The book, showing virtuous examples of urban planning in Italy and Europe, exposes certain doubts and open questions: what is the new role of urban planning? What actions / rules are now achievable for the protection, planning and management of local-scale landscapes? The overall reflections gathered in the book contribute to suggest innovative visions about landscape planning at local scale, seen as first steps towards a more functional change of perspective.

New landscapes are the result of local planning practices that no longer seem able to "understand" the current society through urban design. Public space and new urban centralities interact with the increasingly complex functions of social life and mark the distance from territorial values, relying less and less on physical relationships (economic and functional) and increasingly on symbolic and intangible relationships, as 'cultural identity'. Landscape is essential for the sustainable future of the urban and rural territory: the landscape quality is a factor of economic competitiveness and acts also as a factor of social cohesion and integration.