Planning the good use of the soil. The urban Variants of the Eu Project Life sam4cp

In the LIFE SAM4CP project, co-funded by the European Commission under the LIFE + 2007-2013 program, the DIST Research Group has collaborated for 4 years (October 2014 - October 2018) with the Metropolitan City of Turin (with the role of lead partner), two national research bodies such as ISPRA and CREA, and the Information Consortium for Public Administration-CSI Piemonte. The project was born from the desire to demonstrate how spatial planning that integrates into its decision-making processes an assessment of the environmental benefits ensured by the free land, guarantees to the community a substantial reduction of land consumption and an overall saving not only of natural resources, but also public finance. To this end, two IT tools have been created – Playsoil and Simulsoil – that allow simulating the effects (interms of decrease or increase) that the forecast of urban transformations would compare with the current situation. The eight ecosystem services considered are Carbon Sequestration; Crop Production, Timber Production, Habitat Quality, Nutrient Retention, Water Yield, Sediment Retention, Crop Pollination. After the pilot experience conducted in the municipality of Bruino, the use of the Simulator supported urban planning activities in the Municipalities of Chieri, None and Settimo Torinese. The urban Variants launched with the support of the Dist Research Group in the 4 Municipalities involved in the project bear witness to the contribution of this approach to the planning process.