How to adapt to climate change: Reggio Emilia Strategy approved by the City Council

The answers to the global phenomenon of climate change can also be local and can achieve significant results in terms of sustainability and adaptation to changes. The municipal administration of Reggio Emilia is ready to contribute locally to the fight against climate change, together with its citizens. One important step in this process was the approval by the city council on November 2 of a Strategy for adaptation to climate change, which was presented by the Councillor for Sustainability Policies.

The Adaptation Strategy of Reggio Emilia, is based on a broad cognitive framework built within the Life UrbanProof project in over three years of studies and analyses, from 2017 to 2019. It was conducted using the information provided by various internal and external departments (especially the national observatory of Athens – NOA – and the Regional Agency of Environmental Protection of Emilia Romagna Region– ARPAE) and enriched by a high-definition aerial photogrammetric flight (foreseen by the UrbanProof project), whose data was processed by the Planning Climate Change Lab of the IUAV University of Venice. The cognitive framework thus made it possible to assess the risks deriving from climate change and to identify the vulnerabilities, impacts and areas of the city of Reggio Emilia associated with them.

Form this big amount of data and information it was developed the contents of the Strategy of Reggio Emilia Municipality.

Firstly, the Strategy defines a 'Vision' for adapting the city to climate changes. Reggio Emilia is defined as: “a city in which the man-made environment is integrated with the natural one: a dense green network - trees, flower beds, gardens, rows, roofs and green facades – that, from the parks and the countryside, pervades the whole city, the streets, the squares, the courtyards, the buildings and the roofs, giving continuity to the green networks, reconnecting the city with the countryside and man with nature. Green as an opportunity not only for environmental development but also economic and social development; green as everyone's heritage and responsibility, for a more resilient, liveable, beautiful and safe city.”

Then, based on this Vision with the intention of translating it into actions to be implemented on the territory, 6 strategic objectives have been identified that provide an indication of the sectors and areas in need of intervention. Furthermore, from these derive 20 specific objectives of a more operational nature, which can be declined into real actions and measures.

All the main steps and analyses have been supported by the on-line UrbanProof Toolkit, developed as part of the project: it is a tool which can help and guide cities in the process of developing their local adaptation strategies.

It’s possible to download and see the strategy document of Reggio Emilia at the Municipal website (in Italian language):
https://www.comune.re.it/retecivica/urp/retecivi.nsf/PESDocumentID/6288AD7DC1922FB4C1258614003C43B5?opendocument&FROM=nlsdlclmlclQdrcnsctvnzl4