analysis, etc.);
Revealed preference methods (spatial hedonic regressions, travel cost method, production functions, etc.);
Benefit and value transfer approaches;
Multicriteria approaches.

Relevant topics include also cost–benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis of investments in:

Building energy retrofit;
Cultural heritage conservation and valorization;
Urban regeneration;
Abandoned urban areas requalification.

References

IPCC (2014). Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Prof. Dr. Marta Bottero
Prof. Dr. Chiara D’Alpaos
Dr. Francesca Abastante
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

co-benefit
stated preference methods
revealed preference methods
multicriteria approaches
energy retrofit
cultural heritage
urban regeneration

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 3148 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Multicriteria Decision-Making Approach of “Tree” Meaning in the New Urban Context

by Luisa Sturiale, Alessandro Scuderi and Giuseppe Timpanaro

Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2902; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14052902 - 02 Mar 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1981

Abstract

Future cities will need to plan and design urban green spaces and woodlands to meet diverse interests and needs, provide ecosystem services required by an evolving urban society and improve continuity between urban and rural spaces. This future planning approach calls for more sustainable patterns of urban growth, where forests and green spaces can help create more sustainable, resilient and inclusive cities, and address the challenges of a growing urban population. Green areas are of strategic significance because in addition to absorbing harmful pollutants, improving temperatures, and mitigating the impacts of climate change, they have a positive effect on people’s health and well-being and help to create inclusive societies. The values considered are manifold and a multi-criteria assessment, including an evaluation of citizens’ perceived needs, allowing policy-makers to steer choices towards green-oriented urban planning tools, where green spaces and urban forests enable them to meet the challenges of future cities. The research presented here is part of this line of study in order to propose a tool to support stakeholders’ decisions on urban green planning. The objectives of the study are to find out about the perception of urban green spaces and examine what kind of relationship should be established between the local authority and the population with regard to information and participation in the planning of green areas. The results highlight that citizens recognise the importance of ecosystem services and perceive green areas as strategic elements of urban quality of life, in agreement with some previous studies conducted in Italy and other countries. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Benefits and Co-benefits of Natural and Built Environment Requalification and Conservation Strategies: Advances in Multidisciplinary Valuation Approaches and Assessment Models)

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20 pages, 3884 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Public and Private Economic Feasibility of Green Areas as a Passive Energy Measure: A Case Study in the Mediterranean City of Trapani in Southern Italy

by Grazia Napoli, Rossella Corrao, Gianluca Scaccianoce, Simona Barbaro and Laura Cirrincione

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2407; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042407 - 19 Feb 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2104

Abstract

Green infrastructure in urban environments provides a wide range of ecological, social, aesthetic, and health co-benefits. Urban plant covers in particular contribute to improved outdoor environmental conditions that, in turn, influence the energy behavior of buildings and their indoor thermo-hygrometric comfort performance. Within this context, this study illustrates a methodology aimed at verifying the economic feasibility of alternative types of green areas for public and private stakeholders, which are analyzed as passive energy measures. Therefore, our methodology integrates approaches from different disciplines and consists of a microclimatic analysis of different vegetation scenarios and of the outdoor comfort level, an evaluation of the energy needs of a sample of houses, and an economic feasibility estimation considering different scenarios and public and private investors. The methodology is illustrated through its application to a suburban district of the Sicilian city of Trapani in the South of Italy, considered representative of Mediterranean climate conditions. Results showed significant differences between the scenario outcomes depending on the type of vegetation used in the green areas and put in evidence how economic feasibility for some stakeholders may be achieved in the management phase if adequate incentives equal to the planting cost are assumed. Full article

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25 pages, 5197 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of Ecosystem Services in Mining Basins: An Application in the Piedmont Region (Italy)

by Vanessa Assumma, Marta Bottero, Caterina Caprioli, Giulia Datola and Giulio Mondini

Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 872; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020872 - 13 Jan 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2211

Abstract

Mining activities impact on the territorial system in various ways, affecting its environmental and socio-economic components. Specific evaluation tools can support decision-making processes in the context of the sustainable planning and management of mining activities. Within the evaluation procedures of mining activities, a growing interest in the analysis of Ecosystem Services (ES) is emerging. ES refer to the benefits that the natural system delivers to society, linking the health of ecosystems and human well-being. Starting from a real-world case related to the adoption of the Regional Plan of Mining Activities (PRAE) of the Piedmont region (Northern Italy), the paper aims to explore the ES valuation by considering three different mining quarries. The state of the art of the basins is compared with alternative planning scenarios from the point of view of the ES produced. The valuation is developed through GIS and the Simulsoil software, detecting the biophysical benefits produced and estimating their economic performance. The simulation results can be used to support the formulation of planning strategies, estimating the trade-offs in terms of competitive land-use values. The study also demonstrates that the integration of ES into Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) can produce a comprehensive impact assessment of a mining project, guaranteeing the protection and valorisation of the environmental system. Full article

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16 pages, 1632 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cost Estimations of Water Pollution for the Adoption of Suitable Water Treatment Technology

by Anne Wambui Mumbi and Tsunemi Watanabe

Sustainability 2022, 14(2), 649; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14020649 - 07 Jan 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3333

Abstract

This study analyzed the cost implications of using suitable technologies and the cost of inaction when addressing water pollution. This was achieved by developing three main models for the costs (model one) and benefits (model two and model three). The first model accounts for the operational costs of adopting suitable technologies, namely the use of diatomaceous earth for textile wastewater treatment. The second model analyzed the cost of inaction through analyzing the cost of treatment for water pollution-related diseases for the affected population. The occurrence and cost of treatment for three diseases, namely diarrhea, amoebiasis and bacterial infection, were used as indicators of water pollution in the area. The third model included the contingent valuation method (CVM) data on the willingness to pay for environmental restoration of the surveyed population. The benefit–cost ratio (BCR) of the resulting data from the three models were used to highlight the economic viability of the proposed project. A BCR of (0.67) for the cost of the proposed project versus the benefits of the project on human health using data from one hospital was obtained. There is a high possibility that the real BCR would increase if more data from other hospitals or other diseases were included. The results imply that the use of D.E can be considered a good candidate for treating wastewater. To thoroughly discuss the BCR of treating wastewater from one factory, the BCR of the proposed restoration project along River Sosiani, and the value of using DE as suitable technology, more studies are needed to evaluate the unaccounted costs and benefits for accurate economic estimations of the proposed project. The outcome of the study is a framework of numbers and figures that can be presented to decision makers and policy makers as critical information when making decisions. Full article

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15 pages, 2644 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Valuation of Ecosystem Services in the Venice Lagoon: A Multicriteria Approach

by Chiara D’Alpaos and Andrea D’Alpaos

Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9485; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179485 - 24 Aug 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3631

Abstract

Coastal ecosystems are among the most economically valuable and highly threatened on Earth; they provide valuable ecosystem services (ESs) but are severely exposed to climate changes and human pressure. Although the preservation of coastal ecosystems is of the utmost importance, it is often sub-optimally pursued by Governments and Societies because of the high costs involved. We consider salt-marsh ecosystems in the Venice Lagoon as an example of a threatened landscape, calling for innovative, integrated management strategies, and propose an application-driven methodological framework to support policymakers in the identification of cost-effective incentive policies to ecosystem preservation. By combining group decision-making and Value-Focused-Thinking approaches, we provide a multiple-criteria decision model, based on pairwise comparisons, to identify which ESs are top-priority policy targets according to a cost-effective perspective. We implemented an online Delphi survey process and interviewed a pool of experts who identified “recreation and tourism”, “coastal protection from flooding”, “carbon storage”, “biodiversity and landscape”, and “nursery habitats for fisheries” as the five most relevant ESs for the Venice Lagoon taking into consideration the Environmental, Economic, and Social perspectives. Our results suggest that the Environmental perspective is the most important criteria, whereas “biodiversity and landscape” is acknowledged as the most important ES. Full article

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28 pages, 1983 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sponsorship’s Financial Sustainability for Cultural Conservation and Enhancement Strategies: An Innovative Model for Sponsees and Sponsors

by Luigi Dolores, Maria Macchiaroli and Gianluigi De Mare

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9070; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169070 - 13 Aug 2021

Cited by 25 | Viewed by 2687

Abstract

The topic of the paper is sponsorship for the requalification/conservation of historical-architectural heritage. In the literature, there are many models for evaluating the financial efficiency of sponsorship from the point of view of the sponsor (mostly in the sports field), but none of these jointly support both the sponsor and the sponsee in the selection of financially sustainable cultural sponsorships. Trying to reduce this gap, an innovative model is proposed for estimating the profitability of cultural sponsorship. The model consists of three phases. In the first, which consists of the financial analysis of the investment for the sponsee, the minimum amount that the sponsee can request from the sponsor is established. The second phase analyzes the financial performance of potential sponsors, estimating the optimal sponsorship budget that maximizes profits. In the final phase, where the results of the two analyses are compared, the sponsee eventually reformulates his offer and decides which company to sign the contract with. The model is tested through a case study: the sponsorship of the restoration of the Don Tullio Fountain in Salerno (Italy). It is assumed that two companies are interested in sponsorship. The results show that the investment is financially sustainable for both companies. Full article

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38 pages, 4006 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment of Landscape Co-Benefits in Natura 2000 Site Management Plans

by Maria Rosa Trovato, Paolo Micalizzi and Salvatore Giuffrida

Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5707; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105707 - 19 May 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2308

Abstract

The concept of co-benefits developed in the context of climate change policies can be extended to the strategies aimed at protecting natural resources. A co-effects-based policy approach proposes a multidimensionality capable of strengthening its effectiveness and supporting a co-generative development model aimed at promoting virtuous forms of territorial capital valorisation. The study aimed to evaluate the landscape co-benefits generated by the Natura 2000 networks, achieving a measure of efficiency of the policies and performance of the Management Plan, with reference to the “Timpa di Acireale” site. CVM and TCM were used for the estimation of landscape co-benefits. For the evaluation of the efficiency of the policies and the performance of the Plan, some economic-financial criteria were implemented. With reference to the user-citizen, the local tourist and the supralocal tourist, flows of annual co-benefits of EUR 754,764, EUR 99,678.12 and EUR 2276.39, respectively, were estimated. The analyses of the efficiency of the policies and the performance of the Plan provided sufficient results. In conclusion, the lack of an adequate level of infrastructure for all users’ profiles reduces the ability to generate co-benefits for the users themselves and more significantly for tourists in a territory with a strong tourism vocation. Full article

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19 pages, 1222 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pursuing the SDG11 Targets: The Role of the Sustainability Protocols

by Francesca Abastante, Isabella M. Lami and Marika Gaballo

Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 3858; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073858 - 31 Mar 2021

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4423

Abstract

This paper is built on the following research questions: (i) What are the direct/indirect relationships between Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11) and sustainability protocols? (ii) Could the sustainability protocols constitute a solution towards the achievement of SDG11? We underline that, on the one hand, the SDGs are guidelines to support the development of sustainable policies and thus address all elements that may affect them, and on the other hand, sustainability protocols are assessment tools to promote sustainability-conscious design while remaining focused on the built environment. In the Italian regulatory context, the paper highlights how this difference in terms of focus and scale means that they only overlap and mutually reinforce each other with regard to certain aspects, more related to energy and air pollution issues and less to the social aspects of sustainability. Even if there is not always a direct relationship between the evaluation criteria of the protocols and the indicators of SDG11, it is possible to conclude that the sustainability protocols can facilitate the achievement of the SDG11 targets, acting as a key for the implementation of sustainable cities and helping in structuring the process leading to sustainability in a broader framework. Full article

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22 pages, 4100 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Adaptive Reuse of a Historic Building by Introducing New Functions: A Scenario Evaluation Based on Participatory MCA Applied to a Former Carthusian Monastery in Tuscany, Italy

by Agnese Amato, Maria Andreoli and Massimo Rovai

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2335; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042335 - 21 Feb 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3547

Abstract

The lack of financial resources and the constraints about interventions are threatening the survival of built heritage and the multiple benefits it can provide. In time, the role of building conservation has changed from preservation to being part of a sustainable strategy where adaptive reuse may allow to protect built heritage, while promoting it as a resource. This paper presents the results of a multicriteria analysis applied to the case study of Certosa di Pisa in Calci (Tuscany), a former Carthusian Monastery currently run as a publicly owned museum center. Based on information gathered from literature and the involvement of the two main stakeholders, a SWOT analysis was performed to identify three scenarios in which new functions were introduced with the aim to cover restoration and maintenance costs. Scenarios were compared by using a participatory MCA, taking into account not only economic performances but also cultural, territorial integration and restoration co-impacts. Results show that it is possible to reach economic sustainability while conserving heritage values, but several criticalities may hinder the process. Conclusions discuss the suitability of the method in identifying sustainable reuse solutions and highlight the role of governance bodies and the problems related to their public and/or private composition. Full article

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21 pages, 2276 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing Social Sustainability for Achieving Sustainable Architecture

by Isabella M. Lami and Beatrice Mecca

Sustainability 2021, 13(1), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010142 - 25 Dec 2020

Cited by 44 | Viewed by 13780

Abstract

Sustainability is an inherent urban and architectural problem. It is simultaneously characterized by many different dimensions, pursuing heterogeneous and often conflicting objectives. To help address these complexities in a structured way, this paper illustrates an integrated assessment framework to tackle social sustainability, in order to support the decision-making process towards sustainable architecture. This integrated decision support framework was applied to a case study concerning a new cultural centre at the Politecnico di Torino in Italy. The aim of this paper is to propose a decision support methodological framework for the analysis, graphical visualization and evaluation of social sustainability of architectural projects. It combines three methods: first, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis, to get a guided understanding of the project and detect the best design strategies; second, the Stakeholder Analysis (SA), to develop a strategic view of the actors involved; third, the Social Return of the Investment (SROI) as a methodological tool for social impact assessment. This framework, presented through the discussion of some project solutions, helps us to analyse the architectural material effect of social sustainability and answer the question: Are we investing properly and creating spaces sufficiently functional to build better conditions for our community and our city? Full article

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Benefits and Co-benefits of Natural and Built Environment Requalification and Conservation Strategies: Advances in Multidisciplinary Valuation Approaches and Assessment Models

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