Planning the urban sustainable development. The case of the plan for the province of Trento, Italy

This paper provides an overview of the initiatives for sustainable development taking place in Italy at the urban and provincial levels, stressing some limits they met: unsatisfactory knowledge of environmental conditions, use of too general indicators, modest public participation. The case of the plan for the Province of Trento, currently in progress, is examined. This experience applies an eco systemic approach to analyze the interactions among the different resource use cycles. Moreover, it tends to overcome the drawbacks of the top-down approach typical of plans, by means of a structured public involvement. In the Province of Trento, a specific attention has to be devoted to the Alpine environment, which is endangered by the urban sprawl and the intensive use of resources. The plan will provide a deeper knowledge of environmental processes and will produce a set of appropriate indicators to assess the level of sustainability of the province, thus giving guidelines for improving policies and actions.