Urban adaptation and community learning for a RESilient Simeto Valley (LIFE SimetoRES)

LIFE SimetoRES aims to increase the resilience of urban areas to climate change impacts in the Simeto Valley in Sicily through the use of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS). Due to a high degree of urbanization and projected climate change impacts, such as increased heavy precipitation events, the risk of urban flooding is expected to increase in the area. The project contributes to the implementation of the national and EU adaptation strategies in the participating municipalities with top-down and bottom-up approaches simultaneously.

The main objectives of the project are to:

• Promote blue-green Infrastructures (BGI) as a best practice of storm-water management in the changing climate;
• Raise awareness of the local population and stakeholders on climate change adaptation, particularly in relation to urban storm-water management;
• Stimulate the inclusion of BGIs into municipal regulations, within the framework of the Simeto River Agreement; and
• Construct six blue-green infrastructures, based on sustainable urban drainage systems within the urban territory of the municipalities of Paternò and Ragalna.

The project is expected to result in the inclusion of the BGIs in the local regulations and the enhancement of the Simeto River agreement process by participatory planning approaches.