Green infrastructure as instrument for adjustment of a complex urban ecosystem: a proposal for a green network in the metropolitan area of Naples.

Green Infrastructure (GI) definition, deriving from the US green infrastructure for hydro-geological rebalancing through imitating the nature stormwater management, was consolidated in Europe by GI Planning Guide in 2007. Nowadays GI can be considered a valid tool for adjusting urban complex ecosystems, other than a mitigation action of land consumption, according to the Guidelines on the soil of the European Union. The metropolitan area of Naples is characterized by an unauthorised and chaotic urban development. The land-use map (Regione Campania, Cuas 2007) shows an average of 30% of urbanization in the metropolitan area, that rises up to a 50-60% and as high as 98% in the north core area of Naples. This high level of urbanization is directly related to the habitat fragmentation. The National Biodiversity Conservation Strategy (NBCS) defines several challenges and targets to counteract the biodiversity loss in Italy, identifying urban areas as places exposed to the greatest pressures on ecosystems. Therefore, the integration of different policies limiting habitat fragmentation, heat island effect and natural soil hydrogeological degradation into spatial planning, especially through green corridors and ecosystem enhancement in urban areas, is strongly recommended. Spatial planning has to be renewed in metropolitan areas, where threats and weaknesses to biodiversity conservation are stronger than in any other place, according to the Law n. 56/2014, committing Metropolitan cities to the enactment of General Territorial Plan. In this paper, we aim at designing an ecological network for the metropolitan area of Naples in South Italy. The analyses include the adopted methodological procedure, i.e. ecological network analysis and design, and the introductory elements of a spatial analysis on a pilot ecological network of several patches. Finally, the work illustrates the network analysis conceived as a monitoring system and, in future perspective, as a planning support system.