Towards a risk informed planning process: the main outcomes of the Armonia Project

The European Project “Applied multi Risk Mapping of Natural Hazards for Impact Assessment” was aimed at proposing hamonized methodologies to produce integrated risk maps informing more effectively the spatial planning process in areas prone to natural hazards. On the ground of the work carried out in the Project and of the many questions it has risen, the paper draws out the methodological and operative conclusions that have been achieved, focusing on the following issues: -the challenge to “harmonize” different disciplinary fields and competencies; -the wide spectrum of planning systems in Europe and the different perspectives making difficult to choose the “valuable” information for a well informed planning process in risky areas. From the discussion of the latter questions, the paper will move on describing the methodological framework that the Project has embedded into a decision support system for planners. The latter is designed to link the knowledge-base in terms of hazard, vulnerabilities and risks, with land use planning choices at different scales. The methodology behind the DSS to guide planners in this complex endeavour constitutes a significative innovation with respect to the current European state of art. In order to verify its applicability, a test was carried out in the area of the Arno riverbasin and its results will be shown in the paper. Finally, the inevitable limitations of the project will be discussed opening the floor for future research needs.