Urban regeneration and climate neutrality: a proposal for the Navile district in Bologna

Abstract

Approximately 60% of the world’s population lives in cities, which play a crucial role in achieving global sustainable development goals. This study proposes a methodology for assessing climate neutrality and applying the proposed method to the Navile district in the city of Bologna. This work raised from the fact that the city of Bologna has been selected, within the framework of a European Commission call for proposals, among the 100 cities that aim to become climate neutral by 2030. The methodology presented builds upon the ecosystem services framework, considering climate regulation service as an indicator of climate neutrality, and analyzing supply and demand for CO2 emissions and sequestration. The CO2 demand analysis considers emissions from buildings, transport and mobility, industrial processes, public lighting and waste, while the storage assessment considers the absorption capacity of the green infrastructure in the area. From the emissions and storage assessment, the current CO2 balance of the area was then obtained, as basis for identifying possible design solutions aimed at reducing emissions and increasing storage, proposing actions that could be resilient over time.