Environmental and legislative aspects concerning existing and new cemeteryplanning

This study was carried out in order to revise the law in force in Italy (De cree no. 285 of 1990) in the field of cemeteries, funeral services and all that concerns disposal of human remains. Countries which have space limitat ion for existing cemeteries or difficulty finding new suitable areas for ce metery planning have to re-examine all the systems of disposal of human rem ains (cremation, burial by ground and by walled-graves) and all the paramet ers involved in the process of the bodies decomposition. In this paper, on the basis of data collected from some municipal cemeteries in Italy, the re asons that have led to current insufficient areas for burial are analyzed. It is a very difficult question to single out possible solutions because th ey involve technical parameters as well asa new way of considering the buri al. In this paper some possible solutions to the problem of recovering buri al sites are analyzed and some guidelines for the planning of municipal pla n-cemeteries are outlined. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserv ed.