Pianificazione territoriale e difesa del suolo. Quarant’anni dopo la relazione “De Marchi” | Maurizio Tira and Michele Zazzi eds.

Abstract

The book, published by the National Council of Engineers, the National Center for Urban Studies, “Gruppo 183” and the Italian Hydrotechnical Association, collects the experiences gained following the publication of the forward-looking Interministerial committee for the study of watercourse management and soil defence led by Giulio De Marchi in 1970.
Starting from the results of the committee that inspired the National Law 183/89 (about Land defence and Basin Plans) and that are still relevant even after the entry into force of the recent European legislation (Directive 2000/60/EC concerning water policy and Directive 2007/60/EC concerning flood risks), an analysis of the Italian period 1970-2010 in relation to spatial planning applied to the Land defence is proposed.
The present difficult situation is characterised by an increasing disaffection towards spatial planning on the national scene, and at the same time with plenty of plnas often not commensurate with the actual needs of the population and careless to soil defence. The latter crushed between spatial planning and civil protection.
Despite major media events (including the flood in Florence in 1966 that led to the establishment of the “De Marchi” commission) are the reason that lights up the scientific debate regarding hydrogeological risk, the contributions inside the volume highlight mainly the importance and complexity of the management of the “water resources”, connected to the “soil resources”, governed by a number of different bodies.
After an assessment on the soil management in Italy in the past forty years (1970-2010), several Basin Authorities’ representatives brief the path from the institution (1989) to the present day. The analysis dedicates a focus on regional planning in areas at landslide risk as well as other inherent aspects such as legal problems, related to administrative responsibilities between agencies and software for modelling and monitoring soil changes.
The book ends with a collection of presentations discussed at a round table during the national conference held in Rome on December 2nd and 3rd, 2010. They focus on the role of planning and of the engineers in the field of prevention of hazardous events. The debate shows a critical analysis about the role of institutions, the effects of policy decisions and investment priorities that the Government took in the last forty years. 

The book as well as the conference, aim to refresh the very important experience of the “De Marchi” commission’s report (a digital copy of the whole report has been prepared and is attached to the book), especially for young generations that hardly knew about that.
As the history is seldom “magistra vitae”, most of the forecast of the powerful report have found an echo in the following administrations, at all levels, so leaving the Country in the same difficult situation as it used to be already forty years ago.

Anna Richiedei, Riccardo Bonotti