Education

October 2008

June 2012

Ph.D. in Urban Planning, Department DATA, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Dissertation defended on 1st June 2012. 

Dissertation Title: “Dealing with Betterment Value: Different Trends between Italy and England”.

September 2010 March 2011

Visiting Ph.D. Student at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Fields of Study: Betterment Value Recapture, Tax Increment Financing. 

September 2006 July 2008

2-year MSc in Urban Planning, Sapienza University of Rome,Italy. 

Fields of Study: Urban and Transport Planning; Urban Economics, Decision-making processes.

Thesis Title: Integration between Land Use and Transport Planning: Tyne and Wear Local Transport Plan 2001-2006 Case Study. 

September 2006 June 2007

MSc Erasmus Student at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Fields of Study: Sustainable Planning; Urban-Rural Planning; UK Regulatory Planning; Transport Planning.

April 2005

15-day Intensive Programme on Strategic and Spatial Planning, Harokopio University, Department of Geography, Athens, Greece. 

Fields of Study: StrategicPlanning;Post-OlympicImpacts;AssessmentofMega-eventimpacts. 

September 2003 July 2006

3-year BSc in Urban Planning and Environmental Assessment, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Study Fields: Urban Planning; Strategic Environmental Assessment; Planning Law.
Academic career and teaching activities

September 2022

Current

Associate Professor of Urban Planning.

Department DICAM, Università di Trento.

September 2019

August 2022

Assistant Professor of Urban Planning.

Department DICAM, Università di Trento.

May 2016 

June 2019

Full Time Post-Doctoral Researcher. 

Department OTB, Research for the Built Environment, TU Delft. The Netherlands.

Research: Advanced decision support for Smart Governance, JPI - Urban Europe.

Role: Work Package Daily Supervisor.

May 2014 

May 2016

Full Time Post-Doctoral Researcher. Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy. 

Main Research Project: Planning theories and approaches to public participation. 

February 2014 April 2014

Part-Time Research Assistant at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Research Title: Evaluating development trends of metropolitan areas in the context of the new EU2020 strategy and programming period Horizon 2020. 

September 2012 August 2013

Full-time Research Assistant at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. 

Research Title: New forms of urban regeneration and redevelopment through Community Planning and Urban Agriculture.

January 2013

July 2013

Full-time Marie Curie IRSES Visiting Research Scholar at San Diego State University, School of Public Affairs. San Diego, CA, USA.

Research on Community Planning in San Diego multi-ethnic environment and Urban Agriculture.

June 2012

January 2013

Part-time Research Fellow at University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Italy, within the European Union ESPON S.I.E.S.T.A. research project (Spatial Indicators for a European 2020 Strategy Territorial Analysis). Lead Partner: University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
July 2012 December 2012

Consultant for Falini Associates.

Analysis of the Structure Plans of five municipalities within the “Val d’Orcia” area, Tuscany, in the context of the Management Plan for the UNESCO site located in such municipalities.

October 2011 

April 2012

Full-time Marie Curie IRSES Visiting Research Scholar at Northeastern University of Boston, MA, USA.

Research on Community Planning and Economic Redevelopment.

February 2010 May 2010

Junior Consultant at ECCOM (European Centre for Cultural Organisation and Management). Rome, Italy.

 
Research interests

Winning Research Proposal

  • 2021-2022 Progetto Biodiversity Knowledge Agora: Developing the Science Service for European Research and Biodiversity Policymaking (BIO-Agora).

Call: Horizon Europe, Call HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-19. 

Total Budget: 12.826.656 €.  UniTrento-DICAM Budget: 619.395 €.

 

  • 2021-2022 Progetto Biodiversity value in spatial policy and planning leveraging multi-level and transformative change (BioValue).

Call: Horizon Europe, Call HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01

Total Budget: € 2.636.609; UniTrento-DICAM Budget: € 397.533

 

  • 2021 – 2022 Progetto Science for Evidence-based and sustainabLe decIsions about NAtural capital (SELINA)

Call: Call-Topic: HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-07

Total Budget: 12.999.523 €; UniTrento-DICAM Budget:: € 598.750

 

  • 2021-2022 Progetto Integration of Ecosystem Services methodologies within urban planning TDR and PDR practices for climate resilient cities. 

Call: Starting Grant, Università di Trento. 

Budget: 9.000 €. 
Research work

Winning Research Proposal

  • 2021-2022 Progetto Biodiversity Knowledge Agora: Developing the Science Service for European Research and Biodiversity Policymaking (BIO-Agora).

Call: Horizon Europe, Call HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-19. 

Total Budget: 12.826.656 €.  UniTrento-DICAM Budget: 619.395 €.

 

  • 2021-2022 Progetto Biodiversity value in spatial policy and planning leveraging multi-level and transformative change (BioValue).

Call: Horizon Europe, Call HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01

Total Budget: € 2.636.609; UniTrento-DICAM Budget: € 397.533

 

  • 2021 – 2022 Progetto Science for Evidence-based and sustainabLe decIsions about NAtural capital (SELINA)

Call: Call-Topic: HORIZON-CL6-2021-BIODIV-01-07

Total Budget: 12.999.523 €; UniTrento-DICAM Budget:: € 598.750

 

  • 2021-2022 Progetto Integration of Ecosystem Services methodologies within urban planning TDR and PDR practices for climate resilient cities. 

Call: Starting Grant, Università di Trento. 

Budget: 9.000 €. 
Memberships in societies and scientific committees
  • November 2011 – Current. Founding Editor - Online Open Access Italian Journal of Planning Practice. Indexed in ESCI Clarivate Analytics and SCOPUS Elsevier.
  • Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP and AESOP Young Academics).
  • Association of Planning Law and Property Rights (PLPR).
  • Società Italiana degli Urbanisti (SIU - Italian Association of Planners).
  • Ecosystem Service Partnership, ESP
Conferences and lectures
25-29 July 2022

Milan’s strongly marked-based TDR programme: risks, downsides and advantages of a unique experience within the Italian territory. 

AESOP Conference. Tartu, Estonia. 

 

5-8 July 2022

Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) to enhance the provision of ecosystem services. 16th Annual PLPR Conference 2022. Ghent, Belgium.

 

23-24 June 2022Mercato dei diritti e poteri del Mercato: caratteri e limiti del modello perequativo milanese. XXIV SIU National Conference- Dare valore ai valori in urbanistica.
05 April 2022

Invited speaker: L’evoluzione de Piano Urbanistico Provinciale Trentino. 

Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza. UniTrento.

28 March 2022

Invited speaker: Case Study Research Design. 

Seminar PhD Programme in Architecture, Design, Planning. Università di Camerino.

09 March 2022

Invited speaker: Participatory planning and the role of digital platforms.

CNR. Lab of Applied Ontology. Trento.

15/16 September 2021

Urbanpromo Green. Valori e valutazioni per la transizione ecologica.

Venezia, IUAV.

7-10 June 2021

TDR and ecosystem services. A literature review. 

ESP Europe. Ecosystem Service Partnership. Tartu, Estonia. 

17-21 February 2020Planning Law and Property Rights Conference, Usti nad Labem. Czech Republic
17-19 June 2019Invited Speaker: Co-production through Digital Participatory Platforms. Conference of the International Society of Participatory Mapping. Espoo, Finland.
9 December 2018Invited Speaker: Co-production through Digital Participatory Platforms in Smart City Urban Regeneration Initiatives. First Smart and Sustainable Development Convention, The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus.
30 May – 1 June 201819th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research – dg.o 2018. Delft, The Netherlands. 
Presentation: Challenges to Social Media Adoption by Government. 

03-04 April 

2018

3rd International Conference on Urban E-Planning. IJEPR 2018 Conference, Lisbon, Portugal.

Presentation: DPP-based coproduction between governments and citizens.

12 – 14 June 2017

XX SIU National Conference, Rome, Italy. 

Presentation: Ambiente costiero, consumo di suolo e il fallimento della Legge Galasso.

20 – 22 April 2017

2ndInternational Conference on Urban e-Planning. IJEPR 2017 Conference. Lisbon, Portugal.

Presentation: Government challenges and requirements for adoption of social media for co-production with citizens. A critical review.

29 March

2 April 2016

Associations of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Presentation: Theories and Approaches to support use of ICTs in Public Participation Processes. 

16-19 February 2016

Association of Planning Law and Property Rights (PLPR). Bern, Switzerland. 

Presentation: Coastal Planning Regulations. 

10-14 November 2015

Invited speaker Presentation: Italian Coastal Planning and Maritime Domain. Where do the regulations fail? Mare Nostrum Project Academic Symposium. Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.

 

23-26 March 2015

IX AESOP Young Academics Conference, 2015. Palermo, Italy.

Presentation: Community and Plural Planning: the Open Source Way to the Top of Arnstein’s ladder. 

25-27 February 2015

Association of Planning Law and Property Rights (PLPR), Volos, Greece.

Presentation: The Time Factor in Italian Planning. 

1-4 October 2013

49th ISOCARP Congress, Brisbane, Australia. 

Presentation: Urban Agriculture as a Socially Inclusive and Sustainable Post-Growth Urban Regeneration Strategy.

22-25 September 2013

Foodscapes Conference, Graz, Austria.

Presentation: Farmers’ Markets and Urban Agriculture. New Solutions to Ensure Increased Access to Quality Food in the USA.

5-7 September 2013

IV Eugeo Congress, Rome, Italy. Europe, what's next? Changing Geographies and geographies of change.

Presentation: The territorial dimensions of Europe 2020 Strategy: reflections on Italy's performance.

11 June 2013

Second CLUDs International Workshop, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA. 

Presentation: Market Street Food Collaborative Case Study. 

9-13 April 2013

Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, USA.

Presentation: Place-based Neighborhood Revitalization Strategies: Boston case studies. 

26 February 2013

2nd International Seminar - Europe 2020 Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Regions, University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria, Italy.

Presentation: Key Findings and Policy Recommendations from the ESPON SIESTA Project.

25-26 June 2012

2ndworkshop with stakeholders - Europe 2020 Strategy: Meanings, Values, and Opportunities for the Romanian Regions, Bucharest, Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism.

Presentation: EU Countries performance within the Second Pillar “Sustainable Growth” of the EU 2020 Strategy.

11-15 June 2012

First CLUDs International Workshop. Commercial Local Urban Districts Programme. Reggio Calabria, 11 - 15 June. 

Presentation: Dudley Street Neighbourhood Initiative Case Study. 

16-18 February 2011

5th AESOP Young Academics Meeting 2011 – Diversity in Urbanism – Learning across cultures and disciplines. Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.

Presentation: Dealing with Betterment Value: Different trends between England and Italy.

10-12 February 2010Association Planning, Law and Property Rights (PLPR). Dortmund, Germany. Presentation:  Implications of Development Rights Granting Procedures.