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Figure 2 -
Soil consumption in Rome (red)
Cities continue to expand quickly, with a continuous process of diffusion in the last decades, by
subtracting quality through the creation of small-medium size outside the main centers, the growth
of metropolitan areas scattered around the margin, joining centres inhabited areas at low and very
low density in a continuum that cancelled the city limits landscape. A high natural fragmentation
and a lack of identity of urban spaces scattered and without cohesion characterize these areas.
Diffuse and dispersed urbanization produces not only loss of landscapes, soils and its ecosystem
services, but is also an energy-intensive and settlement pattern predisposing to the spread of private
mobility system.
It is therefore clear that, even in our country, it is extremely urgent to define an effective policy of
restricting artificial land use, through the setting of clear and progressive objectives. This means
preventing the conversion of green areas and the resulting artificial land cover. We should promote
the reuse of already built areas, including brownfield regeneration. We should invest in the existing
building patrimony, to stimulate the reuse of already compromised soils and urban regeneration,
protect all undeveloped areas and not sealed, even in urban areas, and not only agricultural areas. In
many European countries were already set target to be used as tools for monitoring purposes and to
stimulate progress in the future. Creating incentives to rent unoccupied houses has also helped to
limit soil sealing.
Where the soil is already lost or is expected a new urban expansion or new infrastructures, we
should adopt mitigation measures in order to maintain at least some of the ecological functions of
the soil and to reduce the direct or indirect negative effects to environment and human well-being.
Such measures include, for example, evaluation and comparison of soil quality in urban planning
processes, with the localization of the new development in lower quality soils, the use of
appropriate permeable materials instead of concrete or asphalt, support for green infrastructure and
an increasing use of natural systems to collect water.
In urban areas, for example, green roofs and vertical green (Figure 3) are becoming an element
characterising different architectural projects, both for new buildings and for regeneration and
requalification. The "green architecture" recuperates the building envelope and create a new
opportunity for the greening of our cities, replacing the gray concrete. These choices give value to
the buildings and offer to the city the ability to change with the seasons, resulting in ever new
shapes and colours, and especially to do it in full sustainability.
In addition, for its peculiarity, the green wall, as well as the roof garden, increases the aesthetic
value of a building and the public interest. This "green card", as well as improve eco-friendly, it
also guarantees the economic rise of the property and the surrounding area and can be one of the
founding elements of an urban redevelopment project. In fact, these architectural choices give a
considerable contribution to improving the urban image, with a feeling of greater well-being and
providing an ideal solution for recreating the green in compact urban or degraded areas.
Finally, these solutions constitute a space for environmental compensation, creating habitats for
plants and animals, ensuring the improvement of microclimate, sound isolation, filtration of dust