Evaluating Sustainability and Democracy in the Development of Industrial Port Cities Some Italian Cases.docVIP

Sustainability 2012, 4, 3042-3065; doi:10.3390/su4113042 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 /journal/sustainability Article Evaluating Sustainability and Democracy in the Development of Industrial Port Cities: Some Italian Cases Raffaele Attardi 1, Alessandro Bonifazi 2 and Carmelo M. Torre 2,* 1 University “Federico II” of Naples, Department of Conservation of Architectural and Environmental Heritage, Via Roma 402, Naples, Italy; E-Mail: raffaele_attardi@libero.it 2 Polytechnic of Bari, Via Orabona 4, Bari, Italy; E-Mail: a.bonifazi@poliba.it * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: torre@poliba.it; Tel.: +39-328-436-70 56; Fax: +39-080-593-38-23. Received: 12 September 2012; in revised form: 1 November 2012 / Accepted: 5 November 2012 / Published: 12 November 2012 Abstract: Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is a major policy evaluation tool, for institutional processes, when they need to cope with fundamental risks, give voice to non-human agents, manage commons, and address environmental justice. The interplay of SEA with planning, unravels key issues and criticalities in both urban governance and environmental democracy. How can evaluation be developed to support the process? Structured evaluation methods applied in environmental assessment are maybe not sufficient to solve complex social conflicts. We point out some key reflections with the aim of opening up the discussion, by taking the case study of the environmental assessment of pollutant activities in the main industrial port cities of Southern Italy. They represent, at the moment, the most significant social criticality in our country, related to the interplay between environmental assessment and risk for labor. The paper focuses on the case study by mentioning the evolution of some thoughts about the red stripe that links sustainability, environmental democracy, and social evaluation, and illustrates