Regenerating Historical, Landscape, and Environmental Heritage Through the Municipal Territorial Plan in Lombardy

Heritage-induced urban and landscape regenerations are imperative in highly urbanised territories. Integrated spatio-temporal historical knowledge needs to directly inform the legal documentation of municipal planning. Nevertheless, the methodological and application gap exists, separating academic heritage research from operational governmental practices. This paper demonstrates a GIS-based methodology used to develop a variant of the Territorial Plan (PGT) for Desio, a medium-sized municipality in Lombardy. The collaboration between university research teams and municipal planning offices resulted in the structured implementation of historical cadastral data and geospatial information, spanning from the 18th century until the present, to trigger a synchronic reading of landscape and urban evolution. The outcome was a design of the Municipal Ecological Network (REC), in the form of two multifunctional green belts. Their role is to reconnect the dispersed farmsteads and religious buildings, fragmented historical woodlands, and rural road networks through contextualised actions within the official planning documentation. The ecosystem enhancement targets 1,538,000 m2 of currently undeveloped free areas, improving carbon storage, water regulation, and socio-cultural services. The urban regeneration relies on reconnecting these areas with available resources supported by the historical and cultural values of the local territory. The scalability and replicability of the approach are reflected in the applied case study, where historically informed GIS spatial databases can be intersected with regulatory planning frameworks on various governmental levels, aligning regeneration actions with EU policies and objectives.