The role of Light Rail Systems in the urban regionalisation processes and in defining the bioregional vision of the Pontine Plain in Italy

Abstract

Light rail systems can play a key role in spatial transformation processes conceptualised as urban regionalisation or new regionalism in the European Union and North America. These concepts identify new residential or micro-productive sprawled settlements which lead to ecological fragmentation, biodiversity loss, and overturn the Christallerian hierarchies without translating into an indifference to location. In Italy, the bioregional approach has been integrated into spatial planning, with the bioregional unit applied as an effective framework to analyse spatial transformation processes, with the bioregion as the main living environment, and mobility as an essential driver of lifestyle choices. After reviewing bioregional theory, the paper illustrates the characteristics of the Pontine Bioregion including the relations between urban centres and with Rome as a metropolitan hub. It then discusses the proposal of a new railway network system where the LRSs can provide benefits for efficient mobility and for urban regeneration and sustainability of the bioregion.