LIFE - SIMETORES

Urban areas in general suffer of high human impacts on the hydrological cycle, which exacerbates the effects of precipitation events extremized by climate change (CC). A change in the urbanization strategy is needed in order to reduce impacts of CC by re-naturalizing the urban water cycle. This concept is clearly highlighted in EU policies regarding water (e.g. EU 2007/60 Flood Directive), and in Sicily is particularly taken into consideration within the River District Flood Plan, which points out the need in the island toward an extensive implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage (SUD), also as an adaptation strategy to CC. 

The principle on which LIFE SimetoRES (the “project”) is based is that urban adaptation to CC can be achieved by a simultaneously-operating top-down and bottom-up approach. The top-down component means that actions of urban adaptation must be firstly stimulated, especially in the short-term, by the public decisors, technical operators and stakeholders in general, by promoting and financing the construction of blue-green infrastructures (BGIs) and by re-thinking existing areas in a more "green way". The bottom-up approach means that an increase of the awareness about the impacts of CC is needed, and is fundamental for long-term effects. Finally, the participatory planning component based on the pre-operational partnership of the Simeto River Agreement (SRA), will help in replicability and Transferability of best practices of stormwater management in urban areas. The above approaches fit perfectly within the water resources regional planning, which foresees public participation as an essential step toward a more efficient implementation of measures.

LIFE SimetoRES objectives are:

• Promoting BGIs as a best practice of the management of stormwater in a changing climate context;
• Educating to climate change adaptation (CCA), particularly in relation to urban stormwater management, with the specific objectives of: i) evidencing consequences and impacts of CC and the importance of adaptation and mitigation; ii) increasing the awareness to urban floods; iii) Informing municipality’s technical offices, technicians and stakeholders in general, about best practices for stormwater management and training them for the design of BGIs;
• Stimulating inclusion into Municipality and regulations of BGIs, within the framework of River Agreements