The role of Light Rail Systems in the urban regionalisation processes and in defining the bioregional vision of the Pontine Plain in Italy

For Peer Review OnlyThe role of Light Rail Systems in urban regionalisation processes and the bioregional vision. The case study of the Pontine Bioregion Light rail systems (LRSs) can play a key role in the land transformation processes defined as urban regionalisation or new regionalism in the European Union and North America. The concepts of urban regionalisation or new regionalism, identify new sprawled settlements generally composed of residential or micro- productive settlements which can lead to significant ecological fragmentation, loss of biodiversity, and at the same time overturn the Christallerian hierarchies without translating into a generalised indifference to location. These urban development processes require a new appropriate spatial analytical and planning framework. This paper argues that the bioregional units can provide this framework. In Italy, the bioregional approach has been recently integrated into urban and regional planning with the bioregion as the main living environment for people, and mobility as an essential driver of people’s lifestyle choices. To explore and understand the role of LRSs in the sustainability of the bioregions and the well-being of its residents, the paper applies the Bioregional framework to the case study of the Pontine Bioregion. After reviewing the literature on the bioregional theory, the paper illustrates the key characteristics of the Pontine Bioregion including both the internal relationships among its urban centres and with the city of Rome as a metropolitan hub. Building on these analyses, the paper describes and discusses the proposal of a new railway network system in which the LRSs play multiple strategic roles and can provide benefits not only for efficient mobility but also for urban regeneration and environmental sustainability of the entire bioregional territory