Aspetti metodologici e modelli per la valutazione ambientale dei piani urbanistici

Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is currently pivotal in the academic and technical debate all over Europe, having several national and international case-studies already been delivered. The entry into force of the European Directive 2001/42/CE has brought a change of perspective to the territorial planning approach, asking for the Environmental Assessment to inform each step of planning procedures. Methodological and theoretical roots of (strategic) environmental assessment in planning can be found, from a disciplinary point of view, in the Estimate discipline. Moreover, many well consolidated projects' Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) techniques can be applied, with appropriate adjustments, to plan and programmes. This Thesis investigates methodological and applicative definition of models for environmental assessment (both SEA and Appropriate Assessment) applied to planning, basing on a structured synthesis of an almost ten year long doctoral research carried on by the Author in the field of environmental assessment. The abovementioned models inspect the impact of planning tools on environmental systems, analysing historical transformations and using suitable process-oriented environmental indicators, both strategic and easily understandable. Some of these assessment tools have been elaborated and ad hoc tested by the Author in many national and international case-studies, thus allowing the elaboration of a series of considerations about their efficacy and limits, in the broader context of the evolution of the Estimate discipline.