The value of water: An opportunity for the eco-social regeneration of mediterranean metropolitan areas

Abstract

The quantitative limitation policies, adopted for environmental, ecological and socio-economic aims, in the Mediterranean metropolitan areas, do not seem to have had the desired effect. In fact, the coercive restraining approach of the metropolitan public Authorities which have tried to impose ecological and cultural objectives collide with the expectations and concrete needs of the citizen. In this way, there is among the stakeholders the distorted perception for which the public and the private interests seem naturally contrasting elements such that the protection of one must necessarily result in the mortification of the other. On the contrary, the Mediterranean Water Sensitive Urban Planning research Project has assessed the hypothesis that the key to the effectiveness of the strategies aimed at ecology, safety and environment, both because of the evident multiscalarity and the potential multi-functionality of the issues and solutions, is in the ability to make the necessary actions consistent with the legitimate aspirations of the various stakeholders, especially when the low available financial resources impose stringent limits on public spending.