UNIgreen JRC4 scientific seminar #5 – “Climate-Friendly Parks” as urban practice: the experimental case of Reggio Emilia (Italy)
This seminar presents a case- study of natural restoration intervention carried out in the “Marco Biagi” Park in Reggio Emilia (Italy), within the LIFE CityAdap3 project.
The study quantifies ecosystem services provided by an urban green area enriched with multiple landscape elements, offering a replicable model of urban restoration. Four types of NBS are analyzed: two micro-forests, rural edges, tree rows, and a constructed wetland. The microforests were established following the Miyawaki method, using both native and Mediterranean-adapted species. Preliminary results from two years of monitoring (2024–2025) highlight differences in biodiversity, structure, and ecosystem functioning among the interventions. The study also evaluates microclimatic mitigation by comparing green and built-up areas.
Giulia Santunione is a researcher in Environmental and Applied Botany at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy). She holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering and a MSc in Biology. Her research focuses on urban vegetation, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, with particular attention to urban forestry and Nature-Based Solutions for climate adaptation. She works on the assessment of plant diversity, structural and functional traits of urban trees, and their role in microclimatic mitigation, carbon sequestration, and air quality improvement.
She has extensive experience in tree and shrub inventories, biodiversity monitoring in urban and peri-urban green spaces, and the evaluation of adaptive responses of woody species to environmental and thermal stress.
She is the author of over 30 peer-reviewed scientific publications indexed in Scopus and Web of Science and collaborates closely with local administrations on applied research projects aimed at enhancing urban resilience and biodiversity under changing climatic conditions.