G.I.S. to support environmental sustainability in manufacturing areas. Case study of the Apulian Region in Southern Italy

This work addresses the potential of using Geographic Information Systems (G.I.S.) to support urban planning. In the case in point, the tool has been adopted to carry out a census of all the manufacturing plants in the Apulian Region, in the context of a working agreement between the Apulian Regional Board and the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of Bari Polytechnic. After analysing the need to identify territorial governance systems that can support sustainable management of industrial areas, the work illustrates the data collection methods, how the dedicated Geodatabase structure was set up, what data were collected and some analyses that could then be made. In conclusion, the potential of using G.I.S for urban planning in manufacturing areas is discussed, as well as some critical elements. Among these, the need for continual data updating to fully exploit this potential is underlined.