"Innovative green infrastructures", the three-year eINS project concluded

At the conclusion of the three-year project on "Green Infrastructure", developed as Work Package 5 of Spoke 9 - Environmental enhancement and protection within the Ecosystem of Innovation for Next Generation Sardinia (e. INS), the final event entitled “Innovative green infrastructures for a sustainable future”.

The works were opened by the Magnificent Rector of the University of Sassari, Gavino Mariotti, Delfina Pala of the Board of Directors of the s. c. a. r. l. E. INS, and Alessandra Carucci, scientific coordinator of Spoke 9 of the University of Cagliari.

The round table will follow “Scientific, administrative, economic and cultural challenges for a sustainable future: the contribution of the Sardinian Innovation Ecosystem”, which saw the comparison between exponents of the world of business, politics, culture and representatives of the two regional universities.

The case of the ancient botanical garden on Via Repubblica Romana

During the day, the themes and main results of the research conducted by Spoke were illustrated, with particular attention to the contributions of the young researchers who, during the three-year period, developed specific studies on green infrastructures.

The final session, moderated by Emmanuele Farris, WP5 Spoke 09 coordinator of e. INS, DISCI UniSS, was dedicated to an emblematic case of green infrastructure recovered for public use thanks to the commitment of citizens and associations: the remaining portion of the ancient city botanical garden active in the 1920s, located in the area of ​​the current street Roman Republic. A successful civic action that made it possible to save an area from overbuilding and start the path towards full social and environmental valorisation.

Green infrastructures

The green infrastructure , understood as a strategic network of natural and semi-natural areas managed to provide multiple environmental, economic and social benefits, represent a fundamental asset of contemporary socio-ecological systems, as they guarantee a vast range of ecosystem services and ecological connections in rural and urban contexts.

Inside the Spoke 9, the task “Optimization of green infrastructures of urban and agrosilvopastoral systems”, coordinated by the University of Sassari, worked both to fill important knowledge gaps and to promote the management optimization of green infrastructures, strengthening communication and collaboration between institutions and stakeholders. The main in-depth areas include: the characteristics of urban soils; the effects of meso- and microclimatic dynamics on vegetation at a detailed scale; the census and monitoring of urban biodiversity; the transformations of habitats in protected areas over twenty years.

At the same time, a significant commitment was dedicated to the organization of dissemination, participation and knowledge transfer activities: over 60 events held in the three-year period 2023-2025, aimed in particular at high school and university students to encourage them to get closer to green jobs ; support initiatives for local administrations for the design and management of strategic contexts (the dune system of the Maria Pia beach in Alghero and Cala Brandinchi in San Teodoro; the Galtellì environmental education center project; the valorisation of the landscape around the archaeological site of Sos Furrighesos in Anela as part of the candidacy of the Domus de Janas as a UNESCO World Heritage Site); a Social Agriculture course for prisoners, in collaboration with the Penitentiary Directorates of Alghero and Tempio Pausania; participatory and community mapping activities on historical-cultural values ​​and the benefits of green infrastructures in Genoni (OR), Capo Testa (Palau, SS) and Capo Caccia.

To test innovative approaches to the systemic management of territorial green infrastructures, an agreement of intent was also signed with the Special Park Agency of Porto Conte and with the municipal administrations of Alghero, Ittiri and Sassari. In this target area, green infrastructures were analyzed along a gradient that goes from urban to protected natural areas, passing through peri-urban, agricultural and pastoral contexts. The substantial amount of data collected was returned to local communities through three thematic events organized in autumn 2025: in Ittiri (green infrastructures in peri-urban agricultural areas, with a focus on historic olive groves), in Alghero-Porto Conte Regional Park (green infrastructures in protected areas) and in Sassari (urban green infrastructures).

The event on 28 November therefore represented a moment of public restitution of the results of the three-year period, but also an opportunity for discussion and co-planning to imagine the future developments of the project, in the awareness that the planning and management of green infrastructures capable of supporting socio-economic systems in the context of rapid current change constitute one of the crucial challenges for a fair and sustainable future.