Nature-based and innovation-led urban regeneration: a hypothesis of green district for the metropolitan city of Roggio Calabria

The interest in nature-based solutions for urban regeneration increased rapidly during the last years. Urban areas are affected by the side effects of rapid urbanisation processes which need to be tackled quickly. The European Union placed the nature-based urban regeneration topic on the top of EU research areas’ priorities in order to improve the well-being in urban areas, increase the sustainable use of energy and boost carbon sequestration. The aim of the paper is to understand how the introduction of nature-based solutions in innovation-led urban regeneration can contribute to the realisation of a green district in a central neighbourhood of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria (IT). The proposal will be framed into an urban regeneration model in order to propose a replicable model to apply in other distressed urban areas impacting on the social, economic and environmental dimension. Findings, deriving from the MAPS-LED Project (CLUDs Lab) and Gevaul Lab research activities, will show the positive impacts of the proposed nature-based and innovation-led solution at urban district level in terms of carbon sequestration, energy and money savings, in consistence with the main aim of Europe 2020 strategy: reach a smart, inclusive and sustainable growth.