Reforesting cities

Reforesting cities. Funding coming with the “Climate Decree”.

Reforestation projects in metropolitan cities are encouraged by Legislative Decree 111/2019, “Climate Decree”. The Ministry of the Environment has approved the rules for financing reforestation projects in metropolitan cities – deadline 11/3/2021.

The theme of the pandemic and the perceived lack of oxygen experienced by COVID-19 patients increasingly brings to the fore the role that plants can play within cities and the possibility of re-evaluating natural heritage, overcoming the dichotomy between cities and agricultural spaces.
Urban forestry projects are particularly urgent to operate in the wake of the positive contribution to climate change, bringing well-being to the inhabitants and progressively reducing land consumption. The creation of tree-lined spaces is necessary to revive cities and generate the virtuous process of governance of green areas that generates employment and provides relief to citizens, favoring the shared management of spaces such as urban gardens, shared management gardens, etc.

Reforestation projects in metropolitan cities are, among other things, encouraged by Legislative Decree 111/2019, “Climate Decree” for which the Ministry of the Environment approved the rules for financing reforestation projects in metropolitan cities, expiring on 11/3/2021. The possibility of creating urban and peri-urban forests is strongly encouraged by the government measure for tree planting, replanting and forestry projects, with interventions that can be financed for costs up to 500.000 euros. This is an interesting challenge, which can and must bring into play a plurality of skills, from those of the geologist to those of the agronomist, the landscape architect, the naturalist, the biologist, the economist, etc. Designing new spaces through plants means looking to the future, to the evolution of green spaces, to their management over time, to the cost-effectiveness of the product to be evaluated over long time periods, so that we really think about the lasting well-being of the transformations generated in the territory.

To stem the harmful effects of land consumption in our country, the opportunity to implement reforestation, offered by the climate decree, is extremely necessary, considering that the strategic objectives to be pursued revolve around three principles: protecting biodiversity, increasing the surface area of ​​green infrastructure, improving the health and well-being of citizens.

The functionality of ecosystems, which is supported by the coexistence of different plant species, generates a balance through the relationships that are generated between plants and the rest of the natural system, in which microorganisms and the animal world are present. The data published by the ISPRA (Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) yearbook demonstrate that there was further land consumption between 2017 and 2018, equal to a transformation of approximately 2 square meters per second, which caused a loss of 23.000 square kilometers of surface. This is almost irreversible damage, since concrete, asphalt, and the massive waterproofing of important parts of the territory do not allow rapid returns to the previous state and, instead, increase the process of soil degradation.
On the contrary, trees play an extraordinary role in protecting the climate, because they are capable of transforming atmospheric carbon and help contain heat from urban spaces, promoting energy savings for the use of air conditioners.

The air, purified by the action of vegetation, brings benefits against atmospheric pollution, generates positive effects on the well-being of citizens, with the powerful contribution of foliage and root system, carries out a containment action on soil erosion and the disastrous effects of landslides and floods.

Among the examples of urban reforestation, the one in the municipality of Prato is of particular interest, which has been used to relaunch the manufacturing heritage, thanks to the program conceived by the architect Stefano Boeri and the scientist Stefano MancusoMancuso's idea, according to which "requalifying with plants is the most effective tool for improving environmental and social quality", was supported by the Action Plan for Urban Forestry in Prato, which aimed to create an "enormous urban jungle" in which there is at least one tree for every inhabitant of the city.

Plants are the only source of oxygen, an essential element for survival. Plants also have an indispensable function, that of purifying and improving the quality of the air, the most current challenge to literally give oxygen back to our asphyxiated cities in which it is possible to functionally integrate plants in areas with high building density. Plants, from simple ornamentation or aesthetic function, allow us to purify and improve the quality of the air, creating urban gardens, allowing energy savings and the creation of common spaces for socializing, such as urban gardens.

©Stefano-Boeri-Architects

The Urban Jungle in Prato is an example of urban regeneration, with hydroponic greenhouses and green facades, for a lot of popular residential buildings and the new covered market with a large “air factory” inside, a 250 square meter greenhouse with the function of purifying the air of the restaurant located in the internal area. The Urban Jungle is a project that aims to generate oxygen and well-being for visitors, but is capable of generating work with the management of the production activities planned in it. The project, which will be completed in 2021, aims to reduce air pollution, promoting outdoor activities, increasing biodiversity in the area, regenerating the soil making it permeable, while the greenhouse guarantees the supply of zero-mile food.

Plants perform an extraordinarily important function because they are able to absorb air from environments, channel it and filter it through the soil, transforming pollution into biomass, representing a circular economy that returns clean air and well-being.
Could we ever live without vegetation? Is there any machine, any other potential mechanical substitute for plants to generate the oxygen that is necessary and indispensable for us to live?
There are also many tests carried out in the field of social psychology, which prove how much well-being is produced in communities that live immersed in greenery.

The positive aspects of plants within cities is also that of being able to restore dignity to residual, peripheral spaces, or to classic "non-places", those dystopian spaces such as airports, shopping centers, offices. These spaces regain their capacity for hospitality, performing aggregative and social functions, when green spaces that integrate the buildings are organized in them.

Architect Francesca Ferraro