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Cities are like “heterotrophic organisms” because they are dependent on inflows of air, water, food, matter, and energy. Unlike nature, they pollute their own habitat through the production of waste outflows and emissions, extending beyond their own footprint. Data on the ecological footprint of cities have quantified, emblematically, the imbalance between in- and outflows but also what remains: polluted air, water, and soil. The rapid growth of urbanization is a matter of serious concern, but as a part of new development, it can be turned around with an approach in which cities become an “autotrophic organism”.In 2012 Taranto, a coastal city in Southern Italy with an important commercial and military port, was declared as the city “with the highest risk of environmental crisis” in Italy due to a large industrial area developed in the proximity of a highly populated urban settlement.The cause of pollution, a steel production plant, directly employs approximately 12.000 people and another 8.000 contractors indirectly, making it Taranto’s main economic driver.The conflict between economy and environment in the city of Taranto, make it a peculiar case study to be approached with the concept of a Democratic Landscape. This concept reads the territory beyond the natural environment, also recognizing the wellbeing of the inhabitants.After the analysis of a Democratic Landscape in relation to the concept of an “autotrophic organism”, this contribution explores the transformation by regeneration of the ecosystem and the economic regime. In redeveloping a city like Taranto, changing its function from a heterotrophic organism to an autotroph organism, the approach of the so-called “linking open-loop system circularity” is more appropriate. It more adequately describes the system than what is commonly understood for circularity at the building scale of “reduce, reuse, recycle of resources”. Circularity as an attitude brings together many elements that can be considered generic for each project: it can be about recycling or reuse, cutting costs or time, and output of CO2 through reducing material inflow and the transport of materials.In the context of the Democratic Landscape and an autotropic organism, the approach of “linking open-loop system circularity” is tested on two scales in Taranto. One, on the large scale, proposing multiple reuses of agricultural crops after remediation and two, at the local scale, in rebuilding a portion of the city by reusing the demolished buildings materials.The need to rethink and redesign the flow of resources such as building materials, water, food, and energy is essential to the future sustainability of cities. It involves thinking about how to use existing resources rather than dispose of them as in the linear model. It also means establishing new economic models in order to make a sustainable city, flows of intelligent growth and the creation of an identity for a communal sense of belonging. Together, these create a democratic, autotrophic landscape that can sustain a future.

Het Beleidsplan Ruimte Vlaanderen (BRV) richt zich op het bijkomend ruimtebeslag stelselmatig terugdringen door het ruimtelijk rendement te verhogen of wel te verdichten. Dit kan met behulp van klassieke verdichtingsstrategieën zoals hoogbouw of multifunctioneel grondgebruik, maar ook de ondergrond kan als volwaardige ruimte tegemoetkomen aan de vraag naar ruimte. Dit voegt een geheel nieuwe dimensie toe aan het ruimtelijk rendement, maar is nog niet een vanzelfsprekend onderdeel van het ruimtelijke instrumentarium.Het beter integreren van de ondergrond aan het omgevingsbeleid is het doel van de beleidsverkenning van het Departement Omgeving: ‘Verrijking van het omgevingsbeleid met de ondergrondse dimensie’. Hiertoe is de vraag gesteld hoe het Vlaamse plansysteem, planinstrumentarium en planprocessen verrijkt zouden worden met de ondergrondse dimensie om kwalitatief een bijdrage te leveren aan de verdichting. Het departement zoekt antwoord op volgende beleidsvraag: ‘Hoe kan het Vlaams planinstrumentarium verrijkt worden met de diepte- dimensie’?Binnen deze opdracht is specifiek gefocust op het stedelijk ruimtelijk uitvoeringsplan (RUP) met als testlocatie industriezones Oosteroever in Oostende. Voor de case is een analyse van de ondergrond informatie uitgevoerd en via ontwerpend onderzoek is geëxperimenteerd met visualisatie technieken waarmee een ruimtelijk uitvoeringsplan en de onderliggende deelproducten kan worden verrijkt met de ondergrond.Het concrete resultaat van de studie en het experiment is een upgrade van een generiek RUP waarbij de ondergrond (visueel en inhoudelijk) is geïntegreerd in alle noodzakelijke deelproducten.

By jointly approaching the challenges we face – such as ongoing urbanization, climate change, energy transition and the introduction of new mobility such as automated and electric vehicles – urban areas can be made more resilient. Thesubsurface of the city can play a central role in this, for instance by using space made available by a different use of infrastructure for the ecological and functional improvement of the city. In order to combine ecosystem services, climate and urban systems in a single design that accounts for the dynamics of the subsurface, it must be seen as an integral element of spatial planning and design. Based on this idea this exploratory research was done into the effect of ‘soil first’ on three urban typologies. What is the design potential of these typologies, assuming a circular construction of the public space and a healthy soil? The result is a six step approach in which the city can become more healthy is regard to global challenges and respecting the soil as main carrier.

Salt contamination in the coastlands surrounding Venice Lagoon (Italy) and Laizhou Bay (Shandong Province, China) is generally the result of the complex relationship between fresh, continental groundwaters, paleo-saltwaters in deep aquifers, marine waters, and the seawater encroachment upstream from the river mouths. Saltwater intrusion is also enhanced by the presence of ancient, sandy, buried paleo-channels that act as preferential pathways for groundwater flow and solute transport. The characterization of these hydro-geo-morphological features, considering both the architecture and the pore water quality, is an issue of paramount importance. In this work, after a short overview of the saltwater contamination occurrence that affects the coastlands of Venice Lagoon and Laizhou Bay, we report on the preliminary results of a Very High Resolution Seismic and Continuous Electrical Tomography test carried out in very shallow water (about 1 m) in the Venice Lagoon to test a technique suitable for the better understanding of the surficial-groundwater mixing process. The combined analysis of the two data sets highlights a correlation between lithostratigraphic discontinuities and heterogeneity in the fluid filling the subsurface. The promising results obtained in the Italian site support a prompt use of this integrated methodology on the Chinese study area too.

cambios hidrogeomorfológicos en la Bahía de Samborombón. A partir de información geológica, geomorfológica e hidrológica básica se realizó un análisis morfológico de la planicie costera de la bahía a través de la interpretación de imágenes de satélite y fotografías aéreas obtenidas entre 1972 y 2010. El modelo de elevación digital (DEM) se obtuvo de datos de SRTM (USGS/NAS). El análisis de las condiciones actuales y la evolución reciente han mostrado significativos cambios geomorfológicos (áreas de inundaciones, erosión, depositación de sedimentos) que indican la alta sensibilidad de la región frente a modificaciones en las condiciones hidrológicas. La simulación del ascenso del nivel del mar afecta seriamente las marismas y la llanura de marea, reconociéndose los efectos hacia el interior hasta alrededor de 30 km. A su vez tendrá efectos directos sobre la posición de las aguas subterráneas, con especial referencia a la capa freática. En estas condiciones la franja costera permanecerá cubierta por el agua. Hacia el interior se anegarán en forma permanente los sectores bajos, mientras que gran parte del área restante presentará un alto riesgo de inundación.

The coastal area bounding the southern margin of the lagoon of Venice, Italy, was reclaimed for agricultural purposes between the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX century. Presently, it is a precarious environment subject to both natural changes and anthropogenic pressures. One major environmental problem is the saltwater contamination of the shallow aquifers and soils that yields a strong negative effect on the productivity of the farmlands. Saltwater intrusion is enhanced by a land elevation well below the mean sea level, the seawater encroachment along rivers and channels during the dry periods, the drainage activities implemented to keep dry the farmland, and the presence of several ancient sandy fluvial ridges and buried paleo-channels. As part of a research project aimed at understanding the dynamics of the saltwater intrusion and its effects on the soil productivity by an experimental and a numerical approach, a 25-ha basin was selected just south of the Venice Lagoon and approximately 6 km far from the Adriatic Sea. The contribution reports on an accurate investigation carried out to characterize the geomorphological features of the area, identifying possible pathways of saltwater intrusion. The task was carried out by photointerpretation of historical aereophotographs, geophysical surveys (i.e., electro-tomography, electromagnetic induction), and about 60 shallows cores distributed in the area according to the variability of the apparent electrical conductivity in the upper 1.50 m soil profile. The results point out a significant depth and areal variability of the soil deposits and the presence of a few sandy paleo-river beds. These latter cross the farmland with a main direction from inland to the lagoon boundary and can act as preferential pathways for groundwater flow and solute transport from the nearby salty waterbodies.

Nell'ambito del Programma di studio "La laguna di Venezia nel quadro dei cambiamenti climatici, delle misure di mitigazione ed adattamento e dell'evoluzione degli usi del territorio", il Progetto SHALLOWS "Indagini nel sottosuolo olocenico della laguna di Venezia" è stato avviato nel contesto dell'Attività: "Analisi delle componenti a scala locale del relative sea level rise alla luce degli scenari globali di sviluppo futuro considerati dall'IPCC". Questo progetto prevede l'estensione all'area lagunare centrale delle indagini del sottosuolo lagunare condotte nell'area meridionale dalla Linea di Ricerca 3.16, nel precedente programma di ricerca CORILA (2004-2006). Le indagini verranno principalmente condotte nei bassifondi attraverso rilievi sismici ad altissima risoluzione, analisi sedimentologiche e geomorfologiche. In particolare saranno investigati in dettaglio alcuni siti chiave dove sono presenti strutture geomorfologiche sepolte, ad esempio sistemi deltizi e di argine-canale. In questo articolo vengono presentati scopi ed obiettivi della ricerca e riportati alcuni esempi di risultati relativi alle indagini preliminare effettuate nella fase di programmazione delle campagne di rilevamento geologico.

The contributions of eustasy and tectonics to the development of stratigraphic sequences are commonly hard to discern, and this has been a controversial topic that is still being debated. New data are therefore necessary to improve our understanding of the factors that govern sedimentary cyclicity. Data from the subsiding Venice and the uplifting Crotone areas in Italy allow the recognition of the different effects of Late Quaternary glacio-eustatic changes and regional tectonics on sequence architecture at different temporal scales. Shallow-marine small-scale sequences linked to short-term glacio-eustatic changes at the scale of the marine isotope substage cyclicity (10000 years) show features that developed irrespective of the local conditions of subsidence or uplift, such as a modest thickness, a similar organization of facies and thin transgressive deposits. In contrast, lower frequency composite sequences at the scale of 100000 years show strongly different architectures and stacking patterns depending on the regional tectonic context: downstepping in uplifting areas and aggradational in subsiding areas. The present results, therefore, highlight that only the architecture of small-scale sequences showing a periodicity of about 20 and 40 ka appears to be dominated by the glacio-eustatic variable, because of the very high rates of sea-level change characterizing the substage cyclicity, which overprints the regional tectonic signal.

A recent research has provided a high resolution map of the present land subsidence of the Venice coastland (Italy). The map, which refers to the 1992-2002 decade and covers an area of about 100x100 km2, has been obtained by the innovative "Subsidence Integrated Monitoring System" (SIMS) that efficiently merges the different displacement measurements obtained by spirit leveling, differential and continuous Global Positing System (GPS), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-based interferometry. The investigation points out a significant spatial variability of the ground vertical movements, both at regional and local scales, and displacement rates ranging from a slight (1-2 mm/yr) uplift to a serious subsidence of more than 10 mm/yr. Tectonics, differential consolidation of the Pleistocene and Holocene deposits, and human activities, such as groundwater withdrawals, land reclamation of marshes and swamp areas, and farmland conversion into urban areas, superimpose to produce the observed displacements. In this work we have distinguished the displacement components on the basis of the depth of their occurrence. Deep causes, acting at a depth generally greater than 400-600 m below m.s.l., refer to downward movements of the pre-Quaternary basement and land uplift (up to 2 mm/yr) most likely related to neo-tectonic activity connected with the Alpine thrust belts and a NW-SE fault system. The displacement factors located in the medium depth interval, i.e. between 400 and 50 m below m.s.l., are of both natural and anthropogenic origin. The former refers to the Medium-Late Pleistocene deposits that exhibit a larger cumulative thickness of clayey compressible layers at the lagoon extremities with respect to the central lagoon area where stiffer sandy formations prevail. Land subsidence due to aquifer exploitation mainly occurs in the north-eastern sector of the coastland where thousands of active wells are located. In a 10-15 km wide coastal strip thickness, texture, and sedimentation environment of the Holocene deposits play a significant role in controlling shallow land subsidence. Other factors that contribute in increasing land sinking at a smaller areal extent are the salinization of clay deposits due to saltwater intrusion and biochemical oxidation of outcropping peat soils enhanced by. Even the load of houses and structures after the conversion of farmland into urbanized areas cause local shallow compaction.