The local on line questionnaire
The Municipality of Reggio Emilia has prepared and published a questionnaire in order to assess the perception, knowledge and interest of the citizens of Reggio Emilia on the subject of climate change.
Questionnaire on line: “Adaptation to climate change, what do citizens think?”
The questionnaire therefore aims to raise awareness on the issues related to climate change, to disseminate the activities the Municipality of Reggio Emilia is carrying out within the LIFE UrbanProof project and to involve the city on the measures to be introduced in the Reggio Emilia Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change.
This questionnaire was published on the website of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, starting from November 2019 until the end of January 2020 and was promoted through a press release and a press conference and it was relaunched on social networks on several occasions.
It was structured in 4 different sections:
- Is climate changing?
- What happens if the climate changes?
- What could be done?
- Information and participation
The results in terms of participation in the questionnaire were important as over 1,000 citizens replied (of these about 650 replied fully to all parts), thus highlighting the strong interest in the issue of climate change and the willingness to participate. In fact, over 200 people have declared their interest in actively participating to the initiatives of the Municipality on the subject and in taking part in the participatory and consultative process envisaged in the process of building the Adaptation Strategy.
In order to present the results, a report was produced with the commented analysis of the responses.
The most relevant statistical contents that can be deduced from the answers provided have been appropriately assessed and have contributed - together with the technical-scientific analyses conducted on climate trends and vulnerability - to the drafting of the Adaptation Strategy of Reggio Emilia, thus contributing to the definition of the “vision” (i.e. how one would like Reggio Emilia to become in terms of adaptation and resilience) and what the objectives and measures to adopt should be.
- Is climate changing?
The answers provided by citizens in the first part show a perception that is consistent with the scientific analyses relating to weather-climatic changes.
- What happens if the climate changes?
The answers given in this articulated section indicate that citizens perceive as most visible the consequences of the increase in electricity consumption for cooling, the increase in insects pests, the health problems of the most fragile people, the reduced usability and liveability of some areas of the city, especially during the summer period, connected to an increase in daytime temperatures, and the consequences on the agricultural sector which provides an important contribution to the economic productivity of Reggio Emilia.
- What could be done?
In the numerous answers provided in this detailed section, citizens strongly emphasize the importance of measures aimed at improving the urban microclimate by increasing the green component, intended in its multiple functions both for shading public and private spaces (squares, parks, roofs, car parks, ....) and the infrastructural network (roads, cycle paths, pedestrian paths, ...) to improve summer usability and urban quality, both to strengthen the naturalness of the territory, enhancing the green connections between the urban and extra-urban areas.
- Information and participation
Of all the 1,073 respondents to the questionnaire, 22% (i.e. 239 people) said they were interested in taking part in the subsequent phases of the discussion for the shared construction of the Strategy and left their contacts to be contacted and actively participate in them; another 160 people (about 15%) are however interested in being updated on the initiatives and measures that the municipality of Reggio Emilia intends to carry out.
These results are described in the municipal website (in Italian language):
http://www.municipio.re.it/retecivica/urp/retecivi.nsf/PESDocumentID/1D30745A249F072CC125849B00261DF6?opendocument&FROM=Mtrlprdtt