Semiotic-Sociological Textures of Landscape Values. Assessments in Urban-Coastal Areas

Abstract

One of the most relevant issues of planning in the most landscape valuable locations, especially along the coastal areas, is to define the assessment support to be performed in order to balance the preservation of the main landscape features, and the local economic development. By referring to the case of the waterfront of Syracuse (Italy), this contribution introduces a semiotic-sociological pattern for accounting and assessment concerning the main topics of the Sustainable Development Plan currently in force. The assessment takes into account the connection of the multiple thematic layers grouping the different functional/symbolic land units that are characterised by a semantic link, within an assessment pattern working as a syntactic field, highlighting the interactions between them. The pattern involves the social relevance of the different criteria featuring this landscape unit by making the “facts of nature” and the “narrations of culture” worth together.