When Heritage and Landscape Values Are Confronted by Planned Infrastructures: A Glance at ‘Public Debate’ (‘Dibattito Pubblico’) Procedures in Italy

Public debate procedures (“dibattito pubblico”, DP) have been recently introduced in Italy to provide an additional platform for public participation into infrastructure-related decision-making processes. Inspired by their French equivalent (“débat public”), these procedures sensibly differ from EIAs as they occur at a very early stage, i.e., before projects’ final drafting. Another significant difference, specific to the Italian context, is a provision dedicated to heritage sites and protected areas foreseeing a wider application of DPs in those contexts. This paper aims to further explore the different relationships between actors at play within DP procedures on the one hand, and heritage sites and landscapes on the other hand, through the analysis of dedicated reports and other documents. Heritage- and landscape-related values are commonly mobilized in relation to all infrastructural projects considered, although in various ways and sometimes with conflicting aims. The article highlights that environmental conflicts are likely to affect and mobilize heritage and landscape values, and calls for a closer dialogue between infrastructure planning, heritage and landscape planning, and political ecology.