1. General information Location and description of the intervention City or FUA Cagliari (FUA) Region Europe Native title of the NBS intervention Il verde nei giardini scolastici Short description of the intervention In 2023, the municipality of Cagliari initiated a project to transform 50 school gardens into vibrant, multifunctional outdoor spaces that enhance education and recreation. Co-funded under an EU program, this initiative aims to create environments where students can learn and play outdoors, taking advantage of the city’s favorable climate. The gardens are being upgraded with new features, such as trees, educational vegetable plots, diverse plant species, playground equipment, and furniture, to provide versatile spaces for learning, sports, and play. Automated irrigation systems are being installed in each garden, conserving water by adjusting based on soil humidity and detecting leaks. This technological upgrade ensures efficient maintenance of the green spaces. Overall, the project seeks to enrich the educational experience by integrating nature into daily school life. It aims to promote students' physical and psychological well-being through more opportunities for outdoor learning and activities, fostering a connection with nature, and improving the overall quality of the school environment (Refs. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5). Website of the intervention https://www.comune.cagliari.it/portale/page/it/riqualificazione_giardini_scolas… Principal problems Health, Well-being and Social cohesion Mental health issues (stress, anxiety) Inadequate access to recreational opportunities Disconnection from nature Social fragmentation and isolation Implementation area characterization Climate Temperate ( Humid subtropical, Hot-summer Mediterranean, Warm-summer Mediterranean, Warm-temperate with dry winter) Ecosystem Urban or built environment Address Cagliari Italy Location The NBS is a city-wide initiative, the GIS point marks the centre of the city Area boundary (map-based) Total area 170000.00m² NBS area 170000.00m² Area description Urban (main city) Type of area before implementation of the NBS Residential Timeline of intervention Start date of the intervention (planning process) 2022 Start date of intervention (implementation process) 2023 End date of the intervention 2024 Present stage of the intervention Completed 2. Objectives of the intervention Objectives of the intervention Goals of the intervention The intervention in Cagliari’s school gardens aims to: Redesign 50 school gardens by planting several tree species and transforming the schools into multifunctional spaces that enhance education, recreation, and sustainability (incorporate sustainable practices, such as automated irrigation systems that conserve water by adjusting to soil humidity levels) Create educational vegetable plots with diverse plant species that teach agricultural practices and promote environmental stewardship and provide children and young students with outdoor environments for hands-on learning. Enhance appreciation for nature and biodiversity among students. Improve student well-being by encouraging outdoor activities and sports. New playground equipment and furniture provide safe and engaging spaces for physical activity, supporting both physical and mental health. ((Refs. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5) Key Priorities Social Justice and community Sustainability challenge(s) addressed Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15) Green space creation and/or management Health and well-being (SDG 3) Creation of opportunities for recreation Enabling opportunities for physical activity Improving mental health Improving physical health Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10) Social interaction Environmental education Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12) Sustainable consumption Sustainable production Mental health and well-being objectives The mental health objectives of the project for children include promoting emotional and psychological well-being by creating calming outdoor spaces where they can relax and reduce stress. Overall, the project aims to foster a strong connection to nature, enhancing mood and providing a positive, supportive environment for children (Ref. 2). Mental health and well-being activities The gardens are supposed to encourage social interaction through play and group activities, helping children build friendships and improve their social skills. Engaging with nature and hands-on activities like gardening should also support cognitive development and boost concentration and creativity. Additionally, outdoor play should increase physical activity, which is beneficial for both physical and mental health (Ref. 2). Implementation activities and NBS focus Implementation activities The renovations covered a total area of 170,000 square meters, representing about 80% of school green spaces. Approximately 4,650 square meters of lawns, 50,000 Mediterranean shrubs and species were planted as part of the greening effort in these outdoor spaces. Every school created an educational garden where students planted, cared for, and learnt about vegetables and basic cultivation practices. Large gazebos were installed to provide shaded areas where students can gather, complete with seating and picnic tables for outdoor lessons and recreation. Each school was equipped with a sub-irrigation system connected to a water storage tank and a telematic detection system. The system monitors soil humidity, ensuring efficient water use by irrigating only when needed and alerting for any faults or malfunctions to avoid waste. Sports and playground equipment suitable for different age groups, was set up, along with safe areas featuring natural surfaces, synthetic turf, or anti-trauma grass. (Refs. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5). Type of NBS project Creation of new green areas Creation of areas for food production (community gardens, allotments) Creation of any other green urban spaces Knowledge creation and awareness raising Educational and awareness raising programs Improved governance of green or blue areas Creation of new, innovative governance and management approaches 3. NBS domains, ES and scale NBS domain and interventions Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented Community gardens and allotments Community gardens Grey infrastructure featuring greens Green playgrounds and school grounds Amenities offered by the NBS Benches and drinking water stations Playgrounds Sports areas and equipment Educational or biodiversity trails Design elements for well-being Visual elements (e.g., expansive views, scenic views, natural light, diverse vegetation) Olfactory elements (e.g., floral scents, earthy smells) Tactile elements (e.g., natural materials like wood or stone, exposure to sunlight) Services Expected ecosystem services delivered Provisioning services Food for human consumption (crops, vegetables) Cultural services Recreation Mental and physical health and wellbeing Intellectual interactions (scientific and / or educational) Physical and experiential interactions with plants and animals Social and community interactions Scale Spatial scale Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level Beneficiaries Demographics in implementation area The project is being implemented across Cagliari, encompassing around 50 schools throughout the city. In 2022, Cagliari had a population of 150,679. The most populous age group in the city is the 50s, with 25,764 people (17.10%), followed by those in their 60s, numbering 22,212 (14.74%). There are 78,403 families in Cagliari; of these, 49.06% are single-person households, and 25.36% consist of two people. Larger families are relatively rare, with only 2.64% of households having five or more members. Cagliari has a positive migration balance of 895 people, with 4,510 immigrants and 3,615 emigrants. There are 9,480 foreign nationals residing in the city, an increase of 253 from 2021, making up 6.29% of the total population. In 2022, the largest foreign communities were Filipino, Ukrainian, Romanian, and Chinese, collectively representing 45.30% of the foreign residents (Ref. 7). Socio-economic profile of the area Unknown Communities vulnerable to environmental hazards or climate change impacts No Non-government actors Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital) Primary Beneficiaries Young people and children Specify primary beneficiaries The primary beneficiaries of the Cagliari school garden redevelopment project are the young students who attend the schools involved. They gain access to enhanced outdoor spaces for learning, play, and physical activities, which support their educational, physical, and mental well-being. Teachers and school staff also benefit from improved environments that provide more opportunities for outdoor teaching and engagement. Additionally, families and the broader school community benefit from the enriched educational experience and the increased focus on sustainability and environmental stewardship (Refs. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5). Marginalized groups Children, young people or youth groups Measures for inclusion of marginalised groups "The intervention includes the provision of large gazebos that host the schoolchildren, protected by adequate shade and with the provision of furniture (seats and picnic tables). It also includes the provision of sports and play equipment, graduated for the various ages and the preparation of adequate areas with natural surfaces or synthetic or anti-trauma grass." (2) Other beneficiaries Native plant vegetation Public health (e.g. increased physical activity opportunities, reduced stress) 4. Governance and financing Governance Governance arrangements Co-governance with government and non-government actors Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative - The Municipality of Cagliari: Responsible for overseeing the project, ensuring its alignment with city-wide goals, and managing the implementation process. - Local Schools and Educational Institutions: These are directly involved as the sites of the project, benefiting from the redevelopment and incorporating the new outdoor spaces into their educational programs. Thus, school administrators and teachers play a crucial role in integrating the new garden spaces into the curriculum and daily school activities, as well as maintaining and managing these areas. Funding was provided by the local municipality, the Italian government and the EU. (Refs. 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5). Key actors - initiating organization Local government/municipality Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors) National government Public sector institution EU body Level of citizen and community engagement Moderate Participatory methods/forms of stakeholder involvement (all stakeholders) Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping) Dissemination of information and education Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting) Uncommon actors ("Missing actors") Public Services Schools Land owners Educational actor (schools or universities) Policy drivers NBS intervention implemented in response to a Regional Directive/Strategy Unknown NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan Yes Please specify the national regulations/strategy/plan PON Metro Plus (National Operational Program for Metropolitan Cities) 2021-2027 (2) If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme/type of the plan Other Please specify other national policy instrument sustainable urban development plan for Italian cities (2) NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan Yes Please specify the "local regulation/strategy/plan" The project has been developed as part of the Cagliari strategy within the PON metro plus project(Ref. 8). Relevant strategy or plan City specific green space strategy or plan Mandatory or voluntary intervention Mandatory (based on policy) Intervention is mandatory Environmental regulation Enablers & Barriers Type of enablers Support from transitional governance actors Funds, subsidies or investment for GI/NBS in the city (available for the city or provided by the city) Please provide details (e.g, name of the plan or strategy) for the selected policies or initiatives. PNRR and PON Metro Cagliari strategies can be considered enablers for the project (Refs. 6 & 8). Support from the EU (2) Governace and decison-making instruments Legislative and regulatory instruments (e.g. laws, strategies, regulations or restrictions) Strategic instruments (e.g. GI strategies, green space strategy or plans) Economic and fiscal instruments (e.g. subsidies or grants, charges or fees, payments for ecosystem services (PES)) Educational and knowledge sharing instruments (e.g. science/ living labs, awareness raising campaigns, specific educational programs, green hubs) Arrangements for governance cooperation Unknown Barriers No significant barriers have been identified, aside from some minor inconveniences noticed by the families of the school-going children due to the ongoing construction work (Ref. 4). Financing Total cost €2,000,000 - €4,000,000 Please specify total cost (EUR) €3300000 (Ref. 2) What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements? n/a Source(s) of funding Public local authority budget Public national budget EU funds Type of fund(s) used Earmarked public budget Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities) Non-financial contribution Yes Who provided the non-financial contribution? Citizens (e.g. volunteering) Other Please specify other source of non-financial contribution Educational actor (1) Type of non-financial contribution Provision of land Provision of labour Co-finance for NBS Yes Co-governance arrangement A fund / grant Entrepreneurship opportunities No Business models Business models Green densification model Green education model Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model? Public actor (e.g. municipality) 5. Evaluation and learning Impacts, benefits Environmental impacts Climate change Energy efficiency improvements Achieved energy efficiency improvements Green space and habitat Increased green space area Expected increased green space area Increased number of species present Achieved increased number of species present Description of environmental benefits - Energy efficiency improvements: "thanks to the provision in each school of an automated, computerized irrigation system, which will greatly limit the waste of the very important resource constituted by water and at the same time provide important economic savings." (Ref. 2) - Increased green space area: "The new plantings were extremely important: [...] 4,650 square meters of lawns.” (Ref. 3) - Increased number of species present: "The new plantings were extremely important: about 50 thousand new shrubs and essences”; "flowers of bulbous, rhizomatous, tuberous" (3) Environmental impact indicators Green space area created (in ha) 4650 Economic impacts Unknown Description of economic benefits unknown Social and cultural impacts Health and wellbeing Gain in activities for recreation and exercise Expected gain in activities for recreation and exercise Improved physical health Expected improved physical health Improved mental health Expected improved mental health Education Increased knowledge of locals about local nature Expected increased knowledge of locals about local nature Description of social and cultural benefits - Gain in activities for recreation and exercise: "the sports-recreational one, thanks to the provision of furniture for sports and play, with the laying of protective anti-trauma, synthetic or natural surfaces" (Ref. 2). - Improved physical health: "Given recent studies on the benefits that green spaces can bring as much to physical and psychological well-being as to children's immune systems" (Ref. 2) - Improved mental health:"Given recent studies on the benefits that green spaces can bring as much to physical and psychological well-being as to children's immune systems" (Ref. 2) - Increased knowledge of locals about local nature: "Planting of Indigenous plants of the Mediterranean maquis, posterized for popular educational purposes" (Ref. 1) Mental health benefits Improved mood Restoration and relaxation Increased feelings of nature connection Increased feelings of happiness and contentment Evidence for use of assessment Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process Unknown Presence of indicators used in reporting No evidence in public records Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports No evidence in public records Availability of a web-based monitoring tool Yes Link to a web-based monitoring tool http://www.pongovernance1420.gov.it/it/programma/gestione-controllo/sistema-inf… Name of any specific impact assessment tools Unknown Use of GIS in mapping impacts No evidence in public records Cost-benefit analysis No Transparency Public disclosure of project funding sources and/or budgets Online disclosure of technical reports (e.g. project documents, reports, or data) Justice Community satisfaction Unknown Description of locals satisfaction with the project Unknown Trade-offs & Negative impacts Unknown Emphasis of existing social inequalities or injustices No information reported related to negative social justice-related impacts of the NBS project Measures to prevent gentrification or displacement No initiatives or policies were implemented High-quality & Transformative NBS Multiple impacts delivery (climate, biodiversity, just community) Yes Goal setting and impacts delivery No, although benefits were delivered in all the 3 key areas, but in the planning phase, the project did not aim to address issues in all the 3 key priority areas. Long-term perspective Unknown: No information about the project's long-term sustainability. Cost-effective solutions No Equitable impacts A. All stakeholders benefit fairly from the project Transformative capacity Social change (e.g. social relationships, networks and dynamics within them) Ecological change (e.g. ecosystem functions and their distribution) Magnitude of change Incremental: shallow; that is, mostly maintaining business-as-usual approaches to adaptation Application of lessons learned The NBS has been shared or used as a good practice to trigger transformative change Perception of Environmental Change Unknown 6. Sources References 1. Comune di Cagliari (n.d.). Riqualificazione giardini scolastici a Cagliari. Accessed on August 26, 2024, [Source link] [Archive]; 2. Comune di Cagliari (2023). PON METRO REACT EU: riqualificati 50 giardini scolastici comunali. Accessed on August 26, 2024, [Source link] [Archive]; 3. Ansa (2024). Cagliari, premio 'La città per il verde' ai giardini scolastici. Accessed on August 26, 2024, [Source link] [Archive]; 4. Comune di Cagliari (2023). Inaugurati i giardini scolastici di via Parigi e via dei Genieri. Accessed on August 26, 2024, [Source link] [Archive]; 5. L'unione Sarda (2023). Cagliari, inaugurati i nuovi giardini scolastici di via Corona e via Watt. Accessed on August 26, 2024, [Source link] [Archive]; 6. Italian Government (2021). PNRR: rivoluzione verde e transizione ecologica. Accessed on August 26, 2024, [Source link] [Archive]; 7. Comune di Cagliari (2022). Atlante Demografico di Cagliari 2022. Accessed on August 26, 2024, [Source link] [Archive]; 8. Metro Plus e Città Medie Sud (n.d.). Città Metro Plus. Accessed on August 26, 2024, [Source link] [Archive]; Comments and notes Public Images Image Photo of the school gardens created during the project's implementation. Comune di Cagliari. n.d. “Riqualificazione Giardini Scolastici a Cagliari.” Comune Di Cagliari. Accessed August 27, 2024. https://www.comune.cagliari.it/portale/page/it/riqualificazione_giardini_scolastici_a_cagliari?contentId=FPR168314&error=login_required&state=00076454-e5d1-44e6-8c5c-215a3916aad3. Image Photo from the presentation of the initiative at one of the schools that joined the project. Comune di Cagliari. n.d. “Riqualificazione Giardini Scolastici a Cagliari.” Comune Di Cagliari. Accessed August 27, 2024. https://www.comune.cagliari.it/portale/page/it/riqualificazione_giardini_scolastici_a_cagliari?contentId=FPR168314&error=login_required&state=00076454-e5d1-44e6-8c5c-215a3916aad3.
Image Photo of the school gardens created during the project's implementation. Comune di Cagliari. n.d. “Riqualificazione Giardini Scolastici a Cagliari.” Comune Di Cagliari. Accessed August 27, 2024. https://www.comune.cagliari.it/portale/page/it/riqualificazione_giardini_scolastici_a_cagliari?contentId=FPR168314&error=login_required&state=00076454-e5d1-44e6-8c5c-215a3916aad3.
Image Photo from the presentation of the initiative at one of the schools that joined the project. Comune di Cagliari. n.d. “Riqualificazione Giardini Scolastici a Cagliari.” Comune Di Cagliari. Accessed August 27, 2024. https://www.comune.cagliari.it/portale/page/it/riqualificazione_giardini_scolastici_a_cagliari?contentId=FPR168314&error=login_required&state=00076454-e5d1-44e6-8c5c-215a3916aad3.
