Criteria and Procedures for Regional Environmental Regeneration: A European Strategic Project

Abstract

Many regions of the world are facing the issue of regeneration of large brownfield sites characterized by environmental, social and economic degradation. In order to contribute to the development of innovative regional regeneration models, the paper introduces the successful European strategic project of the Ruhr basin. The irreversible crisis of mining and steel industry sectors, started in 1960 in that area, had brought, within a period of twenty years, to a profound social, economic, environmental decline. Project Emscher Landschaftpark was born in 1989 with the general objective of radically modifying the structure, image and functions that, until then, had characterized the territory of the Ruhr; it was related to a vast area, aimed at a sustainable, long term development and was based on the idea of considering the activities of the Emscher Park as an engine for the economy of the Region. The paper, after describing briefly the characteristics of the project, aims to highlight the main elements that contributed to its implementation.

Technical and Economic Criteria to Select Pavement Surfaces of Port Handling Plants

“…In the design process of port pavement several methods and procedure could be adopted [18,19]. They could be divided into two categories: empirical and rational methods.…”

Comparison of Life Cycle Assessment Tools in Cement Production

“…Although environmental impact is essentially dependent on its origin, it is fast becoming a criterion for the development of socioeconomic policies. Statistical analysis reveals that global warming potential (GWP), which is one of the prevalent parameters for evaluating the environmental impact of industrial processes, follows a regular pattern, which explains why the cement industry is a global concern because of its environmental impact [18][19][20]. A thorough analytical approach is required to evaluate the environmental impact of the whole cement production process, and of its use in construction [21].…”

Life Cycle Analysis of Road Construction and Use

“…In recent years, environmental aspects related to road infrastructure construction have increasingly come under examination [1,2] in order to apply environmental award criteria in calls for tender [3] and introduce the green public procurement (GPP). At the international level, several efforts have been made to apply GPP to the road sector: in Sweden, environmental aspects are integrated in road maintenance contracts [4][5][6]; in Finland, procurement methods are implemented to reduce the environmental impacts of roads [7]; in the Netherlands, GPP has been implemented to manage the main road network [8].…”