Good practice:

Urban Forestation Plan

The forestation project aims to protect the city of Reggio Emilia from pollution and impacts of climate change, making urban parks more enjoyable and resilient. Forestation interventions are part of a participatory co-designing process involving the residents of targeted neighborhoods in order to respect not only the territorial context and the landscape vocation of the area, but also the needs of different communities in terms of accessible spaces and services by improving shading, air quality and local microclimate.
The practice aims at planting 50.000 trees in 5 years, before 2030, in 100 different public green areas identified by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia. Translated into benefits for the environment and quality of life, 50.000 trees correspond to the felling of 2.500 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Among the forestation intervention, an experimental project in the peri-urban area of the Acque Chiare has been made for the redevelopment of integrated greenery that included also new municipal gardens and an orchand area with the selection of ancient fruits for the revitalization of sustainable agriculture and the conservation of biodiversity. The project is being implemented through a public- private partnership, which involves different local actors, such as local associations, citizens, private enterprises and universities, thus leading to the responsabilization of citizens in the care of public spaces as well as new opportunities of social and tourist economy.

The investment by the Municipality amounts to 6.000€. The trees planted were supplied by the Emilia-Romagna Region under the National Law "One tree for every child born".
The funds for interventions in the 100 areas come from companies working at local, national and multinatinational level.

• 9,700 new plantings from 2014 to 2018; 5350 trees planted in 2020
• 1065 new shrubs planted in the Acque Chiare Park with volunteers associations and citizens
• 108 trees of 4 different varieties were planted as part of the experimental grove, to collect information and indications for future green design
• improved territorial resilience to climate change and enjoyability of public green areas
• Increased awareness of companies and citizens about the actions implement

The practice has a high learning potential as effective tool to support Municipalities to increase local resilience to climate change. Its success lies on several factors:
1) Effective participatory approach based on working groups with local stakeholders and citizens to identify the intervention priorities and involve private companies in the financing of forestation activities.
2) Strong interconnection with other Municipal strategies (e.g. Urban Planning Strategy and Building Regulations) to create green infrastructure to improve the local micro-climate and the environmental comfort.
3) Data-based approach based on preliminary micro-climate analysis and census activities through the GIS system, which allowed for the categorization of green areas, the identification of priority areas and the development of ad-hoc forestation strategies.
4) Good communication campaign to explain to citizens the benefits of such interventions on health, micro-climate, use of public space.