Environmental Planning Research: Ethical Perspectives in Institutional and Value-Driven Approaches

Dialogue between the principles and practice of spatial planning and environmental planning has always been difficult, even conflicting. Or, indeed, non-existent. The research I am presenting here focuses on Italy, where domestic legislation has always treated the two subjects as being distinct and has persisted in its determination to keep laws governing the territory separate from those designed to protect the environment. The few attempts, starting in the mid-1980s, to bring the two subjects together under common rules do not seem likely to be further examined and developed and thus become established practice. However, while they may appear to be distinct disciplines, it seems contradictory to persist with this separation, since problems concerning the environment will necessarily have real consequences on the territory. As the situation not just of Italy but of the entire planet amply demonstrates.The aim of the investigation is to gather data to use as possible indicators to manage protected areas properly, not just from the policy but also from the ethical point of view. It uses questionnaires that were designed after clearly identifying the “principles” and which analyse how the various managing agencies relate to local communities and identities. The analyses were guided by the considerations made in constructing a method that might also provide an answer to the ethical dilemmas through a value-driven research practice. At the same time, I wanted to verify whether prescriptive rules might have repercussions, in the research and in practice, on the actual management of protected areas in Sicily