Towards an Integrated Assessment of the Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Policy-Making for Urban Ecosystems: Lessons from the Spatial and Economic Planning for Landscape and Cultural Heritage in Tuscany and Apulia (IT)

Scientific literature points out the need for the heritage conservation disciplines to influence the research on the Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) in urban ecosystems. However, there are still some unclear points in this linkage that our study investigates through a comparative analysis of the integrated planning tools for the landscape and cultural heritage produced by Tuscany and Apulia, the most advanced Italian regions in this field. The paper encourages a debate on the techniques and indicators related to the cultural capital that the policy makers and researchers should consider when implementing the CES assessment for the urban ecosystem planning.