This volume introduces an innovative tool for the development of sustainable cities and the promotion of the quality of life of city inhabitants. It presents a decision-support system to orient public administrations in identifying development scenarios for sustainable urban and territorial transformations. The authors have split the volume into five parts, which respectively describe the theoretical basis of the book, the policies in question and indicators that influence them, the decision-support system that connects indicators to policies, the case study of Ancona, Italy, and potential future directions for this work. This volume is based on transdisciplinary research completed in May 2016 that involved about 40 researchers at The University of Camerino, Italy and other European universities. With purchase of this book, readers will also have access to Electronic Supplementary Material that contains a database with groups of indicators of assessment of urban quality of life and a toolkit containing the data processing system and management information system used in the book's case study.

This volume introduces an innovative tool for the development of sustainable cities and the promotion of the quality of life of city inhabitants. It presents a decision-support system to orient public administrations in identifying development scenarios for sustainable urban and territorial transformations. The authors have split the volume into five parts, which respectively describe the theoretical basis of the book, the policies in question and indicators that influence them, the decision-support system that connects indicators to policies, the case study of Ancona, Italy, and potential future directions for this work. This volume is based on transdisciplinary research completed in May 2016 that involved about 40 researchers at The University of Camerino, Italy and other European universities. With purchase of this book, readers will also have access to Electronic Supplementary Material that contains a database with groups of indicators of assessment of urban quality of life and a toolkit containing the data processing system and management information system used in the book's case study.

Today, more than 50% of the world's population lives in cities and is subject to particular environmental and economic impacts against the backdrop of an evolving planetary crisis. This book explores the intimate relationship between the quality of life of city dwellers and the quality of urban landscapes, including those regenerated through green spaces and environmental networks. Starting from the concept of "landscape" as defined by the European Landscape Convention (i.e. "an area, perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors"), it expands upon, in particular, the interactions between the different biotic and abiotic components that contribute to the quality of the landscape and the environment. In the first part of the book, the author examines fundamental concepts and discusses a variety of relevant topics, such as the city under transformation, waste spaces, smart communities, regeneration programs, the role of environmental networks, and new instruments for decision making. The second part is devoted to a case study of the Italian Adriatic city that highlights the need for interdisciplinary interaction among researchers in apparently disparate fields, including ecology, forest botany, chemistry, biology, geology, sociology, economics, architecture, and engineering.

This publication retraces the 4-year Sun Life project through thematic studies that describe the project's process divided in two stages. The first seeks the development of the framework of analysis regarding the conservation status of species and habitats; identified synergies and interferences of the various levels of governance with Natura 2000; and the state of the ecosystem services and green jobs. The second part describes the project outputs, including the new Financial Plan (PF) and the updating of the Priority Action Framework (PAF); the guidelines for farmers and foresters; the interventions for the development of green jobs and post Life projects; and a focus on the main project action corresponding to the definition of the Strategy for the management of the Natura 2000 Network in Umbria, as a governance tool for the protection and conservation of natural systems and Umbrian landscapes. The final part describes the monitoring, dissemination and communication phases of SUN LIFE.