Green urban areas are increasingly considered as important components of urban space; commonly, city planners recognise them a role in citizens’ recreation, urban design, climate improving and, more in general, in enhancing the quality of life in the city. Dealing with parks and open areas, the CEROI (UNEP) Environmental Indicators Encyclopedia focuses on the citizens’ welfare and, for the urban planning process, proposes the objective of providing as many green areas as possible. In the framework of the UN Agenda 21 sustainable land-use planning and management, green areas in the city need to be not only various but also of good social and ecological quality; this implies the supply of a large resources amount from the local administration. Citizens’ participation in urban space decision making and management is the most effective solution recommended to improve an aware sharing of civic responsibilities about the natural resources exploitation for an urban sustainable development. Commonly the projects involving citizens’ participation are proposed by the local administration to dialogue with stakeholders; in Genoa, from the late nineties, some groups of citizens begun to request to the municipality the management of public and degraded green areas to recover them for public use. In 2002, agreeing with the citizens’ involvement value stated also by the Charter of Educating Cities (signed by Genoa in 1998), the municipality established a mixed (public managers and citizens) working group which surveyed the several experiences acting so far, proposed to the City Council a resolution for the commitment of public green spaces to groups of citizens and published an handbook to inform people about the relating procedures. After two years of effectiveness of the resolution, the results of this participatory action are discussed, focusing also on the establishment of the “Green Areas Council” at the Municipal Department of Environmental Policy.
Urban green as a place of active citizenship practice: experiences in Genoa (Italy)
MATRICARDI, GIORGIO;
2006-01-01
Abstract
Green urban areas are increasingly considered as important components of urban space; commonly, city planners recognise them a role in citizens’ recreation, urban design, climate improving and, more in general, in enhancing the quality of life in the city. Dealing with parks and open areas, the CEROI (UNEP) Environmental Indicators Encyclopedia focuses on the citizens’ welfare and, for the urban planning process, proposes the objective of providing as many green areas as possible. In the framework of the UN Agenda 21 sustainable land-use planning and management, green areas in the city need to be not only various but also of good social and ecological quality; this implies the supply of a large resources amount from the local administration. Citizens’ participation in urban space decision making and management is the most effective solution recommended to improve an aware sharing of civic responsibilities about the natural resources exploitation for an urban sustainable development. Commonly the projects involving citizens’ participation are proposed by the local administration to dialogue with stakeholders; in Genoa, from the late nineties, some groups of citizens begun to request to the municipality the management of public and degraded green areas to recover them for public use. In 2002, agreeing with the citizens’ involvement value stated also by the Charter of Educating Cities (signed by Genoa in 1998), the municipality established a mixed (public managers and citizens) working group which surveyed the several experiences acting so far, proposed to the City Council a resolution for the commitment of public green spaces to groups of citizens and published an handbook to inform people about the relating procedures. After two years of effectiveness of the resolution, the results of this participatory action are discussed, focusing also on the establishment of the “Green Areas Council” at the Municipal Department of Environmental Policy.
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