City, development and energy: the sustainability indexes
Water, air, energy, waste, territory, transportation: these are the indicators to measure the sustainability of a city and its development models. The local public administrations are supported in performing this analysis by the University of Trento, through the project “DSUE - Database of Sustainable Urban Energy”, in cooperation with the Iranian company MERC-BLP (Middle East Regional Center of the Best Practices and Local Leadership Programme)
DSUE was started in 2013, in cooperation with the United Nations (UN Habitat) and aims at implementing an easily applicable tool to evaluate the sustainability of a city and define the measures to improve the conditions of the urban territory. The creation and development of a tailored website will facilitate the gathering of information regarding the situation of cities in the Middle East, as far as the various environmental issues impacting on environmental parameters.
“The project will initially analyze the cities of the Middle East”, explained Maurizio Fauri, professor at the Department of Civil, environmental and mechanic engineering of the University of Trento. “However, the proposed method and the analysis of urban sustainability can be applied to all cities, in all parts of the world”, he added. “The same is true for all works to improve the environment, drafting technical projects and the actual implementation of works. Trento could participate in the project. Its urban sustainability model could be a good comparative example for all other cities”.
More in detail, Fauri specifies that: “We are preparing an online questionnaire to gather the necessary data, both regarding general information on the city - such as the number of inhabitants and the surface - and on more specific and technical information on the chosen indicators. We will gather, for example, data regarding the mean values of pm10, the quantity of energy produced by renewable sources, differentiated waste collection, the surface and enlargement of green areas and much more. The replies to these questions will then be elaborated and compared against determined benchmark values.
The Iranian delegation will visit Trento to better outline the DSUE project and consolidate the relationships with the various institutions involved in the sector of environmental sustainability.
The programme will start on 9 July, with the presentation of the DSUE project, at the Department of Civil, environmental and mechanic engineering (DICAM). At 12.30 pm they will meet at Palazzo Stella, in Trento, with Confidustria (the local unit of the representatives of the industrial sector). Then, they will visit the photovoltaic plant of Metalsistem in Rovereto and the hydroelectric plant in Santa Massenza.
The delegation will meet the counsellor for environment of the municipality of Trento, Michelangelo Marchesi, and the Vice-Rector for Research of the University of Trento, Alessandro Quattrone. On 10 July they will meet the counsellor of infrastructures and environment of the Autonomous Province of Trento, Mauro Gilmozzi.