Integrating ecological and hydrological issues into urban planning in the Adige river fluvial corridor, Italy

The approach used in this case study is based on environmental planning that can be defined as an analytical design process, by which the public subject intends to govern a specific geographical space selecting all the possible variables which constitute the eco-sphere and represent best the complexity of the environmental organism. As a matter of fact, the purpose of the environmental planning approach consists in improving the global quality of the environment through developing a better balance between anthropogenic impacts and natural resources. Thus, it is a step forward and an improvement in sector planning, considering economic, social, and ecohydrological (prevalence of the biological, chemical, ecological and physical variables) issues, landscape variables (prevalence of emotional and perceptive variables), and urban planning (prevalence of territorial organisation variables).