Miyawaki Micro-Forests for the Mediterranean Cities: a test in Rome Urban Area

Background Cities and urban areas play a vital role in accelerating and scaling up climate action. To meet the 11° goal of the Agenda 2030, it is crucial, now, more than ever, for them to become inclusive and sustainable. As a result, cities worldwide have begun implementing urban forests: the challenge for cities is to expand them across the urban landscape, even in densely populated areas, to provide environmental and social benefits, thereby enhancing the well-being of all citizens. Therefore, the microforestation appears to be an experimentation field able to fulfil the urban urge for greenery. Objective The project focuses on the realization of "Eco-Pedagogical Microforest" as a proximity forest aimed at integrating both regulative and social-cultural ecosystem services. The goals are on one hand to increase resilience at local level on the other to serve as a catalyst for spreading environmental knowledge and sustainability core values, benefiting children and adolescents. This initiative intends to equip them to navigate future changes effectively, enhancing their relationships with nature, their surroundings, others, and themselves. Method The Microforest Eco-Pedagogical method is developed in 5 steps: 1) Build a proactive partnership with local stakeholders 2) Design&implement an eco-pedagogical pathway 3) Design&realize a Microforest 4) Assess 5) Disseminate&integrate with planning tools In order to fulfill the methodology a multidisciplinary team of University professors, thesis students and young researchers as tutors has been created. The group is made up of experts in sustainable urban planning, biodiversity, fauna, flora, soil, urban drainage systems, philosophy and entomology. The peculiarity of the approach lies strongly in the integration of a scientific approach to the learning and experimentation step as a premise to the citizen science activities carried out during the process. Results The pilot case in San Lorenzo showed that simply planting trees and bushes does not create an Eco-Pedagogical Microforest. The project's success was achieved through a collaborative process involving various stakeholders. Thanks to the Microforest of San Lorenzo, an Agreement has been set up between Sapienza and the City of Rome. The Project is now integrated into the Regeneration Program for “the city in 15 minutes" and involves the creation of 15 microforests linked to an environmental education pathway. Discussion Emerging questions: - Do Citizen Science can be implemented without the supervision of the scientists? - One of the challenges of the project is to empower the local community in order to become a pro-active actor of the monitoring and caring activities, is it a reachable goal? - How to involve vulnerable categories in order to make them part of the project? Conclusion The success of the Microforest towards an urban, social, cultural and ecological regeneration is related to the intertwining of forestation, place-making, and eco-pedagogy which are inseparable aspects of the process. Between difficulties and success, the Microforest can become a training ground for implementing new forms of partnership that bring ‘value for people’ and become a more effective and valuable tool to meet the challenge of the UN 2030 Agenda.