Call for Paper CONTESTI 2 | 2026 POSTGROWTH AND DEGROWTH IN PLANNING PRACTICE Edited by Barbara Pizzo and Jin Xue DEADLINE June 7, 2026. Modern planning is deeply rooted in pro-growth development model. Spatial planning is addressed to city growth, whatever definition of growth might be implied (i.e., expansion, densification, valorisation, both in physical and economic terms). There is a centuries-old history of urban planning irrefutably demonstrating that. Nonetheless, postgrowth and degrowth as key concept and as perspectives to look at the future of cities and regions is evidently spreading. In recent years, research groups and networks, conferences and seminars, books and journal publications have multiplied. Although postgrowth and degrowth scholars have succeeded in bringing the dominant growth model into question and seriously discussing alternatives, they have started worrying about that what should be a crucial and compelling paradigmatic turn in planning approaches may instead become just another (ab)used buzzword. The aim of this call is to identify, clarify, and discuss if, how and by whom postgrowth and degrowth thinking is being translated into actual urban and regional practices, with particular attention to the fundamental objects and fields of action within urban and regional planning. This inquiry will also challenge and critically examine some of the claimed more ‘advanced’ ideas in planning for long-term sustainability such as no net land take, circular economy and sharing, the green shift, digitalization, and related initiatives. More specifically, we invite contributions addressing the following topics: Land and soil, Water, Energy, Nature and Biodiversity, Mobility, Housing, Production and Labour. We welcome contributions that: place one or more of these issues at the core of their inquiry while considering the interconnections with the others, draw on real cases and examples from urban and regional development and planning, reflect on and propose actionable suggestions for planning practices that can inform and inspire degrowth and postgrowth-oriented approaches. Download the CALL FOR PAPERS (ITA | ENG) ISSN: 2035-5300 More information about Contesti. Città, Territori, Progetti Contesti has been evaluated as Class A-Journal in the latest 2023 official ranking of academic journals set up by the Italian Ministry of University and Research and its evaluation agency ANVUR. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
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A Biocentric Critique of Urban Time in Huxley’s Time Must Have a Stop
Aldous Huxley’s Time Must Have a Stop (1944) is here re-read in the light of the topics addressed within Contesti’s special issue Urban and Territorial Resilience. Urbanism Facing Crisis. In order to address the multiple crises, the hidden paradigms are explored and urbanism’s relation to time spans is problematised in order to re-centre the role of life and ecosystems, unavoidably representing the foundations of any human activity. This short article also serves as an introduction to the book excerpts offered in the next pages.
Copyright (c) 2026 Isabella Trabucco, Silvio Cristiano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Copyright (c) 2026 Aldous Huxley https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Copyright (c) 2026 Mariangela Gualtieri https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Urban and Territorial Resilience. Urbanism Facing Crisis
Cities and landscapes are undergoing an ever increasing number of often intertwined crises, which urbanism and territorial governance are called to fully understand and to timely and effectively address, in order to protect – in advance and/or in the midst of an emergency – the health and the sound operation of the spatial systems in which human and non-human societies can only live and flourish, i.e. the ecosystems upon which everything depends: the ecological, the social, and the economic spheres, and with them the cultural, the political, etcetera. Spatial multi-risk has been the core of the scientific activities taking place within the Spoke number 5 “Urban and metropolitan settlements” of the extended partnership project “RETURN – multi-Risk sciEnce for resilienT commUnities undeR a chaNging climate”. This special issue brings together studies and perspectives from those scientific activities, connected projects, and topic-relevant parallel studies, expanding much beyond the original idea to collect the proceedings of the special session “Urban and territorial resilience: from measuring to building planning solutions”, organised by most of this issue’s Guest Editors (Amenta, Cazzola, Cristiano, Giudice, Trabucco, & Vingelli) within the 63rd Congress of the European Regional Science Association (Terceira, Portugal, 26–30 August 2024).
Copyright (c) 2026 Silvio Cristiano, Isabella Trabucco, Libera Amenta, Ilaria Cazzola, Benedetta Giudice, Carlo Pisano, Michelangelo Russo, Daniele Vettorato, Federica Vingelli, Angioletta Voghera https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
L’urbanistica, le crisi, l’urbanistica in crisi: dall’acquiescenza nei collassi urbani alla cura del territorio
Copyright (c) 2026 Silvio Cristiano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Urban Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation, and Disaster Risk Reduction – a Review on their joint use for Spatial Resilience
An increasing number of catastrophic events was recorded in the first two decades of the 21st century compared to the previous twenty years. The ongoing climate crisis suggests more disasters will happen, while other existing crises (ecological, energy, resources, socio-economic, geo-political, etc.) cannot be disregarded while trying to anticipate and handle them, both as possible concauses and as crucial factors in tackling them over time. Among different models and paradigms to address an uncertain era, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Mitigation and Adaptation (CMA) represent two major categories aimed at inspiring urban and regional strategies, planning, and design options to pursue (climate-related) spatial resilience. This article presents a novel systematic literature review conducted through a Scopus-based query and subsequent qualitative content analysis, to understand how DRR and CMA are dealt with together in spatial planning, governance, and design, and to critically assess the depth, coherence, and disciplinary orientation of this integration. Findings highlight a fragmented and technocentric landscape, where DRR and CMA are frequently treated in parallel and rarely embedded in spatially grounded, participatory, or systemic frameworks. The review identifies significant gaps in disciplinary engagement — especially from planning, design, and political ecology — and proposes the need for a more transdisciplinary and situated understanding of spatial resilience. The literature review is ultimately aimed at providing new knowledge to strengthen DRR and CMA joint use for spatial resilience.
Staying With the Urban Disruption to Break the ‘As Usual’
Revealing the massive, often invisible, complexes of contemporary urban infrastructure that carry energy, communications, transport and water, urban disruption also exposes the social control of nature that is exercised through technology. At the same time, urban disruption is a sign of the world's vitality and its constant transformation. But what role does disruption play in making the territory more resilient? In Brussels, at the Marais Wiels, and in Rome, at the Lago Bullicante, bulldozers carrying out new land transactions remove the topsoil and reach the water table, which flows up and fills the excavations. Two new urban lakes have emerged in areas that were previously floodplains. These two disruptions are inhabited by multispecies ensembles, and the social learning that is essential for evolutionary resilience is routine here.
Copyright (c) 2026 Marco Ranzato https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Promotion of Community Resilience through Citizen Science Approaches
The promotion of community resilience is a complex and understudied phenomenon. This article aims to contribute to this literature gap by assessing the role of citizen science (CS) approaches in the development of community resilience, since CS is considered a promising approach for generating new knowledge through fostering the participation of citizens (non-professional scientists) in research activities. The results show that CS approaches are relevant for developing resilience abilities through i) the collection of new data from new sources or remote places where data is scarce, allowing for a better characterization of potential hazards, and the identification of community needs, perceptions and behaviours; ii) enhancing community awareness and knowledge about hazard protection; iii) increase human and social capital through specific training initiatives; and iv) promote the cooperation between community (citizens), academia (professional scientists) and government (policymakers), which is relevant for the development of public policies shaped to local context, and aligned with community’s needs and expectations.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ana Dias Daniel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Innovative approaches to address territorial multi-risk: rethinking spatial planning processes in the era of transition
In a context marked by environmental crises and interdependent vulnerabilities, this article introduces an innovative methodological approach to spatial planning based on the paradigm of multi-risk transition. The L methodology combines a vertical axis, ensuring strategic coherence across governance levels, with a horizontal axis focused on territorial multi-risk diagnosis. The article primarily explores the latter through an experimental application in the UNESCO MAB Biosphere Reserve of the Po Delta (Veneto Region). By integrating vulnerability and exposure data, the multi-risk assessment is conceived as both a cognitive and operational device to inform place-based visions and strategies. The proposed methodology serves as a transformative tool to rethink spatial planning as an adaptive governance process, capable of bridging scales, actors, and knowledge in complex territorial contexts.
Copyright (c) 2026 Vittoria Ridolfi, Elena Ferraioli, Nicola Romanato, Federica Gerla, Filippo Magni https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Living with Water: Toward an amphibious planning paradigm for multi-risk territories
Historically, climate adaptation responses have focused on large-scale mitigation strategies, often overlooking local needs, knowledge, and perceptions. Traditional planning—rooted in land-based logics and constrained by rigid borders—struggles to address the complexity of risks that are deeply interwoven with water. In Italy, a multi-risk landscape where land and sea interact constantly, challenges such as unsustainable growth often take the form of overbuilt, impermeable coastal zones that disrupt natural water cycles; social inequalities are evident in unequal access to safe, resilient public spaces along bodies of water; and intensifying environmental risks—from coastal erosion to flooding—are symptoms of failing to engage with water’s dynamic character. Drawing on research from the PNRR-funded MIRACLE project, this contribution calls for adaptive, amphibious strategies that bring local knowledge to the forefront. We propose urban laboratories as platforms for resilience, structured around three steps: (1) multi-risk analysis, (2) participatory and perceptual mapping, and (3) scenario building. By embracing water’s fluidity and relational nature, these labs foster inclusive, context-specific adaptation planning for more just and water-sensitive urban futures.
Copyright (c) 2026 Paolo De Martino, Elena Ferraioli, Denis Maragno, Francesco Musco https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Framing a metabolic risk. Sviluppare un framework metodologico per l’analisi e il monitoraggio del potenziale di resilienza dei wastescape in contesti urbani critici multirischio
Urban multi-risk systems are characterised by systemic vulnerability and poor resilience to crises. Starting from an analysis of the relationship between the concepts of resilience and metabolic risk, this study proposes a methodological framework for analysing, evaluating and mapping the resilience potential of wastescapes in multi-risk urban contexts, characterised by unexpressed resource capital (matter, nature, space). The framework has the dual value of being an assessment tool and a support in guiding the definition of regenerative strategies for wastescapes in the perspective of the circular economy model applied to urban metabolism, in order to improve the resilience of cities and communities starting from the potential of places.
Copyright (c) 2026 Libera Amenta, Anna Attademo, Martina Bosone, Pasquale De Toro, Michelangelo Russo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The temporal dimension in climate adaptation and mitigation strategies and solutions aimed to increase urban integrated resilience
Climate change poses critical challenges to urban and metropolitan settlements, increasing their vulnerability to extreme events due to unsustainable and resilient development patterns. This article proposes a conceptual framework that integrates climate-proof strategies and actions into the four phases of disaster risk management (DRM): preparedness, absorption, response/recovery and long-term adaptation. Emphasizing the temporal dimension of resilience, the study highlights the need for dynamic, multi-scalar and systemic design approaches that enhance urban capacity to anticipate, withstand and recover from climate-related impacts. The framework aims to support decision-making processes by aligning architectural and urban design interventions with specific DRM phases, providing a basis for conscious, resilient and sustainable design of urban settlements.
Copyright (c) 2026 Maria Fabrizia Clemente, Sabrina Puzone https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Teaching methods for sustainable urban and territorial design: the case study of the Prato Ready Laboratories
Designing is a complex, personal, creative, and open-ended process of exploring and deciding, often seen as implicit (Schön, 1985). In teaching urbanism, we frequently need to make this process explicit and transferable. To do so, this paper uses a conceptual framework based on Elise van Dooren’s model (2013, 2020), which identifies five key elements: (1) experimenting/exploring and deciding, (2) guiding theme or qualities, (3) domains, (4) frame of reference, and (5) laboratory or (visual) language. This paper evaluates the application of this framework in the Prato Ready Laboratories, a multidisciplinary program at the University of Florence (2024/25), involving nearly 150 students from four design labs in Architecture and Planning master courses. The program focuses on sustainable urban and territorial design, addressing climate change, disaster response, and energy resource challenges. Through comparative analysis, it aims to make explicit the teaching methodologies for resilient urban design in multi-hazard environments.
Copyright (c) 2026 Carlo Pisano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Participation and Spatial Analysis to make Cities Resilient to Climate Change. The Historic Center of Genoa
Climate change represents one of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century; Historic Centers are highly vulnerable to its effects, and, in a scenario of worsening climate regimes, it is crucial to explore innovative methods and tools to promote adaptation to climate change specific to these multi-risk contexts. However, research in this field is still underdeveloped, especially when it comes to the active involvement of territorial stakeholders in identifying and managing multiple climate-related risks-prone areas. This paper proposes a participatory methodology developed within the EU-funded HERIT ADAPT project aims at analyzing the criticalities affecting Historic Centers and co-designing interventions for the multi-risk adaptation of them to climate change. The application of the methodology to the case study of the Historic Centre of Genoa is presented and first results are reported. The goal is to test and generalize the approach to make it as objective and replicable as possible, by identifying processes and technological tools, as well as categories of data that can be easily found in official databases related to historical urban contexts.
Copyright (c) 2026 Fabrizio Bruno, Ilenia Spadaro, Federica Paoli, Barbara Poggio, Francesca Pirlone https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Climate Risk Analysis Related to Urban Heat Islands in Metropolitan Areas for Urban Health: The Case Study of The Florence Plain
Urban heat islands (UHI) have become a widespread phenomenon in metropolitan areas worldwide, manifesting as an increase in the average ground surface temperature in urban environments compared to suburban areas. Climate change and intensified urbanization exacerbate this process, making it a key challenge of our time. In this context, urban planning plays a crucial role in developing UHI mitigation plans and adaptation strategies aimed at enhance urban livability and climate resilience. This research carries out a model for assessing and tackling climate risk associated with UHI in the Piana Fiorentina area, focusing on areas where thermal stress and population sensitivity are especially high, making heat-reduction interventions a priority. The study also proposes targeted responses and simulates the effectiveness of various design solutions for mitigating UHI effects and implementing adaptation strategies, highlighting the potential to adapt this method to other metropolitan areas.
Copyright (c) 2026 Bianca Del Duca, Enrico Gullì, Carlo Pisano, Silvio Cristiano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Infrastrutture verdi urbane ed offerta di servizi ecosistemici: uno studio sulla Functional Urban Area della Città di Cagliari
Urban green infrastructure (UGI) is an interconnected system of natural and semi-natural spaces, such as green areas, open spaces, and water features, which are strategically planned to provide ecosystem services and address community needs. UGIs should be inclusive and enhance human well-being, supporting biodiversity and facilitating access to natural resources. This study introduces a methodological framework for identifying UGIs, based on a taxonomic analysis of key ecosystem services (ES) essential to urban quality, including outdoor recreation, flood risk management, carbon capture and storage, habitat quality, and climate regulation. Furthermore, UGIs are modelled as complex networks composed of core areas, and urban ecological corridors. This approach is applied to the Functional Urban Area (FUA) of Cagliari in Italy. The findings indicate that areas with high levels of climate regulation, carbon storage and habitat quality are particularly well-suited for inclusion in UGI. While recreational potential is comparatively lower, it remains locally significant. On the other hand, flood mitigation zones demonstrate reduced connectivity due to urban impermeable surfaces.
Copyright (c) 2026 Federica Isola, Sabrina Lai, Federica Leone, Corrado Zoppi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Mapping Urban Proximity for Resilience: Testing a Methodological Framework for Local Resilience Units in Turin
Growing awareness of the climate change effects made sustainability and resilience essential in the debate on territorial planning, yet their practical deployment is still constrained by siloed programmes and sector‑based strategies. The Post Un‑Lock project addresses this gap by introducing the Local Resilience Unit (LRU), an operational framework that translates urban‑resilience theory into place‑specific action. Each LRU blends territorial analysis with community co‑design to reinforce a city’s and neighbourhood capacity to absorb shocks while preserving wellbeing and quality of life. This article describes an open‑source GIS workflow - implemented in QGIS and OpenRouteService - for the identification of potential LRUs. After compiling a neighbourhood‑scale inventory of everyday points of interest, isochrone‑based service areas are generated for each facility under the paradigm of a walkable, proximity‑oriented city. Overlaying these service areas delineates zones of high pedestrian accessibility, which are considered the most suitable locations for resilience‑oriented interventions. The methodology is demonstrated in Turin, Italy. The results of the study provide a foundation for future deployment of LRUs both within Turin and in other urban contexts, and can be extended wherever identifying areas for essential services is required.
Copyright (c) 2026 Grazia Brunetta, Mattia Scalas, Angioletta Voghera https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Mapping Urban Resilience Responses: Testing a Spatial Indicator Approach in Turin
The complex and dynamic nature of urban resilience makes it both essential and challenging to define an appropriate qualitative-quantitative approach for its measurement that combines context-sensitive indicators with spatial analysis. The method proposed in this paper balances standardised frameworks with local specificity through the application of selected resilience indicators in the city of Turin (Italy). By spatially mapping territorial response elements related to natural vulnerabilities and socio-institutional dynamics, it emphasises cross-sectoral integration for effective resilience strategies for spatial planning. It further stresses the importance of developing actionable indicators capable of informing planning tools and supporting adaptive, inclusive territorial governance. These insights are useful for the ongoing revision of Turin’s land use plan and other supra-local planning tools, aiming to address socio-economic and environmental challenges more cohesively.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ilaria Cazzola, Benedetta Giudice, Manuela Rebaudengo, Valeria Vitulano https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Planning Planning Terra dei fuochi: Soluzioni Rigenerative per Territori Malleabili
The worsening of climatic, environmental and socio-economic crises highlights the urgent need to develop innovative approaches for territorial governance, promoting public policies and urban planning strategies capable of responding to the direct and indirect threats associated with these phenomena. Territories are exposed not only to declared risks but also to latent risks, characterized by dynamic evolution and not always evident. Managing such challenges requires a kind of planning which embraces a paradigm of radical transformation and adaptation. The concept of ‘territorial malleability’ proves particularly fertile in this context. This contribution aims to explore the implications of such theories, in particular in the territory between Marcianise and Caivano. This fragment of territory has been the subject of design experiments carried out within the Urban Planning Laboratory at the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design at the University of Campania L. Vanvitelli.
Copyright (c) 2026 Giuseppe Guida, Chiara Bocchino https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Making the intangible visible: a methodological framework for recognizing Non-Economic Loss and Damage in multi-risk urban regeneration
This paper explores the multifaceted dimensions of Loss and Damage within urban contexts exposed to multiple risk factors, such as environmental pressures, while undergoing processes of site remediation and regeneration. A critical analysis within the framework of Urban Political Ecology (UPE) highlights that prolonged urban regeneration is often stalled due to unresolved conflicts regarding site remediation processes. Accordingly, evaluating not only material but also immaterial "losses" could be beneficial for recovering the life cycle of compromised territories and the vulnerable communities within them. Aiming to develop an appropriate evaluation framework, this paper presents a literature review of methods for estimating intangible non-economic loss and damage. The Site of National Interest (SIN) Bagnoli-Coroglio (Naples), still undergoing remediation, will be presented to explore the critical framework of UPE in a Global North context. The results will demonstrate the need to critically reconsider the institutionalized concept of loss and damage, moving beyond economic metrics to place specific emphasis on the intangible and often incommensurable dimensions of Non-Economic Loss and Damage (NELD). NELD, in fact, could be regarded as an opportunity for enhancing community resilience during urban transformation processes related to long-lasting remediation.
Copyright (c) 2026 Federica Vingelli, Bruna Vendemmia, Martina Bosone, Maria Federica Palestino https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The project in landscapes at risk. Back to architectural design
This contribution traces the research conducted within the extended partnership PE3-Return (multi-Risk sciEnce for resilienT commUnities undeR a changiNg climate) and is aimed at explaining the role that architectural design can and must assume in response to the contemporary condition, characterized by the profound changes imposed by climate change. Through the analysis of four case studies, chosen with the aim to compare interventions at different scales – the temporary device, the architectural artefact, the urban landscape and the low-density landscape – the study explore the possibility of overcoming the 'sectoral' and 'deterministic' approach that tends to break down the project into isolated disciplinary and operational domains. ‘Resilience’ is thus adopted in its humanistic, physical and sociological meaning, becoming a potential research tool for a ‘new balance’ to be achieved through methodological and design approaches capable of engaging with complexity, synthesizing diverse forms of knowledge, and fostering a conscious relationship with the built environment.
Copyright (c) 2026 Bruna Di Palma, Paola Galante, Federica Visconti, Francesca Talevi, Marilena Bosone https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Negotiating between the urban landscape and the domestic space: adaptive climates in Ostiense (Rome)
Technological rationalization of recent decades has definitively dissociated the management of comfort from its context. The "passivation" and "efficiency" of spaces of everyday life have led to a technological setup capable of altering temperature, lighting, and ventilation to achieve a standard, rather than a perceptive level of comfort. This "techno" functionalism, however, is neither neutral nor democratic. By looking at the consumption patterns in the Mediterranean area, energy consumption increases significantly during the summer due to heat waves and the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, caused by impermeable surfaces, limited vegetation, and poor urban ventilation. The widespread use of cooling and ventilation systems leads to high energy demand, with environmental and economic consequences. However, access to these systems is not guaranteed for everyone, especially for those living in energy poverty, renters, or people in precarious housing conditions. Urban policies often prioritize technological models such as Positive Energy Districts and Near Zero Energy Buildings, which are frequently unsuitable for the existing building stock and more accessible in countries with greater investment capacity, thus reinforcing disparities between Northern and Southern Europe. Working with the actual capacity for renewable energy production, energy flexibility, and energy efficiency within given urban contexts is the perspective that interests PEDFORALL, an European research project deeply connected to the specific context of Ostiense, a neighborhood adjacent to the city centre of Rome. Based on the recognition that current energy adaptation strategies have little room to take root in a district such as Ostiense, this contribution proposes a number of strategies for energy transition which are elaborated from the specificities of the site: analyses span from the domestic energy behaviors associated to a low-performing building stock, the quantity and quality presence of vegetation and wet areas, the geographies of paving and building materials, wind strengths and directions. The result of the design exploration offers a possible way to adapt to the changing climatic conditions and to enhance the opportunities to reduce energy use. Like the analyses, the configurations that attempt to spatialise the possibilities of energy-climate resilience work at very different scales, from the domestic space to the street, to the vacant lot, up to the level of the river park crossing the area. They are certainly not ready-made answers, but rather keys to understanding and discussing the adaptability of existing parts of the city.
Copyright (c) 2026 Giordana Panella https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
From Silent Ruins to Resilient Cultural Landscapes. Rethinking Heritage, Ecology, and Transformation in the Campi Flegrei case study
The paper explores the interplay between cultural landscapes and ecological systems, by adopting resilience as a unifying concept that bridges the preservation of heritage with sustainable and adaptive urban and territorial transformations. This approach has been developed in the research project carried out by DiARC (UNINA) within the PNRR Extended Partnership n.5 – Spoke 1. The focus is on "Campi Flegrei: a highly vulnerable area due to structural factors, given its volcanic nature, and the extractive use of resources where widespread historical assets and archaeological ruins emerge within the settlement fabric, often difficult to access, constantly exposed to risks, and experiencing degradation and abandonment. The research explores the interdependence between ecological-environmental values, history, communities, and ordinary landscapes through mapping activities and photographic campaigns for the activation of heritage communities as a factor of resilience. This allows the study to reveal a place-specific resilience with the aim of developing strategies that shift the role of archaeological ruins within the city - from static objects and barriers to contemporary transformation, to catalysts of resilient change.
Copyright (c) 2026 Marica Castigliano, Anna Attademo, Maria Simioli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The Palingenesis of Brownfields Through Nature. A comparative case analysis
The research proposes a critical reflection on the self-regenerative potential of brownfields thanks to spontaneous rewilding, envisioning them as laboratories of experimentation capable of triggering alternative and adaptive forms of urban regeneration. Guided by the concepts of urban palingenesis, spontaneous ecologies and common goods, the contribution investigates how episodes of prolonged abandonment can cause unexpected processes of ecological rebirth and civic mobilization. A comparative analysis of three emblematic cases - Canvey Wick (UK), La Goccia (Italy) and Bullicante Lake (Italy) - shows how local communities, associations and informal actors can redefine landscapes, functions and values of brownfields. The comparison highlights a constant tension between top-down models of reclamation and bottom-up approaches of care and re-appropriation, suggesting a paradigmatic shift: moving from technical and standardised interventions to open, relational, multi-species and situated processes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sara Piccirillo, Rosaria Iodice, Benedetta Pastena https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0