1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Palermo
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Palermo: piano di riqualificazione del quartiere Zen
Short description of the intervention
The intervention will be carried out in the Zen neighbourhood, as part of an overarching project which includes the care of green areas and plantation of new trees in the parks, especially those close to public schools. There will be 11 specific areas of intervention within the Zen neighbourhood. In addition, it is underlined the specific service provided by those new areas, such as the positive impact of the green view, the mitigation of effects such as urban pollution and human impact on the environment. (Ref.1.)
Address

90146 Palermo
Italy

Location
The NBS is situated in an area, with clear delineation of boundaries and a specific shape (polygon). The NBS project can also have more than one area location (more than one polygon, situated close by).
Area boundary
POINT (13.30793 38.1866)
POINT (13.320157 38.178251)
POINT (13.309256 38.177225)
POINT (13.318209 38.182659)
NBS area image
Source of NBS area image
https://journals.openedition.org/mediterranee/8389
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Residential
Website of the intervention
https://www.impresedilinews.it/palermo-piano-di-riqualificazione-del-quartiere-…
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
unknown
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2016
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Goals of the intervention
The goal of the intervention is to regenerate the Zen neighbourhood, with a particular focus on green areas. The aim is to create new green areas to reduce human impact and to produce positive effects in terms of health and air quality. In addition, the process aims to produce positive social effects in terms of social inclusion (Ref.2.)
Quantitative targets
11 green sites with flowerbeds (total area of 68.000 m2)
4 roundabout with green plants (19.000 m2)
5 school playgrounds (16.000 m2)
2 green sport areas (44.000 m2)
(Ref.3.)
Monitoring indicators defined
Unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Environmental quality
Air quality improvement
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Social cohesion
Social interaction
Implementation activities
The planning of activities first concerned the involvement of different stakeholders, namely the municipality, the Coime association (cleaning and plantation activities) and the mobility office within the city. After that, the zones of intervention were established, according to the urgency of the area. (Ref. 1&2)
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Grey infrastructure featuring greens
Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
Green playgrounds and school grounds
Parks and urban forests
Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
Vegetation Type
Grass
Shrubs
Trees
Please specify how many trees were planted
Unknown number of trees
Amenities offered by the NBS
Benches and drinking water stations
Playgrounds
Sports areas and equipment
Complementing infrastructure (bathrooms, café)
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Local climate regulation (temperature reduction)
Carbon storage/sequestration
Cultural services
Recreation
Intellectual interactions (scientific and / or educational)
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Citizens or community groups
Marginalized groups
Young people and children
Marginalized groups
Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed)
Governance
Governance arrangements
Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Non-government actors
Private sector/Corporate/Business
Researchers, university
Citizens or community groups
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
Municipality of Palermo = establishes the intervention, provides financial contribution and assigns the different areas to the departments within the municipality itself
Coime = public agency responsible for cleaning and plantation of the assigned areas
University of Palermo = conducts research on the regeneration of the area
Schools and residents = proposing educational and recreational activities to be performed in the regenerated areas (Ref.1&2)
Key actors - initiating organization
Local government/municipality
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
National government
Local government/municipality
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Taskforce groups
Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Yes
Please specify the national regulations/strategy/plan
Regeneration processes are regulated at national level by the "Piano nazionale per la rigenerazione urbana sostenibile" (National plan for sustainable urban regeneration) which sets the norms and rules for the regeneration process at local level, and the sustainability challenges which need to be addresses in the process (Ref.5.)
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Unknown
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Mandatory (based on policy)
Intervention is mandatory
Spatial planning law
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
Regeneration processes are regulated at national level by the "Piano nazionale per la rigenerazione urbana sostenibile" (National plan for sustainable urban regeneration) which sets the norms and rules for the regeneration process at local level, and the sustainability challenges which need to be addresses in the process (Ref.5.)
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
No
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
General municipal plan
Urban redevelopment plan
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
In 2012 the UNiversity of Palermo published "Lo ZEN 2 di Palermo: un laboratorio per il progetto e la gestione del recupero" (Zen: a laboratory for the regeneration project and gesture of resources) which aims at setting the guidelines for the intervention zones (Ref.5)
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
With the comma 141 of article 1, law of 11th of December 2016 n. 232 – Bilancio di previsione dello Stato per l’anno finanziario 2017 e bilancio pluriennale per il triennio 2017-2019 (balance sheet of the State for the financial year 2017 and balance sheet for the years 2017-2019), which sets the financial aids for specific regeneration projects (Ref.3.)
Co-finance for NBS
Yes
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
More than €4,000,000
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
28,7 mil. EUR (3)
Source(s) of funding
Public local authority budget
Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)
Type of fund(s) used
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
Green densification model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Citizens / local communities
Type of innovation
Social
Governance innovation
Please specify social innovation
The innovation can be considered as a governance innovation because the citizens have a certain degree of autonomy to choose how new activities will be implemented in the new green regenerated areas. This helps to promote decentralised modes of governance (Ref.1.)
Novelty level of the innovation
Ambiguous (e.g. multiple interpretations)
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
The city has planned regeneration of specific areas, and the Zen neighbourhood is one of them. Nevertheless, there is no specific mention to similar projects this interventions was inspired to (Ref.2.)
Replicability/Transferability
The innovation is not referred to as being transferred to new initiative(s)
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Climate change
Enhanced carbon sequestration
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Reduced biodiversity loss
Increased number of species present
Description of environmental benefits
Only in 2020, the municipality signed the requalification plan. The intervention is expected to have positive impacts on environmental quality, as the green areas will help in the process of carbon sequestration. In addition, the area will enhance the presence of plants and animals by protecting biodiversity. (1, 6)
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Safety
Decreased crime rates
Social justice and cohesion
Improved liveability
Description of social and cultural benefits
The whole area will improve the well-being of the residents by providing open recreational space, considering that ZEN is an economically deprived quarter. As a result of rampant unemployment, poverty, high school drop-out rate and marginalization of the residents, ZEN has become notorious for its crime, juvenile delinquency, and social degradation so it is expected that the NBS will help decrease the crime rate (Ref.1.)
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts
Indicators
- m2 of green areas regenerated;
- number of trees to be planted;
- number of people benefiting from the NBS - 16,000(Ref.2.).
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Environmental quality
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Positive distribution of NBS benefits
Improved access to green and/or blue spaces
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of October 2020
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
Yes
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Yes
Mode(s) of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
Other
Please specify other modes of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
Citizens were informally asked to give an opinion on the success of the initiative and the positive impacts of the regeneration (Ref.2.)
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Ref.1. Zen. Tre settimane di lavori per la riqualificazione e rigenerazione del…
Ref.2. Palermo, tre settimane per "rigenerare" lo Zen
Ref.3. Palermo: piano di riqualificazione del quartiere Zen
Ref.4. Lo ZEN 2 di Palermo: un laboratorio per il progetto e la gestione del re…
Ref. 6 Zen, Sperone e Borgo Nuovo cambieranno volto: sì al piano di riqualifica…
Documents relevant to the intervention
Attachment Size
Ref.5. National plan sus urban regeneration (118.85 KB) 118.85 KB
List of references
Ref.1. Comune di Palermo (2016). Zen. Tre settimane di lavori per la riqualificazione e rigenerazione del quartiere. Available at https://www.comune.palermo.it/noticext.php?id=10022 (Accessed 11-10-2020)
Ref.2. La Repubblica (2016). Palermo, tre settimane per "rigenerare" lo Zen. Available at http://palermo.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/04/15/news/palermo_tre_settimane_per_rigenerare_lo_zen_ma_i_giovani_del_quartiere_contestano_il_comune-137717437/ (Accessed 11-10-2020)
Ref.3. Impresaedilenews (2016). Palermo: piano di riqualificazione del quartiere Zen. Available at http://www.impresedilinews.it/palermo-piano-di-riqualificazione-del-quartiere-zen/ (Accessed 11-10-2020)
Ref.4. Univeristà di Palermo (2012) Lo ZEN 2 di Palermo: un laboratorio per il progetto e la gestione del recupero. Available at https://www.unipa.it/persone/docenti/a/giuseppe.alaimo/?pagina=pubblicazione&idPubblicazione=91758 (Website not available in 2020)
Ref.5. Ministero della Repubblica Italiana (2012). Il Piano Nazionale per la Rigenerazione Urbana Sostenibile. Roma: pp. 1-8
Ref.6, Giornale di Sicilia (2020), Zen, Sperone e Borgo Nuovo cambieranno volto: sì al piano di riqualificazione di Palermo, Available at https://palermo.gds.it/articoli/cronaca/2020/04/24/zen-sperone-e-borgo-nuovo-cambieranno-volto-si-al-piano-di-riqualificazione-di-palermo-4b8030d2-baad-4325-9e0b-40ded9e2c9a7/ (Accessed 11-10-2020)
Comments and notes
Pictures of the NBS
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/p1050287.jpg
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/zen.jpg
Public Images
Area view
https://palermo.gds.it/articoli/cronaca/2020/04/24/zen-sperone-e-borgo-nuovo-cambieranno-volto-si-al-piano-di-riqualificazione-di-palermo-4b8030d2-baad-4325-9e0b-40ded9e2c9a7/