The reorganization of development rights at inter-municipal level: different scenarios for an alternative land-use forecast in Seriana Valley in Italy

The paper deals with the issue of inter-municipal urban planning in Italy, exploring in particular the technical procedures used by inter-municipal plans to achieve the objectives established by the involved municipalities, including an effective land-use forecast. Among the planning tools, the transfer of development rights (TDR) is particularly relevant, in fiscal terms, for the form and degree of sophistication characterizing the exchange of monetary sources between local authorities, and in territorial terms, because of the effects that new settlements produce on the territory. The case study investigated by the research is the Seriana Valley, in the province of Bergamo, in the north of Italy, a territory characterized by a low degree of cooperation connoting the municipal level. The research has proposed the identification of some criteria aimed at determining the potential problematic nature of the transformation areas and the movement of the annexes development rights. The exchange of development rights among municipalities has been carried on according to different scenarios, taking into account different possibilities of political agreement between municipalities for a shared and coherent inter-municipal land-use forecast. The research has also explored the role of the so-called “Compensation Fund”, a tool for collecting the monetary resources coming from the actors involved in the process, studying in particular its role in balancing the externalities produced by the new settlements.