Acquiring Urban Resilience Against Floods and Droughts: a novel citizen-powered integrated Green and Blue System

AQUAGREEN is focused on piloting solutions to make urban areas more resilient to extreme weather events in the municipality of Faenza, Emilia-Romagna, which suffered devastating floods in May 2023. The project will include the creation of a blue-green Multifunctional Resilience Park Living Lab (MRPLL) in a public area of about 3.5 hectares in the Borgo Durbecco district. Within the MRPLL, different solutions, usually implemented individually, will be integrated into an innovative, digital, and high-performing system. These will include permeable pavements to enhance water infiltration, rain gardens, a green roof, and a multipurpose tank designed both for rainwater collection (to be used for irrigation) and as a detention basin to reduce downstream runoff. A digital interface will turn the MRPLL into a Living Lab, enabling continuous citizen involvement in creative co-design. In addition, the MRPLL pilot will be supported by two tools operating at a wider territorial level: a real-time Decision Support System, and an innovative Early Warning System to help public authorities promptly alert the population. The integration of these different solutions into a single system, replicable on a larger scale across the EU, represents the main innovation and originality of the project.

Reference Site

https://www.urban-initiative.eu/ia-cities/faenza/about-projects

Project partners

• Romagna Faentina Union (Coordinator)
• Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna
• IUAV University of Venice
• HERAtech S.r.l.
• CAE S.p.A.
• Multiservice Inter-municipal Enterprise Consortium
• BORGO DURBECCO APS
• Municipality of Michalovce
• City of Slavonski Brod
• Municipality of Verviers

Duration

01/12/2024 - 30/11/2027

UNIBO research team

• Dipartimento DISTAL (Coordinatore) – Patrizia Tassinari (Coordinatore per UNIBO e referente DISTAL); Daniele Torreggiani, Alberto Barbaresi, Marco Bovo, Stefano Benni, Enrica Santolini, Maria Eva Giorgioni, Alberto Minelli.
• Dipartimento DA – Riccardo Foschi (Referente per il DA); Alessia Zampini; Andrea Ugolini; Angela Santangelo; Elisa Conticelli; Fabrizio Ivan Apollonio; Rosa Smurra.
• Dipartimento DICAM - Marco Maglionico (Referente per il DICAM); Gabriele Bitelli; Irene Daprà; Vittorio Di Federico; Claudio Lantieri; Cesare Sangiorgi; Andrea Simone; Piergiorgio Tataranni; Luca Vittuari.

DICAM research areas

• water
• transport systems and road infrastructure
• geomatics