Urban microforests between schools and neighborhoods as nodes of a local green infrastructure

The paper illustrates a project developed on the basis of a Sapienza III Missione Call. The proposal sees the participation of the Borsi and Saffi schools, the Faculty of Psychology and Engineering, the active participation of local actors - Free Republic of San Lorenzo, GRU, Grande Cocomero, Nomade - and artists; the participation of associations "external" to the neighborhood such as the Voce di Porta Portese, the Mura Latine Committee and the Don Minzoni Committee. The project involves the co-design and, subsequently, the co-construction of green and low-cost Oasis in the courtyards and near the schools. The type of Oasis experimented in the project is a Microforest, an UF- Nature Based Solutions (EU 2015). The process intends to favor the empowerment of the community and the activation of the local social actors through the implementation of an outdoor laboratory centered on the Microforest, a reference point for the neighborhood where learning and nature-stewardship activities are developed, aimed at increasing citizens' awareness of climate change, environmental issues, urban well-being and quality, and possible local improvement solutions (NBS). The Microforest laboratory is animated by a multidisciplinary team made up of professors from Sapienza University, professionals and technicians, school teachers, associations and experienced citizens. Through the activities of the laboratory, the project intends to raise the awareness of the school community, citizens and associations on issues related to climate change, promoting everyone's ability to act in favour of the environment. In this regard, the project envisages the creation of a Miyawaki Tiny Forest by schools; the exploration of new forms of collaborative (Citizen Science), digital (Sensor-Network) and experimental (Do-It-Yourself) learning; the implementation of methodologies and tools aimed at improving the participatory experience of co-design and co-construction. Methods, tools and outputs are developed and tested to define an open access toolkit to be shared with schools and municipalities with the aim of replicating the pilot experience elsewhere. The proposal intends to strengthen the social bond at the neighborhood level, developing a protocol of contributory democracy that favors empowerment and allows the creation of new spaces of conviviality on a local scale with the contribution of all and in particular of the most vulnerable subjects: children, the elderly and women. "A better city for children is a better city for everyone".