Regulation and Water Management in the Milan Urban Region. The Seveso Creek Basin

Drawing on different theoretical perspectives and disciplinary approaches, this chapter considers the issue of water management in high-density urban regions and the role of planning regulations in promoting more sustainable city-water relationships. The authors investigate the effectiveness of such regulations in complex territories and their significance for a variety of actors (policy-makers, hydraulic engineers, urban planners, local citizens, environmental grassroots movements, etc.) through a collection of empirical materials, including in-depth interviews. The chapter traces the application in the Seveso Creek Basin of the regulatory instrument n. 7/2017 on hydraulic and hydrologic invariance, recently issued by the regional government of Lombardy (Italy). The analyses highlight the obstacles that this set of rules has to face in a highly contentious case, characterised by high levels of pollution, soil sealing, institutional segmentation and localised contestation. By recognising the complexity of the Seveso Creek Basin, the chapter shows how this regulatory instrument is being used proactively by important planning actors and institutions of the Milan urban region, to preserve its potential to bring about positive outcomes in the future, when it may consolidate as part of the existing assemblage of water, rules, infrastructures, policies, institutions, experts, and citizens of the Seveso Creek Basin.