1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Palermo
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Orti urbani Codifas
Short description of the intervention
The association Codifas started its own initiative to inform citizens on the danger of practising traditional agriculture, and the advantages of sustainable agriculture. The initiative has been implemented by applying the concept of social inclusion, which means that young people from foreign countries (Ghana, Senegal etc.) were involved in the project and they helped to realize it. Together with the goal of social inclusion, the project has important benefits in terms of sustainable production and consumption. The whole area for cultivation has been divided into several plots, for those citizens who are willing to cultivate it. (Ref.1.)
Address

90121 Palermo
Italy

Location
Point location, which indicates where the NBS takes place
NBS area
10000.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Residential
Website of the intervention
https://www.greenme.it/spazi-verdi/radici/orti-urbani-palermo-integrazione-soci…
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2006
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2006
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Goals of the intervention
The main goals of the intervention are the self-production of food (in order to not be dependent on suppliers and to minimize the environmental impact due to transport) and social cohesion, as people from different nationalities and social status are involved (this is a relevant problem, especially in southern Italy) (Ref.1.)
Quantitative targets
Unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
Unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Social cohesion
Social interaction
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Sustainable consumption
Sustainable production
Implementation activities
The municipality approved the project of the association, which took care of preparing the available land, with the help of volunteers. After that, the whole surface was divided into plots available for those willing to cultivate it. (Ref.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
Community gardens and allotments
Allotments
Community gardens
Please specify the number of plots or allotment gardens
Unknown number
Vegetation Type
Garden beds
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Provisioning services
Food for human consumption (crops, vegetables)
Cultural services
Recreation
Social and community interactions
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Citizens or community groups
Marginalized groups
Young people and children
Marginalized groups
Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants
Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed)
Please specify other local relevant strategy
Rural development plan (1)
Governance
Governance arrangements
Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Non-government actors
Non-governmental organisation (NGO) / Civil society / Churches
Citizens or community groups
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
Codifas = NGOs that initiated the intervention. They are providing the land and experience for cultivation, as well as the products to be cultivated
Municipality of Palermo = authorized the intervention, and generally supports agricultural interventions at local level
Citizens and community groups = pratically implement the intervention
Ref. (1&2)
Key actors - initiating organization
Non-government organisation/civil society
Land owners
Other
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Non-government organisation/civil society
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Other
Please specify other land owner
Private citizen donated the land for the NGO to use (4)
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Please specify other landowner
Private citizen donated the land for the NGO to use (4)
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Yes
Please specify the "Regional Directive/Strategy"
The EU regulation n.1303/2013 named European Agricultural fund establishes the criteria for intervention and funding for practices at rural level and community-based initiatives (Ref.4.)
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Yes
Please specify the "local regulation/strategy/plan"
The Programma di Sviluppo Rurale Sicilia 2014-2020 (Rural development plan) has been implemented at the local level in order to support initiatives such as community gardens, horticulture, regeneration of green areas etc. (Ref.1.)
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Mandatory (based on policy)
Intervention is mandatory
Spatial planning guidance
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify the general plan with GI/NBS section
The Programma di Sviluppo Rurale Sicilia 2014-2020 (Rural development plan) has been implemented at the local level in order to support initiatives such as community gardens, horticulture, regeneration of green areas etc. (Ref.1.)
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
Other
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
In relation to the project, there is a partnership among the city of Palermo, community groups and volunteers and the NGOs to implement the intervention (Ref.2.)
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The EU regulation n.1303/2013 named European Agricultural fund establishes the criteria for intervention and funding for practices at rural level and community-based initiatives (Ref.4.)
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
Unknown
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)
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
EU funds
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
Yes
Type of non-financial contribution
Provision of land
Provision of goods
Provision of labour
Provision of expertise
Exchange of services
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Other
Business models
Local stewardship model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Private non-for-profit actor (e.g. NGO, foundation)
Citizens / local communities
Type of innovation
Social
Governance innovation
Please specify social innovation
The innovation can be considered as a governance innovation. In fact, the cultivation is carried out entirely by volunteers and citizens, which are previously trained by members of the NGOs. Is at the same time exchange of knowledge, decentralised production and sustainable consumption (Ref. 1&2)
Novelty level of the innovation
The innovation is copied/derived from previous initiative(s) with substantial adaptation
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
There is mention in the documents of other initiatives that inspired this project, but there is no specific mention of particular ones (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
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Description of environmental benefits
The NBS did not produce reports regarding the environmental benefits, since it is still ongoing and it is a private initiative. However the local press mentioned that because of this NBS, from the point of view of urban green spaces and also thanks to the creation of city gardens, Palermo holds a record with 32.1% of green areas in the city, against the scarce 5% of public green in most Italian cities. (1)
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Improved social cohesion
Increased visibility and opportunity for marginalised groups or indigenous peoples
Description of social and cultural benefits
The project is open to social integration, as 20 young people from different nations participated in the work to prepare the land to be cultivated, among which it is possible to find Senegal, Morocco, Bangladesh and Ghana.(1)
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
m2 of surface available for cultivation (Ref.2.)
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
Voluntary work opportunities
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Positive distribution of NBS benefits
Improved access to green and/or blue spaces
Increased access to healthy food for humans and/or animals
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
No evidence in public records
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
Submission of monitoring data (citizen observation)
Please specify other modes of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
Citizens were asked to express their opinion on the initiative, and how it can be improved (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. ORTI URBANI: A PALERMO UN ORTO CONDIVISO PER L’INTEGRAZIONE SOCIALE
Ref.2. A Palermo va di moda "l'orto condiviso"
Documents relevant to the intervention
Attachment Size
Ref.4. EU regulation agricultural funds (1.18 MB) 1.18 MB
List of references
Ref.1. GreenMe (2013). ORTI URBANI: A PALERMO UN ORTO CONDIVISO PER L’INTEGRAZIONE SOCIALE. Available at https://www.greenme.it/spazi-verdi/radici/755-orti-urbani-palermo-integrazione-sociale#accept (Accessed 11-10-2020)
Ref.2. AnsaSicilia (2014) A Palermo va di moda "l'orto condiviso". Available at http://www.ansa.it/sicilia/notizie/2014/03/31/a-palermo-va-di-moda-lorto-condiviso_a0b2bcaa-2ec1-44e8-845e-aa20d21b465b.html (Accessed 11-10-2020)
Ref.3. Codifas (2006). Regolamento contratto orti urbani Codifas. Palermo: pp. 1-3
Ref.4. EU (2014). REGOLAMENTO DI ESECUZIONE (UE) N. 184/2014 DELLA COMMISSIONE. Gazzetta ufficiale Unione Europea. Bruxelles: pp. 1-15
Attachments
Attachment Size
Ref.3. Regulation Codifas (49.75 KB) 49.75 KB
Comments and notes
Pictures of the NBS
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/1235491_10200434169645402_1190949180_n.jpg
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/maxresdefault.jpg
Public Images
Preparing the crops
https://www.ansa.it/sicilia/notizie/2014/03/31/a-palermo-va-di-moda-lorto-condiviso_a0b2bcaa-2ec1-44e8-845e-aa20d21b465b.html
Please specify other source of non-financial contribution
NGO and private citizen (1)