A Possible Circular Approach for Social Perception of Climate Adaptation Action Planning in Metropolitan Cities

Abstract

One of the factors that will affect the livability of cities and the overall citizens’ quality of life in the future is certainly climate change. Urban areas will play a fundamental role in the commitment against climate change and will have to develop appropriate adaptation actions, in accordance with the European Strategy against climate change, including the planning and implementation of Green Infrastructures (GIs). They produce various environmental and social benefits in the urban context. Various studies have shown that citizenship involvement at all levels is necessary for the evaluation of the sharing of the proposed projects. The research proposes an innovative methodological model to support administrations in the strategic planning choice of GIs according to a shared and circular approach. To perform a multi-layer assessment, the multi-criteria evaluation will be combined with the circular evaluation model called Green City Circle. The evaluation is set up as a circular process, followed by a first investigative phase, followed by a proactive phase of solutions and an implementation phase up to a final stage of evaluation of the results and strategies for long-term sustainability. The study was carried out in the city of Catania to test a planning and management tool for GIs envisaged by the administration as win–win climate adaptation measures.

Citizens’ perception of the role of urban nature-based solutions and green infrastructures towards climate change in Italy

“…The survey carried out in the metropolitan city of Catania provided information on citizens' perception of the role of urban GIs and on climate change. The responses collected show that there is a general positive perception of citizens regarding the importance of GIs in the urban ecosystem, as other research has shown (Lorenzo et al, 2000;Lohr et al, 2004;Sanesi and Chiarello, 2006;Carrus et al, 2015;Derkzen et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2019;FAO, 2021;Scuderi et al, 2021;Sturiale et al, 2022). But the awareness of the important benefits that ESs are able to offer is not yet fully mature in the territorial reality examined and, in particular, the importance of urban greening as a measure of climate adaptation is only intuitively perceived by citizens.…”

“…They document that citizens appreciate the environmental and aesthetic values of trees (Shacklet et al, 2015), but they also assign great importance to other values, albeit intuitively (Sanesi and Chiarello, 2015;Sturiale and Scuderi, 2019). In particular, they recognise the benefits related to the improvement of the quality of life (Sanesi and Chiarello, 2015), the improvement of urban quality and aesthetic value (Shacklet et al, 2015), the social value of urban green spaces (both as a place of social aggregation and as a place for the recovery of marginal categories-this is the case of urban gardens) (Shacklet et al, 2015;Foti et al, 2018;Sturiale and Scuderi, 2018;Scuderi et al, 2021), to the role they play as climate adaptation measures (Razak et al, 2016;Derkzen et al, 2017;Chiw and Ling, 2019;Sturiale and Scuderi, 2019;Mortoja and Yigitcanlar, 2022). Studies indicate that citizens are increasingly aware of environmental problems and demand greater involvement in actions concerning urban climate change in their cities (Zerva et al, 2021;Taylor et al, 2014).…”

“…There are several recommendations coming from various levels, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), United Nations (UN), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (to mention a few) calling for the development of a greater participation of citizens in the planning of mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as raising awareness of the importance of urban greenery for the success of urban adaptation policies. Many studies have investigated the perception of climate change, both in terms of communication and community perception (Deng et al, 2017;Lorenzoni et al, 2006;Marin and Berkes, 2012;Pasquaré and Oppizzi, 2012;Palermo and Hernandez, 2020;Von Storch et al, 2017;Scuderi et al, 2021;EC, 2021a). On the other hand, there is a limited amount of research on the degree of public perception of the importance of urban GIs and the ESs that they provide and their role in combating climate change (Gill et al, 2007;Foster et al, 2011;Demuzerea et al, 2014;Jayasooriya et al, 2017;Sturiale and Scuderi, 2019;EC, 2020d;EC, 2021;Pamukcu-Albers et al, 2021;Ramyar et al, 2021).…”

A Multicriteria Decision-Making Approach of “Tree” Meaning in the New Urban Context

“…The natural capital of the city should always include those green areas that are more marginal but still important in defining urban biodiversity, such as residual strips of agricultural land, natural spaces, uncultivated land, avenues, gardens and parks of villas that were once typically rural, marginal areas, copses, wooded areas that are often limited and fragmented, road and railway buffer strips, banks of watercourses, uncultivated land, and so on. All these elements are part of an ecological network context, in which networks of natural and semi-natural areas are integrated, which it is important to plan at a strategic level with other environmental elements, and to design and manage in such a way as to provide a wide range of ecosystem services [20,71]. This pluriscalar organisation can be considered a truly complex system which, due to its ecological functions, is configured as a diffuse good of collective interest; in some ways, even a social service.…”