10 cities in Emilia-Romagna placed themselves in “Ecosistema Urbano 2022” top 20, the chart awarding the most performance urban centres in terms of a green and sustainable approach even if during 2021, the post-pandemic phase, many regions' capitals struggled in reaching their environmental goals.

Legambiente, an Italian non-profit environmental organization founded in 1980, releases every year a report about the environmental performance of 105 Italian main cities, monitoring 18 factors divided into 6 different thematic areas: water, air, waste, mobility, urban environment and energy.

The chart shows a percentage value, where 100% means the accomplishment of the goals. Despite being on the national chart, none regional capitals gained the podium; Reggio Emilia, Forlì and Rimini placed among the first 20, respectively at the 4°, 8° and 11° positions.

We should consider ourselves lucky to live in our region, which every day foresees new environmental challenges and takes action to offer greener cities to its inhabitants. Here’s a list of case studies, displaced all along Emilia-Romagna, showing the implementation of green policies and guidelines.

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Roots for our future

4,5 million trees will be planted in just five years. This is the ambitious goal set by the Emilia-Romagna region for becoming the “green corridor” of Italy.

From the beginning of the campaign, on the 1st of October 2020, they were given away around 1.215.332 trees to the region's inhabitants. The initiative aims to extend the wooded area of Emilia-Romagna, thanks to the creation of green infrastructure, the restoration of the natural ecosystem in the flatland with the growth of endemic forests, and realizing new forest plantations close to water streams.

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A bicycle-friendly city

Reggio Emilia places itself as 4° in the national chart of Legambiente, once again confirming its advocacy as a green urban center.

Reggio Emilia has been recognised as the most suitable city for cyclists in Emilia-Romagna, counting around 45 meters of bike lanes for each inhabitant, the highest rate in the country.

This vibrant city of our region has always been an example of its educational approach. Home of pedagogic Loris Malaguzzi and the Studies Center named after him, Reggio Emilia has become an icon for its educational approach. The new generations in this city are raised since early childhood by sharing the concept of sustainability, especially in mobility.

The municipality of Reggio Emilia is a partner of the European School Chance project, together with six other European medium-sized cities, focusing on the creation of a home-to-school mobility plan and related actions for the implementation and promotion of sustainable mobility and safe school environments. 

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Plastic Free Bologna

If you live in Bologna or you've travelled to it, you spend at least one evening in the buzzy bars of Pratello, the hipster and students vibe neighbourhood in the city centre.

Residents and local traders set an agreement to stop the distribution of disposable plastic across the neighbourhood, especially from bars and street food restaurants, to positively answer the new EU law. The local community reached the set goal on the last 25th of April for Liberation Day, a peaceful manifestation highly participated by residents and visitors.

This community project was run by Legambiente Bologna, which also placed some water stations around the city, to answer the citizen's request to have more spots where to top-up their bottles and so reduce the use of plastic.

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Ferrara

Ferrara is also known as the "Italian city of bicycles", where the percentage of citizens using bicycles is among the highest in Europe: in 1991 the percentage of use was 30.7% against 30% in Copenhagen or 27 .8%. In 2000, a survey carried out by DataBank on a representative sample reiterated that 30.9% of the inhabitants of Ferrara continue to use bicycles, but the population of cyclists in Ferrara is equal to approximately 89.5% of its 135,000 inhabitants.

At each city’s entrance, there’s a sign with the inscription "Ferrara city of bicycles", and it’s true! This vibrant city of Emilia-Romagna is indeed a paradise for those cyclists who love gentle and mostly flat paths. Ferrara has a rich network of bike lanes connecting the city center, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the peaceful countryside, embracing the “Delta del Po” and “Comacchio Valleys” natural reserve, as declared UNESCO sites.

Ferrara is also a very active city when we talk about sustainability. Last October the second edition of the “Festival dell’Aria” was held by the Municipality of Ferrara as local action inside the European project Air-Break, whose main goal is reducing 25% of pollution in the cities supporting the project. The event is an occasion for citizens to talk about the quality of the air, urban mobility and green spaces and to co-design together new strategies and actions for future generations.

The Air-Break project also includes the installation of 14 stations to monitor the air quality, the planting of 2.000 trees and the creation of a bike lane connecting suburban eras with the city’s center.

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