The Valorisation of Cultural Ecosystem Services in Marginal Territories. The Case Study of Villacidro in Sardinia

The availability of public services and collective facilities is a necessary condition for ensuring a high quality of life in urban contexts. This requirement lines up to safeguard and improve ecosystem functions, particularly Ecosystem Services (ES), referring to the intangible benefits that ecosystems offer to individuals. In the scientific debate, the idea that the ecosystem approach can contribute to enhancing and innovating the ordinary ways of planning the provision of urban standards, traditionally based on a rigid categorization of essential services and the determination of a minimum per-capita quantity of areas allocated to them, is gradually gaining attention. Within this framework, the contribution focuses on the case study of the Municipality of Villacidro in Sardinia and how Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) can be integrated into the planning processes of marginal contexts through the active involvement of the settled community, as part of the drafting of the new municipal urban plan.