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4 - Profiles of Selected International Activities on Brownfield
Redevelopment
5.
Italy
Scope of the Brownfield Problem
Regional governments in Italy are still developing
local inventories of contaminated or potentially contaminated
sites. Brownfields are concentrated in the northern industrial
regions of the country, including Lombardia, Piemonte and
Veneto. Properties include old industrial plants such as oil
plants, chemical plants, steel and iron works and mining sites.
Policy Approaches
Italy has no specific legislative or regulatory
framework for addressing brownfield redevelopment, other than
the legislation and funds generally relevant to contaminated
site rehabilitation.
In 1998, national legislation was established
to provide public funds for a number of selected sites defined
as "sites of national interest." These are defined
as contaminated sites with special features (e.g. location,
heavy environmental contamination, economic and social stresses,
urgency of redevelopment) that locally might justify a "brownfield"
label. The original list has been expanded by a recent (2001)
decree, and there are currently about 40 sites of national
interest. The initial public budget for rehabilitation of
these sites is over 500 million euro for the next three years.
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Progress
Many initiatives are driven by municipal governments
in the northern region, hard hit by economic downturns in recent
decades. These activities typically involve the private sector,
community groups and public authorities. Some projects are co-financed
by the European Commission, including:
- "urban pilot projects" (municipalities
of Genoa and Venice), financing specific programs for renewal
of historical or traditional urban areas
- "municipia" (municipalities of Terni
and Trento), a network of towns managing the urban environment.
The municipality of Milan has been particularly active
in brownfield redevelopment, constructing 4,300 housing units, four
urban parks and commercial services on former brownfield sites.
About 700,000 euro has been invested, mainly by private companies.
Future Challenges
Challenges to brownfield redevelopment in Italy include:
- the absence of specific redevelopment programs
- insufficient technical, legal, liability and administrative
references
- limited participation by the public
- lack of incentives for investors
- developers' preference for greenfield sites
- overcoming the stigmas associated with brownfields.
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