Airport Planning and Design: The airport projects development within the Italian regulatory fra- mework.

The chapter deals with the complex project of an airport infrastructure, with particular attention to the issue of the airport terminal. It is a typology developed in the years that encompasses both the characteristics of an infrastructure and the architectural peculiarities. The paper summarizes the evolution of this typology, with the progress of the national research in this field, as part of the project and its management. The project of the airport terminal, due to its complex nature, is part of a framework of regulatory, technical and economic interrelated issues. In such a context, the management of the project stems from a planning process carried out at the company management level, that guides and defines requirements in accordance with the needs of the client and the end-users. In this planning process lies the "invisible" infrastructure, organized through related processes. Then the national scenario is described, in which the project of an airport is produced, highlighting the critical points and potential. To ensure the smooth transition from long-term objectives to the project requirements, it is necessary that there are no leaks of information between the various actors involved in the process and that technicians are supported by technical rules, methodologies and reference tools, to support so effective decisions at the highest level.