Urban Metabolism: Definition of an Integrated Framework to Assess and Plan Cities and Territories

The present paper deals with the role of sustainability assessment tools in tackling the increasing complexity and uncertainty of urban and territorial systems. Urban metabolism is ever more under the attention of Decision Makers and policy makers to deal with the current planning challenges, where climate change, environmental quality, social equity and justice, and governance represent very topical issues. The paper focuses particularly on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the family of Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) retained as suitable tools to design an integrated framework to envision sustainable, resilient and circular solutions with a multi-scaling approach, ranging from the product to the city and territory levels. This contribution represents a position paper of the authors which defines an integrated framework to explore urban metabolism and support real assessment and planning procedures for cities and territories transformations. This research work is addressed to planners, Decision Makers, technicians and freelances actively involved in planning and assessment procedures for ensuring a better quality of life.