From quantitative to qualitative services: How to promote integrated planning for the revision of the Service Plan of Mantua, Municipality in Italy

Traditionally, Italian municipalities assessed public services through metric measurements regulated by decrees establishing urban planning standards, since 1968. However, in the 21st century, a paradigm shift occurred, moving from a quantitative to a qualitative approach in planning, focusing on service quality, citizen well-being, and urban sustainability. This change was formalized by regional laws that introduced plans like Service Plans and promoted experiments for more sustainable and resilient cities. During the pandemic it was highlighted the need to reassess the urban complexity of cities to better meet community needs. In this context, "proximity" emerged as a key strategy to create dynamic cities with diversified functions and services accessible to all. This shift in urban planning calls for municipalities to revise their planning tools using a holistic, multidisciplinary approach, ensuring more responsive cities to evolve into social and environmental challenges. In this regard, the Municipality of Mantua initiated a revision process with our operational contribution for the PGT, its urban planning tool, experimenting with three iterative intervention methods: 1. Re-reading the availability of proximity services and facilities in Mantua through critical analysis and the creation of multi-characteristic sheets to map their distribution across the territory, which is currently fragmented. 2. Re-defining the traditional subdivision of the territory into administrative units, transforming them into "urban proximity systems", autonomous and heterogeneous units with distinct identities and public services. 3. Re-thinking an urban strategy that organizes the territory along two main spines: one urban, fostering interactions between functions and services, and one natural, integrating the landscape through green connections. This experimental initiative demonstrates how an integrated planning approach can foster a polycentric urban vision, enhancing quality of life and the environment in line with sustainability and resilience principles.