Ecosystem Health Assessment in urban contexts: a proposal for the Metropolitan Area of Naples (Italy)

Abstract

The concept of urban resilience describes the capacity of a system to recover its functionality after a disturbance. Considering that every city is unique, the aim of the paper is to apply the concept of ecosystem health to the Metropolitan Area of Naples (Italy), classifying the territory according to its urban health. Three different perspectives have been considered: “vigour”, “organisation” and “resilience” and according to this framework, a system of indicators has been developed, identifying their territorial distribution. The application provides a subdivision of the Metropolitan Area in different zones with various degrees of resistance to risks and vulnerabilities. The evaluation has been carried out integrating Geographic Information System and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis.