The ENVIBASE-Project

Documentation / Online Handbook

Land use and Biotopes

Description of the Problem

The Milan area has a high degree of infrastructure and is the most important transport junction in northern Italy, with the principal national highways, railways, and two international airports: Linate and Malpensa.

The greater part of urban development is located on the north side of the city along the principal road network. On the southern side, the land use is different, with wide countryside and agricultural areas and sparse settlements (300 inh/km²).

The central core of the metropolitan area is characterised by compact urban settlement, with the highest density in the city of Milan and in the city neighbourhood (7,500 - 8,500 inh/km²).

The soil use in the metropolitan area is represented by:

urban settlements	33.5 %
new settlements (according to Local Land Use Plans)	26.2 %
wide urban parks	1.5 %
regional parks	14.0 %
other parks	1.4 %
Parco sud Milano (green south belt)	22.0 %

Data Sources

The general GIS of the region is the Regional Technical Map (Carta Tecnica Regionale - CTR) at scale 1:10000. The source of the data is aerial photos or in some cases satellite images. The detail of the maps is of urban blocks.

In addition, the Department of Urban Planning is working out its own GIS dedicated to Local Land Use Plans (Mosaico dei PRG). It is composed of data elaborated directly from local urban plans (scale 1:2000/5000).The same department is also working out a specific GIS on Landscape binds and heritage elements based on the same regional map and scale of representation.

Methods

The regional GIS (Carta Tecnica Regionale), as a technical map, is based on the mathematical elaboration of aerial photos (updated 1994/96) and satellite images (layer "Use of the soil").

The regional information system is based on information and data in vectoral form (Arc-info and Oracle). Arc-view is also used for further representations. Maps and specific elaborations are also available at the following scales: 1:25000/50000/100000/250000. Each one of the principal layers/categories (see table) is composed of sub-categories, with more detailed data, and all of them are geo-referred and in vectoral form.

Statistical data are also available at the detail of "census unit" (urban blocks) and they can be integrated with the GIS.

Presently the land use plans and the greater part of urban planning data are available in hard copy form (maps, technical rules) or filed. The GIS Mosaic of local land use plans, worked out by the Province of Milan, is available in vectoral form, according to the regional directives (Arc-info/Arc-view, CTR base).

Data are collected directly from the land use plan, elaborated and fixed at scale 1:10000. Maps (GIS) are updated on the basis of the implementation of land use plans (aerial photographs, direct inspection).

Results

Many maps are available starting from the Regional Technical Map:

• traditional hard copy maps (base 1:10000);
• raster maps (base CTR raster and tematic maps 1:50000);
• vectoral maps (base 1:10000).

All regional planning, provincial planning, landscape, transport, and in some cases urban planning authorities use the data of CTR. It is possible to produce many kinds of maps by elaborating vectoral data. The raster or vectoral maps are available in CD-ROM or hard-copy by the regional offices.

Uses

Data and maps are required by many users for studies and planning: regional departments, research and scientific centres, universities, urban planners, local authorities, provincial authorities, municipalities, etc.

Description of the Problem

In Italy, landscape preservation and planning of parks and natural reserves are regulated by different legislation. In fact, there are two different laws that provide different planning instruments: the national law of Landscape Preservation (L.431/1985) and the national act of Protected Sites (L.394/1991). This means that each region, which has power of attorney on this matter, has developed different ways of analysis and data collecting for the areas which fall under different legislation. In this report, our attention is mainly focused on parks, protected sites, and natural reserves.

The policy of the Lombardy Region regarding protected sites has developed in the past twenty-five years since the institution of Ticino River Regional Park (1974), and it is based on the Regional Law n.86/1983, Regional Parks Development Plan.

The term "park" is used in Italian legislation to describe various categories of protected areas and different institutional and operational levels. In addition to "National Parks," under the direct control of the central State, which concerns large natural or historical areas of an exceptional quality (in Lombardy the Stelvio National Park), the region recognises the following categories concerning safeguards, planning, and development of protected sites:

I. Regional Parks, in order to protect large areas with pronounced natural characteristics (rivers, mountains, forestry parks) or with strategic importance (agricultural, metropolitan green belt parks) particularly in the metropolitan area, with respect to densely populated urban centres. Such parks include many municipalities and often large urbanised areas;

• Local Parks, in order to safeguard non-urbanised areas/open spaces of moderate size that hold not only natural and recreational interest for the adjoining centres but also serve an urban planning function by containing urban expansion;
• Urban Parks, as part of the "green equipment" envisaged in urban planning (Regional Urban Planning Law 51/1975).

Regional protection is also extended to small sites of particular natural interest that may be found within or outside regional parks:

• Regional Natural Reserves: especially vacated sites in order to preserve nature in its various manifestations and to maintain the related ecosystem;
• Natural Monuments: individual elements of particular natural or scientific value that must be preserved in their integrity (geotopes and biotopes).

In the metropolitan area of Milan (which is almost the entire Province of Milan, within 187 municipalities, and about four million inhabitants), open spaces are essentially represented by large agricultural land or residual areas included in urban settlements; important natural sites survive only along rivers and in few wooded areas. But the most important landscape or naturally interesting sites have now been identified and are protected through local or regional instruments.

The Ticino and Adda Rivers Regional Parks comprise the western and eastern borders of the system of protected sites in the metropolitan area; the Parco Agricolo Milano Sud closes the southern side of the Milan urban area and safeguards large agricultural land as far as the Province border.

Along the northern edge of the province, there are some protected sites (regional and local) that begin at the first line of foothills and penetrate down into the more densely populated metropolitan area, joining with large suburban parks, such as the Historical Park of Villa Reale in Monza. These parks are mainly located where farming is no longer profitable and where almost 80% of the provincial population (including Milan) lives. The city of Milan makes up for its chronic lack of green areas with its external urban parks: Lambro, Forlanini, Trenno, Boscoincittà, Cave and Ticinello.

Data Sources

Information, data, and maps about protected sites and their planning instruments are currently available in hard copy and databases.

Data and plans may be consulted at the offices of the individual management boards and at the Lombardia Region (Urban Planning, Environment and Energy Departments). Plans of Regional Parks and Reserves, when approved by Regional Law, are also published by the Region in its own Regional Gazette.

The Lombardy Region has a Regional Technical Map (CTR), now available in raster and vectoral form (GIS), which is the basis for the Regional Informative Territorial System (SIT). One of the layers of SIT concerns the geomorphological map of the mountain territories.

Recently the Regione Lombardia created a special multidisciplinary working group to define criteria, guidelines, and technical procedures for creating a "Parks Information System" integrated with the regional Territorial Information System (SIT). The aim is to define a homogeneous mode of representation of the principal items contained in the park plans.

Centro Studi PIM, working on the planning of parks, has recently digitalised the cartography of the Parco Agricolo Milano Sud and is working out, with the regional working group, the implementation of Regional SIT with a layer concerning the "Mosaic of Parks and Protected Sites" for the Province of Milan. The software used is Arc-info. The principal areas of reference used in the legend are:

• natural areas: includes natural, hydrological or geomorphological interest areas;
• agricultural areas;
• recreational areas;
• areas proposed for urban development;
• special designation areas (such as historical heritage, quarries, derelict areas) located within the parks.

The Region (Sustainable Land Development Service) is also working out a new thematic layer of SIT concerning all information about landscape and environmental restrictions arising from the national law on Landscape Preservation (SIBA).

Methods

Each park or reserve has its own master plan, based on a zoning map and Legal Technical Rules (NTA) that regulate land use.

Park plans are also provided by sectoral and spatial analysis, such as thematic maps (geomorphology, vegetation, fauna, agricultural structure, landscape, historical heritage, urban planning) usually represented on CTR in hard copy form at 1:10000/1:25000 scale, completed by punctual information or measurements that may be found in database or other kinds of description.

The Province of Milan Parks Mosaic has been digitalised (as has the Parco Agricolo Milano Sud) on the CTR raster at 1:10000 scale (Arc-info) and is provided by a database containing the main information about the master plan of each park and the methods used to recognise their rules in the general legend.

Results

The Mosaic of Parks Map of the Province will be complete in a few months and is available on CD-ROM, with Arc-info and Arc-view standard. All methods and results are documented in detailed texts. In special databases, the Centro Studi PIM can produce the digital methods and proceedings.

Uses

This information is mainly addressed to the Province of Milan for the implementation of the Provincial Land Development Plan (PTCP), but also all regional and municipal, urban, landscape transport authorities may release, through the Mosaic Plan, the fundamental data about protected sites in their area.