Enhancing the Urban Quality of Life: A Case Study of a Coastal City in the Metropolitan Area of Rome

Abstract

The present paper concerns an environmentally sustainable neighborhood planning project, as part of the smart community, located in the municipality of Ladispoli, in the Metropolitan area of Rome, along the Tyrrhenian coast. The project was designed as a solution to two current issues, involving all the major urban areas of the Northern Hemisphere: the ageing population and the young New Immigrants Citizens integration; the purpose is, therefore, to create an intergenerational space of mutual support and exchange among the local residents. The latter includes residential buildings NZEB (net zero-energy building) that are eco environment-friendly, designed with new building technologies based on the reuse of the main municipal solid waste, facilities minimization and the integration of renewable energy sources. The complete utilization of the local waste production in order to realize modules with low environmental impact is a key requirement to increase the overall environmental sustainability of buildings. An additional distinctive feature of this proposition is linked to the requirement of the dwelling flexibility, enabling those who live in it to easily adapt the apartments to their changing needs during a lifetime, also facilitating the integration among the different generations. The common thread of sustainability involves not only the housing project but also the dimension of a wider space, where green space plays a key role. Urban greenery is not by itself a boundary line between areas and activities, but attempts to re-establish equilibrium and natural functions that are essential for citizens' quality of life. The residential complexes are inserted in a planimetric urban design with leaflike shape and functions; some of the strong points of this project are the use of local and renewable resources, the use of active systems for energy production and passive technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, and the improvement of air-quality-enhancing green spaces.

How Climate Change Affects the Building Energy Consumptions Due to Cooling, Heating, and Electricity Demands of Italian Residential Sector

“…On a wider territorial scale, the fundamental role of cities is widely recognized in the literature; in [31] it was found that on an urban scale, problems can be tackled more effectively by the easier communication with local decision makers; in [32][33][34] the problem of energy self-sufficiency at municipal level was addressed, identifying solutions to increase the RES share on the electricity consumption; in [35] the possibility of using municipal waste was evaluated, for building envelopes for nZEB; in [36] a methodology was proposed for the preparation of an urban action plan based on carbon footprint assessment related to a city in southern Italy; in other works, the field of study was more limited and reached the neighbourhood scale [37,38].…”

Virtual Reality Representations of Nature to Improve Well-Being amongst Older Adults: a Rapid Review

“…Considering the diverse benefits of contact with nature to an ageing population and the many possibilities smart technologies provide for bringing nature inside, this review shows that opportunities for challenging, boundary-spanning research approaches to one of the most pressing societal challenges of our times are many. Bentsen et al (2009) x x Bentsen et al (2010) x Bernatzky (1975) x 2013x x Debele (2014) Moffat et al (2009) x Villeneuve et al 2012x Younan et al (2016) x x Almeter et al 2018x GPS Astell-Burt et al 2016x GPS x Barbosa et al (2007) x GPS x Battisto et al 2018x x x Benmarhnia et al 2017x Bunney et al (2016) x GPS Burgoine et al 2015x GPS Cassarino et al 2019x x Chien et al 2019GPS x Cochrane et al (2009) x GPS x Coutts et al (2010) x GPS x Cui et al (2013) x Cumo et al (2017) x x Dadvand et al (2017) x Douglas et al (2018) x GPS x Forsyth and Crewe (2010) x Gao et al (2012) x Germann- Chiari and Seeland (2004) x GPS x Gose et al (2013) GPS Graça et al (2018) x x Green et al (2016) x Haggag (2010) x Hermida et al (2017) x GPS x Hillsdon et al (2006) x GPS x Hoffimann et al 2017x GPS Huang et al (2018) x x Hui et al (2017) x Jamaludin et al (2014) x Janssen and Rosu (2015) x GPS Jim and Chen (2007) x Jim and Shan (2013) x x Jones 2018x…”

Refurbishment of a house in a historical building: energy saving, electrification and flexibility

“…In this context, for a correct energy requalification of the existing building patrimony, guidelines and good practices will have to be developed to adapt the patrimony to modern needs of use and comfort and to adapt buildings to climate change [8]; wherever possible, efforts should be made to achieve the nZEB standard [9][10][11], with an integrated restructuring, which takes into account Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) [12], which includes the exploitation of renewable energy resources, with the introduction of automation systems for the management of flexible loads [13,14]; particular attention must be paid to the buildings subject to protection, for which an improvement in performance will be sought, in compliance with historical and architectural values [15][16][17], a massive intervention in the energy upgrade of the cultural heritage is necessary not to vain the efforts made in recent decades to achieve the objectives of the EU's "Climate Change Package" [18]. In an urban environment, the use of those energy vectors that allow limiting local polluting emissions should be preferred [19][20][21].…”