Speakers
Description
In recent years, many European cities have adopted new planning tools to manage climate change through new strategies, rethinking the relationship between the city and nature and innovating urban planning practices. Around 60% of the European population lives in small and medium-sized cities (10,000-250,000 inhabitants) (Selada et al., 2010), which often face climate challenges without adequate human and financial resources. To address this, these cities often seek external funding from institutions or foundations through competitive tenders. The strategic plans developed from these inputs and adopted by local administrations not only identify specific actions but also aim to integrate adaptation and mitigation strategies into mainstream planning tools, thereby promoting sustainable development and climate resilience. The case study is the Strategia Clima promoted by the Fondazione Cariplo, which aims to develop Climate Transition Strategies (CTS) in the territory of the Lombardy region.
Urban planning has sought to reintroduce nature into cities and to reflect on the dialectical relationship between the individual and green spaces. From Howard's Garden City and Cerdà's Barcelona Plan to modern climate adaptation strategies, improved urban living conditions have been linked to the quantity, usability and quality of green spaces. Initially focused on hygiene, urban planning now sees cities as systems closely linked to natural elements, adding objectives such as biodiversity protection, urban drainage, heat mitigation and recreational use. Experimental approaches are often adopted in urban climate adaptation and mitigation policies, especially in competitive tendering (Bulkeley and Broto, 2013; Caprotti and Cowley, 2017). It is crucial to assess the socio-ecological effectiveness of these experiments and their implications for urban systems and planning policies. Drawing on the concept of social nature (Castree and Braun, 2001), this study examines how different ideologies, imaginaries and goals shape approaches to nature, highlighting the relationship between society and nature, or 'socionatures' (Swyngedouw, 1996), created by climate strategies. Finally, drawing on Urban Political Ecology (Heynen et al., 2006), the research assesses the social and political outcomes of these interventions, focusing on inequalities resulting from design choices, actions and places.
This contribution examines how local communities interact with green spaces and interpret the concept of nature within the Climate Transition Strategies (CTS) of medium-sized Italian cities. It explores urban spaces that reflect diverse approaches to urban nature, ranging from conservation to the implementation of "new natures" (Tononi, 2025) aimed at reducing temperatures, improving drainage, and increasing biodiversity. The study analyzes the legacy of first-generation strategies (2020), focusing on both the results of implemented actions and their influence on planning instruments, comparing initial objectives with the results achieved to date. Through a methodology that compares CTS adapted to local needs via a common funding call, the research delves into different interpretations of nature's role in these strategies. It examines the commodification of natural elements, their use as tools for rebranding city images, and their potential to reshape the relationship between society and nature. Additionally, it assesses how global climate policies are localized to address specific needs for protection, conservation, and the reproduction of natural elements.
The analysis aims to identify ways and results to interpret the concept of nature in climate policies from global and continental scale inputs to the local scale, analyzing climate transition strategies that consider the needs and diversity of the territories and communities they affect.
References
Broto, V. C., & Bulkeley, H. (2013). Maintaining climate change experiments: Urban political ecology and the everyday reconfiguration of urban infrastructure. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37(6), 1934–1948.
Castree, N., & Braun, B. (2001). Social nature: theory, practice, and politics. Blackwell Publishers
Caprotti, F., & Cowley, R. (2017). Interrogating urban experiments. Urban Geography, 38(9), 1441-1450.
Heynen, N., Kaika, M., & Swyngedouw, E. (2006). In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of Urban Metabolism. Routledge
Selada, C., Tomaz, E., & Cunha, I. (2011). Creative-based Strategies in Small and Medium-sized Cities: Guidelines for Local Authorities. Technical Action Plan develop by INTELI -Inteligência em Inovação, Centro de Inovação. 10.13140/RG.2.2.33945.63841.
Tononi M. (2025) Urban socionatures and climate strategies: the cases of three medium-sized cities in Northern Italy, in Bonati S. Cisani M. Tononi M, & Zanolin G. Critical Perspectives on Social Constructions of Nature Italy and the Bel Paese.
Swyngedouw, E. (1996). The city as a hybrid: On nature, society and cyborg urbanization. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 7(2): 65–80.
| Keywords | Climate Transition; Medium-sized cities; Socionatures |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
