"Sustainable Project towards Green Architectures and Cities”

Out of the many pressing questions that demand an answer from every individual and citizen who cares about the culture of Dwelling and the conservation of the environment in which we live and of which we are an integral part, four questions particularly demand an answer. Why we should we change the way we Build and Dwell in our built environment – particularly cities – in a sustainable and ‘green’ direction? Why should we proactively and tangibly promote a commonly agreed methodological approach and scientifically founded strategies to achieve that aim? Why do we need to study the trials and best practices that have been implemented over the past four decades at least (though this activity has intensified in recent years, the world over)? Why should we all contribute to speeding up these ‘green’ processes in the hope of securing a future for our cities? The reasons are to be found in some telling and, in a sense, grim statistics. Over four billion people – out of the seven billion alive today – live in the world’s large urban centres, generating 80% of GDP but consuming 75% of the Earth’s natural resources, responsible for over 70% of CO2 emissions, produc-ing 50% of the waste, using aqueducts that lose, on average, approximately 40% of their water, living in housing 70% of which is over 40 years of age, consuming over half of the world’s primary energy, experiencing the worst traffic and continuing to consume land. The world’s top 600 cities are already home to 20% of the population, generating over 50% of the planet’s wealth (a percentage that is growing) but living in conditions that are far from what we would term social well-being and of environmental quality. In Italy, 32 urban areas have illegal levels of air pollution because they exceed maximum levels of particulates; and our country is, moreover, the one with the highest number of deaths from pollution, relative to the population, in Europe