Accidental events, such as impact loading and explosions, are rare events with a very low probability of occurrence, but their effects often lead to very high human losses and economical consequences. Vulnerability of structures to the effects of local damages and its mitigation are issues widely discussed inside the scientific community. The structural property associated with such a vulnerability is named robustness. Depending on the type of the structural system and on the importance of consequences, specific design strategies can be adopted in order to ensure a robust structural response. Among them, the system redundancy, the joints and members ductility and the alternate load paths are the ones commonly adopted in case of multi-storey framed buildings. The present work focuses on the study of the behaviour of steel-concrete composite structures subjected to a column loss, and proposes a global overview to quantify the robustness of such systems subjected to this hazard scenario. The description of validated finite element models and of a new analytical tool to predict the response of flat concrete slabs subjected to large displacement are reported in this dissertation. Furthermore, important design hints for composite buildings are proposed. The starting point of the research is an experimental campaign conducted at the University of Trento. Two tests on 3D full-scale one storey composite steel-concrete frames, extracted from five storeys frames designed in accordance to the Eurocodes, were performed simulating the central column removal. The role of the beam-to-column connections and of the concrete slab for the force redistribution was investigated. The experimental data have been then taken as reference for the calibration of finite element models that allowed to conduct further numerical analyses on different structural configurations and design scenarios. In particular, it was studied the influence of the location of the removed column on the structural behaviour. The collapse of central, lateral and corner columns were investigated in order to understand the load transfer mechanism, the requirement of joint ductility and the influence of the concrete slab on the development of alternate load paths. Both experimental and numerical results showed that the concrete slab plays a key role on the load transfer mechanism within the structure: it can hence contribute significantly to the robustness of the system preventing progressive collapse. The knowledge of the response of reinforced concrete slabs subjected to large displacements, as in the case of a column loss, allows quantifying the contribution to the resistance of the building to collapse associated with activation of membrane forces. Regarding this aspect, a new analytical simplified method, based on the principle of virtual works, was developed to predict the load-deflection response of simply supported reinforced concrete slabs with planar edge restraints subjected to large displacement. In conclusion, the present work provides a significant contribution to the knowledge of composite steel-concrete structures subjected to extreme loading conditions and open the way to extend results to different structural configurations and loading scenarious.

Notches, wedges, cracks, sti?eners, inclusions and defects in plane elastostatics are known to generate singular stresses and limit the overall strength of a composite material. In the present thesis, after showing experimentally that the singular stress ?eld predicted by the linear elastic solution for the rigid inclusion model can be generated in reality and with great accuracy within a material, attention is devoted then in achieving the out-of-plane response of an in?nite plane containing polygonal and hypocycloidal-shaped voids and rigid inclusions subject to generalized remote loading conditions. The analytical solution obtained for the case of polygonal inclusions shows some unexpected and interesting features such as an in?nite set of geometries and loading conditions exist for which not only the singularity is absent, but the stress vanishes (annihilates) at the corners. Thus the material, which even without the inclusion corners would have a ?nite stress, remains unstressed at these points in spite of the applied remote load. Moreover, similar conditions are determined in which a star-shaped crack or sti?ener leaves the ambient stress completely unperturbed, thus reaching a condition of ‘quasi-static invisibility’. The solution in closed-form is also obtained for the case of hypocycloidalshaped voids and rigid inclusions, showing that cusps may in certain conditions act as stress reducers, situations for which the stress at the cusp tip in the presence of the inclusion is smaller than in the case when the inclusion is absent. Ph.D. Thesis – Summer Shahzad vThe obtained solutions provide closed-form expressions for Stress Intensity Factors and Notch Stress Intensity Factors at varying the inclusion geometry and of loading conditions, fundamental quantities in de?ning criteria of fracture initiation/propagation or inclusion detachment. The ?ndings of stress annihilation, stress reduction and inclusion invisibility de?ne optimal loading modes for the overall strength of a composite and are useful in the design of ultra-resistant materials.

“[…]Landscape” means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors; […]Acknowledging that the landscape is an important part of the quality of life for people everywhere: in urban areas and in the countryside, in degraded areas as well as in areas of high quality, in areas recognised as being of outstanding beauty as well as everyday areas[…]”. The starting point of this research is the innovative definition of landscape, given by the “European Landscape Convention”, that draws the attention to the need of: - examining the territory as a spatial and temporal continuity; - considering the territory transformations as a value; - giving equal dignity to ruined territory, refusing the idea that only beautiful landscape deserve to be protected. Among the several and diverse European studies on infrastructure and landscape relation, the research focuses on marginal areas created by the infrastructure for mobility (road and highway) in the landscape. These areas are lacking a clearly defined function, they are not anymore part of the landscape, but they have not become part of the infrastructure. These areas are defined as infrastructural refuses. The attention is shifted from the design of the road and from the aesthetic of mobility to the new spaces created by the infrastructure in the landscape. Moreover, the research tries to analyze the infrastructural refuses only ex-post, when these spaces have already been created by the construction and use of a road, or theoretically created in-fieri by an infrastructure project that has overlooked these areas, forgetting to design them, or simply not taking into account their existence. The first part of the research is devoted to define the identity of the infrastructural refuse through the critical analysis of the main theories of the protagonists of the international debate supported by the identification of literature related to the topic. The infrastructural refuse is then described through analytical tools (morphology and perception) that show the effects of infrastructural transformation focussing mainly on mobility infrastructure transformation in Trentino Alto-Adige. The case study analyzed is the trunk road 12 on the stretch called Tangenziale di Trento, and more specifically the transformation caused by the junctions close to urban areas. The Tangenziale is a great artery of traffic that often cuts through the surrounding areas leading to real marginal areas. The research then proceeds to the definition of refuse as a value and tries to highlight its potential for transformation mainly by analyzing the strategy of recycling. Different types of re-use of infrastructural refuses are described: the artistic-temporary use, the daily spontaneous use by the population, and finally the illegal use. The research analyzes the mobility infrastructural refuses: outlining possible transformations, design, re-inventions; illustrating the unexpressed features of the places; re-drawing with different connotation signs that have lost their original meaning; eventually reaching the “operatività dello scarto”. Negative actions like abandon, refuse, waste can become occasions to re-shape and re-think the landscape. The results of the research show the possibility to re-think the infrastructural refuse spaces as a reserves of soil, suggest alternatives to the mentality of the compensation and mitigation, calling for the evolution of the protocols of mobility infrastructure design.

The fate of reactive solutes in groundwater is largely determined by mixing, since dilution and reactions are controlled by mixing rates. By mixing we refer to the overlap of solute bodies with a different composition, which makes possible the encounter between reacting molecules. Therefore the quantification of mixing has an important role in contamination and risk assessment and remediation technology, when they rely on processes of natural attenuation, biodegradation or chemical delivery. As porous formations are ubiquitously heterogeneous, and heterogeneity features, besides being deterministically unknown, belong to a hierarchy of scales, the description of transport processes has to deal with two main issues: epistemic uncertainty and reference scale. While the heterogeneous nature of porous media interferes with physical and chemical processes (which are inherently related to the quantification of mixing and mixing-controlled processes), the choice of the reference scale is related to the means of modeling the phenomena. In order to have an accurate representation of mixing at the continuum scale, we develop a few numerical tools, all belonging to the Lagrangian framework, and compare them with classic Eulerian and Eulerian-Lagrangian schemes. Typical transport scenarios are characterized by highly fingered plumes and sharp fringes, and pose several numerical problems (e.g. artificial diffusion and spurious oscillations). In particular, artificial diffusion can in some cases overcome the actual local dispersion, thereby possibly determining gross overestimations of reaction rates. Our numerical tests provide a set of guidelines for a conscious choice of the numerical scheme according to the objectives of the investigation and to the heterogeneity level, highlighting the drawbacks of the numerical schemes on both the evaluation of dilution and of the overall effect of reactions. Under the assumption of complete mixing at the Darcy scale, we model both instantaneous and kinetically-controlled reactive transport on synthetic bi-dimensional hydraulic conductivity fields in order to investigate the complex interplay among velocity non-uniformities, local dispersion and reaction rates at increasing levels of physical heterogeneity. We also compare the effects of different local dispersion models and injection modes (uniform vs non-uniform), still analyzing the results on a single-realization basis. Realizations share the same log-conductivity structure but are characterized by variances ranging from low (0.2) to high (10). Resorting to single-realization analysis is uncommon in the literature, unless when ergodicity conditions are fulfilled. On the other hand, ensemble analysis is insensitive to local features and does not often offer a reliable representation of actual field phenomena, especially in non-ergodic conditions. Hence single-realization scenarios can be used for understanding the key processes and their interaction, or for grasping aggregated information on the whole solute body behavior. Under simplified conditions, that is, limiting the investigation to low heterogeneity fields, these numerical results are compared to simplified Lagrangian semianalytical relations aiming at reproducing plume-averaged quantities. This Lagrangian theory provides relevant information relying on a limited amount of information, i.e. low-order geostatistical properties of the formation, aquifer's geometry, reactive parameters and problem forcings (e.g. initial and boundary conditions for the flow field and the concentration of the involved species). The match between empirical and theoretical global moments is very good in all tested conditions (two different Peclet numbers, a few heterogeneity levels up to log-transmissivity variance equal to 2 and three different source sizes), and also Beta Cumulative Frequency Distributions (CFDs) with shape parameters obtained by substituting the theoretical global moments compare well with the numerical CFDs. As expected, coherent estimates of peak concentration are not equally good, because of an inherently different nature of this quantity as opposed to plume-scale concentration moments. The a-priori information expressed by statistical analysis both at the global scale and at the local scale for a conservative tracer z can be transferred to reactive species in case of very fast kinetics. Given this useful property of equilibrium reactions, we develop explicit semianalytical relations for the moments and the probability distribution functions of the concentration of chemical species reacting according to a bimolecular equilibrium homogeneous reaction. We assume that the conservative tracer probability distribution function, both at the local scale and at the global scale, can be modeled with a Beta distribution, fully characterized by the mean and the variance of z. Rigorous numerical testing on highly heterogeneous velocity fields confirms that this assumption holds. A few illustrative cases shed some light on the role of the reaction on the time evolution of (local and global) concentration for the different reactive species, and on the different quality of information contained in local statistics as opposed to global statistics. The Beta distribution is a powerful predicting tool for the space and time evolution of passive concentration and, by extension, also for reactive species in particular chemical conditions. Analytical procedures are needed for predicting the z moments, as for example the Lagrangian ones used in the present work, which are limited to weakly heterogeneous formations. Finally we explore, analytically and numerically, the upscaling from the pore scale to the Darcy scale. Via multiple scale analysis we identify a homogenizability region, in terms of the dimensionless numbers regulating a multicomponent precipitation/dissolution reactive problem, where Darcy-scale (upscaled) transport equations can be used, regardless of sub-Darcy scale inhomogeneities.

This doctoral thesis focuses on the seismic risk mitigation of â special riskâ industrial facilities, like chemical, petrochemical and process industries. It is known that the impact of natural hazards, such as earthquakes, on this type of structures may cause significant accidents leading to severe consequences to both the environment and human lives; see, among others, Lanzano et al., (2015) and Krausmann et. al (2010). In particular, the most critical components in a petrochemical plant are fluid-filled storage tanks; they can experience severe damages and trigger cascading effects in neighbouring tanks due to large vibrations induced by strong earthquakes, indeed. In order to reduce these tank vibrations, an innovative type of foundation based on metamaterial concepts is investigated. Metamaterials are generally regarded as manmade structures that exhibit unusual responses not readily observed in natural materials. Due to their exceptional properties and advancements in recent years, metamaterials have entered the field of seismic engineering, and therefore, offer a novel approach to design seismic shields. As a result, an encouraging and practicable strategy for the seismic protection of liquid storage tanks is presented and validated. On the other hand, the outcomes of this research study also aim to improve seismic risk assessment of â special riskâ facilities mainly through experimental dynamic analysis. In view of performing a dynamic analysis of these complex components, necessary for the global seismic risk assessment procedure, online hybrid (numerical/physical) dynamic substructuring simulations have shown their potential in enabling realistic dynamic analysis of almost any type of nonlinear structural system. At the same time, owing to faster and more accurate testing equipment, a number of different offline experimental substructuring methods, operating both in time and frequency domains, have been employed in mechanical engineering to examine dynamic substructure coupling. The scope of the study is the exploitation of different Experimental Dynamic Substructuring (EDS) methods in a complementary way to expedite a hybrid experiment/numerical simulation and, consequently, the comprehensive dynamic analysis. From this perspective, after a comparative uncertainty propagation analysis of three EDS algorithms, a new Composite-EDS (C-EDS) method is proposed and numerically validated. To the best of the authorâ s knowledge, this research study presents the first algorithm used to fuse both online and offline algorithms into a unique simulator with significant advantages in terms of dynamic analysis and seismic risk assessment of industrial plants. Finally, the research activity is supported by the results from different experimental testing campaigns with the main purpose to investigate the complex behaviour of critical industrial components, such as Tee joints and Bolted Flanged Joints (BFJs), with particular regard to the leakage phenomena resistance. In this respect, a reliable an innovative model capable of predicting the leakage force for a generic BFJ, including the interaction between axial and shear load, is proposed and validated.

This research has started from some issues affecting the debate in progress on policies for landscape and confronts itself with the actuality of a review of some paradigms of interpretation that could substantiate the practice of landscape transformation. The main questions that will be addressed is what the ordinary contemporary landscape is, experimenting the perception as a tool at first of interpretation, therefore potentially operating, from the demands of the European Landscape Convention, according to which “Landscape means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors†. Assuming the landscape perception as a means of expression of the relationship between society and territory, this study develops and tests a methodology for its comprehension, through kaleidoscopic visions which interpret the variety of the situated looks. By means of the methodology we aim to explore how a variety of people experience landscapes and – as a consequence - how they perceive them. The proposed approach refers to the landscape perception as a complex system in its multiple dimensions (physical/natural, symbolic/cultural, personal/ collective) that becomes significant as expression of a contemporary condition of living places. It begets a thinking material to understand values and themes, on which could be possible basing actions and policies for landscape. The Kaleidoscope, which is here proposed as device to represent perceived landscapes, derives from the sense of this research. Actually, the explicit reference to ordinary landscapes implies the awareness that the contemporary landscape can not be understood through a tale made of synthetic and mimetic/typological representations, but is expressed predominantly in ordinary contexts, whose not consolidated images neither shared attributions of meanings exist. The Kaleidoscope has set as a composition of diagrams and narratives, which are translated in looks type and themes for action, contributing to reify the problems the landscape poses as challenges to planning and the perception is offering to return. The research is substantiated by a long experimental stage, when - through an experience of understanding the perceived landscape in a valley place in Trentino - the themes tackled in the theoretical-critical part pit themselves strength the realm of a contemporary landscapes and the specificity of the ordinary ones, which more than others claim the experimentation of interpretative and operational tools. The experience has been set up as a cognitive practice, able to be consolidated and repeatable in the ordinary planning processes. It can therefore be understood as a paradigmatic experience of approach to contemporary landscape.

With the advantages of CFST built-up columns, including the higher confinement in the concrete, delay of the steel local buckling, higher compressive and flexural strength, earthquake and fire resistance, rapid construction, savings in the construction costs, etc. CFST built-up columns are increasing adopted in structural members with larger load eccentricity ratio and slenderness ratio, such as stadium, industrial buildings, bridge pier and pillar, and electrical transmission tower. However, the research is mainly focused on static performance, seldom research has been reported on the dynamic behavior of CFST built-up columns. The present research investigates the seismic behavior of CFST built-up columns. A detailed literature survey on the CFST built-up structures, including mechanical characteristics, applications, ductility in seismic design, previous experimental researches, and finite element formulation, is firstly illustrated. Six specimens with different grades of concrete and brace arrangements are designed and tested subjected to cyclic loading. The hysteretic behavior, such as failure mode, deformed shape, displacement ductility, rigidity and strength degradation, and energy dissipation capacity of test specimens are discussed. The corresponding validated finite element model (FEM) simulations are developed for parametric analysis, to discuss the hysteretic behavior, affected by axial load ratio, chord spacing, brace spacing, diameter to thickness ratio, and steel yield strength. Results indicate that the hysteretic characteristics of specimens are saturated and exhibited good ductility. The concrete strength and steel yield strength played a slight effect to the displacement ductility factor. While the ductility will be significantly affected by axial load ratio and geometrical types. Based on extended parametric analysis and regression analysis, a simplified method, consisted by equivalent slenderness ratio, axial load ratio and steel yield strength, is proposed to calculate the displacement ductility factor of CFST battened columns and laced columns, respectively. The accuracy is validated with test results. After that, to investigate the seismic performance of built-up columns used in practice, an innovative lightweight bridge with CFST composite truss girder and CFST lattice pier is studied as case study. For the purpose, FEM simulation and shaking table test are carried out. The FEM results agree with experimental data. In addition, the plastic hinges were predicted under transverse and longitudinal excitation respectively, revealed that CFST built-up columns has a favorable seismic performance.

The research is aimed at developing seismic methods for the design and evaluation of the seismic vulnerability of wooden structures, using a displacement-based approach. After a brief introduction on the seismic behaviour of timber structures, the general Direct Displacement-Based Design (Direct-DBD) procedure and the state-of-the-art are presented, with clear reference to the application of the Direct-DBD method to wooden buildings. The strength of the Direct-DBD method is its ability to design structures in a manner consistent with the level of damage expected, by directly relating the response and the expected performance of the structure. The research begins with a description of the procedural aspects of the Direct-DBD method and the parameters required for its application. The research presented focuses on the formulation of a displacement-based seismic design procedure, applicable to one-storey wooden structures made with a portal system. This typology is very common in Europe and particularly in Italy. A series of analytical expressions have been developed to calculate design parameters. The required analytical Direct-DBD parameters are implemented based on the mechanical behaviour of the connections, made with metal dowel-type fasteners. The calibration and subsequent validation of design parameters use a Monte Carlo numerical simulation and outcomes obtained by tests in full-scale. After the description of the Displacement-Based method for one-storey wooden structures, a series of guidelines to extend the Direct-DBD methodology to other types and categories of timber systems are proposed. The thesis presents the case of a multi-storey wood frame construction, which is a simple extension of the glulam portal frame system. Part of this work has been done within the RELUIS Project, (REte dei Laboratori Universitari di Ingegneria Sismica), Research Line IV, which in the years between 2005 and 2008 involved several Italian universities and Italian institutes of research in the development of new seismic design methods. The Project produced the first draft of model code for the seismic design of structures based on displacement (Direct-DBD). This thesis is the background to the section of the model code developed for timber structures.

Seismic testing methodologies play a significant role in earthquake engineering due to complexities of engineering materials and ground motion. Among available testing methods, hybrid simulation is more appealing for its merits, e.g., evaluating dynamic responses of large scale structures at lower cost. As a novel member of hybrid simulation, Real-time Hybrid Simulations (RHS), since its conception in 1992, has shown its unique properties and capacity for testing complex structural components, especially rate-dependent ones. RHS often partitions the emulated structure into portions, which are then either numerically or physically simulated in real-time according to our knowledge of them. In particular, the critical nonlinear and/or rate-dependent parts are often physically modelled within a realistic real-time test, while the remainder parts are simultaneously evaluated by solving differential equations. Evidently, the challenge of these methods is to enforce the coupling at the interface between portions via real-time loading and real-time computation. Heretofore great development of RHS has been attained. This dissertation is devoted to developing RHS in two aspects, namely transfer system control and time integration algorithms. In detail, research work and findings are summarized as follows: The dissertation initially focuses on the implementation of a model-based control strategy –internal model control (IMC) and its comparison with the classic PID/PI control on the lately conceived high performance test system - the TT1 test system. The control strategy of the electromagnetic actuators consists of three loops, namely one speed loop and two displacement loops. The outer displacement loop is regulated with IMC or PID/PI whilst the inner two loops with proportional control. In order to compare different control strategies, realistic tests with swept sinusoidal waves and numerical simulations concentrating on robustness were carried out. Analysis showed that IMC is preferable for its robustness and its ease of implementation and online tuning. Both IMC and PID work similarly and well on the actuator which can be simplified into a first-order system plus dead time. In addition, RHS was performed and showed the favorable state of the system. In order to accurately compensate for a time-varying delay in RHS, online delay estimation methods were proposed and discussed based on a simplified actuator model. The model, consisting of a static gain and dead time, results in nonlinear relationships among different displacements. The estimation based on the Taylor series expansion was further developed by introducing the recursive least square algorithm with a forgetting factor. Then this scheme was investigated and assessed in pure simulations and RHS via comparison with two other methods. Finally, the proposed scheme was identified to be satisfactory in terms of its convergence speed, accuracy and repeatability and to be superior to other methods. With the insight into the weakness of available compensation schemes in mind, two polynomial delay compensation formulae considering the latest displacement and velocity targets were proposed. Assessment and comparisons of the formulae by means of frequency response functions and stability analysis were carried out. In order to facilitate delay compensation, another novel compensation scheme characterized by overcompensation and optimal feedback was conceived. Numerical simulations and realistic RHS were performed to examine the proposed schemes. The analysis revealed that the proposed polynomial formulae exhibit smaller prediction errors and the second-order scheme with the LSRT2 algorithm is endowed with a somewhat larger stability range. Moreover, the overcompensation scheme was concluded to have the ability of time-varying delay accommodation, error reduction and sometimes stability improvement. With regard to time integration algorithms, this dissertation extends the equivalent force control (EFC) method which is a method of RHS with implicit integrators to RHS on split mass systems. The EFC method for this problem was spectrally analyzed and was found more satisfactory stability than some explicit integrator. Then larger control errors due to quadartically interpolated EF commands were recognized and treated with a proposed displacement correction. In view of the inherent feature of RHS –multiple quantities coupling at the interface, the correction was extended to simultaneously update displacement and acceleration. Spectral stability analysis and numerical simulations demonstrated that: (1) the correction can remove the constraint of zero-stability to the method and reduce algorithmic dissipation; (2) it also works well for MDOF systems. Finally, an inter-field parallel algorithm for RHS, namely IPLSRT2, was developed and analyzed. This method was based on the Rosenbrock (LSRT2) method and a prior inter-field parallel integrator–PLSRT2. The LSRT2 with different stage sizes, velocity projection and modified Jacobian evaluation were introduced to the algorithm in order to avoid and/or weaken the disadvantages of the PLSRT2 method, such as inefficient computation, displacement and velocity drifts, and complicated starting procedure. Accuracy analysis, spectral stability analysis, pure numerical simulations and realistic RHS were performed to investigate the properties of the IPLSRT2 method. Compared with the PLSRT2 method, this method exhibits pros and cons. In detail, the method loses the accuracy order due to the velocity projection applied at all time steps. However, it can provide more accurate displacement and velocity results in common applications where a little larger time step is required. In some cases, the proposed method exhibits smaller phase shifts and dissipation. Moreover, computation efficiency in Subdomain A is improved and its implementation in real-time applications is simplified.

Most of the significant changes on the environment have resulted from individually minor but collectively significant human actions and decisions. This kind of consequences has been defined Cumulative Effects (CE) and their systematic consideration can be attributed to the scientific basis and institutional context of Environmental Assessment (EA) theory and practice. However, although Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has been largely recognised as one of the most appropriate procedure to support spatial and land use plans in managing CE; the advancement in integrating the assessment of CE into SEA practice has been often stated slow to evolve, suggesting a gap between SEA theory and practice in treating cumulative effects and confirming that further investigation on this subject is required. This research aimed to propose and apply a methodological approach to improve the consideration of CE in SEA of spatial plans, by focusing on the Italian spatial planning system and urban regions. It was developed according to the main findings and shortcomings emerging from the academic literature and the exploration of SEA practice through: an international expert survey; a systematic review of SEA documents; and a couple of real-life SEA case studies following during the research period. Among the most important were: the lack of scoping of relevant resources (or Valued Ecosystem Component); the scarce exploration of future decisions and consequences; and the requirement of a more evidence-based assessment of CE. The methodological approach was then developed for SEA of regional spatial plans, consisting of four main tasks: the selection of significant valued resources; the identification of other relevant decisions (projects, plans and policies) which together with the spatial plan could contribute to CE; the generation of land use scenarios; and the prediction of CE through indicators. Then, the methodological approach was tested in a case study selected within the peri-urban region of Milan, representing one of the most urbanised and industrialised part of Italy, with significant urban pressures on existing protected areas and remaining rural patches. Firstly, the regional green infrastructure was selected as the most important regional valued resource (or VEC); then, three important ‘future policies’ were identified (i.e. highway transportation corridor, protected areas conservation plans, and rural policies). Subsequently, a set of future land use scenarios were developed and made spatially explicit, starting from a couple of regional land use maps. Then, the regional cumulative effects on the selected valued resource (e.g. habitat fragmentation, surface runoff, etc.) were assessed against a range of future conditions through a core set of indicators, mainly quantitative and spatially explicit, simulating relevant environmental processes, such as hydrological cycle, local surface temperature, ecological connectivity. They were all selected and computed starting from land cover data, allowing the combined effects to be quantified and land use scenarios to be compared. The results mainly showed that the method provided an applicable means to, firstly, transfer policies and decisions into maps, and then, predict their combined effects on selected VEC. Moreover, it can be straightforwardly included in SEA of regional spatial plans in order to support a more evidence-based CE analysis, by adding spatial thinking to decision-makers and improving the understanding and the perception of the cumulative consequences of their “minor” decisions under uncertain future policy contexts.