Préserver la Nature en Ville: Une Coproduction Inscrite dans la Longue Durée

The Caffarella case highlights the broad continuity in approaches to this 200 hectares urban abutment of a much larger 3,400 hectare regional natural park called Parco Regionale dell’Appia Antica (park of the "Via Appia"). Environmental arguments go back a long way in time and the built environment and natural vegetation have always been seen as going hand in hand. But there have also been notable changes. The culturalist approach to the countryside that has tended to predominate in Italy has gradually incorporated environmental aspects even though conflicts remain between heritage-based or environmental management strategy and collective appropriation of the site. Consequently, the areas seen as deserving of protection are constantly increasing and now range from gardens to the overall site and, more recently, a complex arrangement to incorporate the country into the city. This case shows that actions and interactions at the micro level and the landholding structures are just as important as the socio-economic and political context for the preservation of spaces of nature intowns, and the two can sometimes interact in unexpected ways.