Territorial Collaboration for the Land Take Reduction and Land Use Optimisation. The Case of the Territorial Coordination Plan of the Province of Lodi (Italy)

Protection of soil is crucial to achieve climate neutrality and to contain degradation processes that lead to a reduction in resilience to physical, chemical and biological agents, thus resulting in increased vulnerability to risks related to climate change. The article is aimed at illustrating the land take reduction model defined during the scientific support provided by the ENVI-Reg research group to the elaboration of the Territorial Coordination Plan of the Province of Lodi (PTCP), in Italy. Introducing land consumption equalisation tools on a provincial scale is a potentially highly relevant innovative option for an effective containment of urbanisation dynamics and for a sustainable territorial development. The paper will also illustrate the criteria at the basis of the equalisation model proposed, as well as the methods adopted to identify and evaluate the areas that can be consumed, with reference, for example, to location factors, the degree of accessibility through the motorway and railway mobility system, the ecosystem quality of the land, the proximity to areas/environments of high environmental protection and compatibility with the overall ecological-environmental and landscape system.