Soft Mobility Network for the Enhancement and Discovery of the Rural Landscape: Definition of a Masterplan for Alto Ferrarese (Italy)

Giulio Senes, Chiara Parretta (), Natalia Fumagalli, Patrizia Tassinari and Daniele Torreggiani
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Giulio Senes: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan, 20133 Milano, Italy
Chiara Parretta: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan, 20133 Milano, Italy
Natalia Fumagalli: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Milan, 20133 Milano, Italy
Patrizia Tassinari: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Daniele Torreggiani: Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-24

Abstract: The rural landscape can provide a wide range of cultural ecosystem services to humans through direct and in situ interactions. The benefits provided depend on the quality of the landscape, but also on the real possibility for people to access and enjoy it. One of the best ways is to do it in a “slow” way, namely active and non-motorized, through a soft mobility network. The goals of the study are: (i) to develop a methodology to plan a soft mobility network that enhances existing infrastructures and maximizes the cultural ecosystem services provided by rural landscapes; (ii) to validate the methodology in the Alto Ferrarese territory through defining a soft mobility masterplan at the supra-municipal scale. The method is made up of three phases: analysis, with the inventory of the resources to be connected and the paths that could potentially be used; assessment, with the evaluation of the suitability of the paths to realize the soft mobility network; and planning, with the definition of the masterplan for the study area. The application resulted in a proposed network of 525.2 km, hierarchized in a primary and a secondary network, and proved that the methodology is effective to maximize the use of existing paths (81% of the proposed network), and to connect the elements of interest (98.5% of the resources are within a distance of 500 m, and 86.4% within a distance of 100 m).

Keywords: soft mobility network; planning; rural tourism and recreation; rural landscape; cultural ecosystem services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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