The Case of Cagliari
The functional urban area (FUA) of the Case Study in Cagliari
Cagliari is a coastal city located in southern Sardinia. With a unique cultural and natural heritage, the functional urban area (FUA) of Cagliari consists of sixteen municipalities and comprises the entire Gulf of Cagliari, including the coastal stretch extending from the shores of Pula in the west to the administrative inland of Sinnai in the east. The city has a history of sustainability. It was among the first Italian municipalities to adopt a Green Plan in 1996 designed to enhance urban green areas and integrate environmental concerns into urban planning, and in 2006, under the leadership of Renato Soru, Sardinia became the first Italian region to adopt a Regional Landscape Plan (Piano Paesaggistico Regionale). The FUA is a mix of urban and rural areas, which all face various environmental, social, and economic challenges. For example, climate change is exacerbating coastal erosion, urban heat islands, and flooding, especially in environmentally and economically sensitive areas. The FUA is also trying to manage the consequences of urbanization and development, including a decline in air quality as a result of traffic and industrial areas, as well as an increase in the abandonment of agricultural land—not to mention the island itself. These issues reflect broader patterns of depopulation, increased urbanization in the city, and energy issues resulting from economic speculation in the Sardinian territory.
In response to these challenges, Cagliari and its municipalities are increasingly incorporating nature-based solutions (NBS) to improve urban resilience, biodiversity, and the quality of life for its residents. For Cagliari, NBS in governance and planning provide aesthetic benefits and are imperative for creating sustainable, resilient, and equitable urban environments. Learning from the Cagliari experience provides a model for harnessing nature’s power to address the interconnected crises of climate change, biodiversity and social justice. Today, the FUA is working to improve NBS’s ability to address these interconnect crises by expanding the framing of NBS, improving the integration within and between NBS initiatives, and elevating the informal and traditional knowledge that comes from local communities, grassroots organizations, and non-institutional actors. Overall, NBS interventions in Cagliari offer a unique perspective on ecological restoration, urban integration, and the dynamics of the sociocultural contexts in which they are implemented.
The number one reason for my engagement was precisely this idea that Sardinia as we know it, was disappearing very quickly. Sardinia is composed of wide untouched spaces, is made of our memories, and our experiences.
Three examples of nature-based solutions in Lisbon
Balconi Fioriti (“Blooming Balconies”) is an example of a grassroots NBS (Fig. 1), particularly in which common issues in implementation, such as lack of financing, are overcome by social cohesion. This NBS shows the power of creative, bottom-up community initiatives that do not depend on funding from traditional sources that sit at the top of social hierarchies. Instead, the NBS relies on the local network’s creativity, intentions, and cohesion. Neighbourhoods linked with this NBS still plant and maintain their blooming balconies even after the end of the original initiative, making it an excellent example of a long-term NBS that helps mitigate the effects of heat waves—not to mention enhancing the liveability and beauty of the city! Citizens have expressed a desire to expand this initiative by de-paving and/or creating for more space for plant soil.
Food Forest Sardinia offers a compelling example of a practice that challenges the dominance of market-driven mechanisms and human-centered approaches to environmental management (also called neocolonialism of nature by the community). The NBS is a space where cultural traditions, historical knowledge, non-humans and humans support one another (Fig. 2 and 3). Driven by a self-sustaining concept of forest gardening, the NBS develops values of safe and productive environments that are respectful of all living things. Food Forest Sardegna promotes a key message: changing harmful relationships with nature requires doing things differently, even when dominant economic systems nudge us in the opposite direction. The NBS provides a vision for new futures based on a radically different set of agroecological principles for urban spaces, rethinking human-nature relations and inspiring others. Unlike more technical institutional practices, this initiative seeks to integrate a holistic and localized approach to environmental stewardship.
Cagliari’s Green Promenade project aims to improve and redefine the city’s connection to its historic waterfront. This project revitalizes the late 19th-century Via Roma, which has been a key part of Cagliari’s transformation since ending its military functions. The intervention is inspired by the city’s traditional tree-lined streets, transforming 24,000 square meters into a pedestrian-friendly, shaded space in harmony with historical urban arteries. However, the NBS project has faced a number of challenges in implementation. Much of the controversy surrounding the project emerges from a lack of coordination and public engagement. This NBS shows the importance of a transparent communication process, a greater level of community participation, and more adaptive and interdisciplinary planning approach in order to bridge the gap between visionary projects and local acceptance.
Figure 1: Photo of the Balconi Fioriti event in May 2016, by D. Steinmetz.
Figure 2 and 3: Certificate of existence and appropriation of legal subjectivity of the Sardinian Nation community, also known as Food Forest Sardinia, photo by Carla de Agostini. On the right, example of forest gardening at the headquarters of Food Forest Sardegna in Assemini, photo by Carla de Agostini.
Figure 4: View of the project A Green Promenade for the Lungomare di Cagliari from the website of Stefano Boeri Archietti.