On July 23, 2024, the workshop and focus group on “Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Flood Risk Mitigation – DEMO Site 4.1 – CATANIA” were held at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the University of Catania. These events were organized under the CARDIMED project activities.
Several presentations were given by experts in the morning session moderated by Prof. Giuseppe Cirelli, Full Professor of Agricultural hydraulics and watershed protection and scientific coordinator of the CARDIMED project for the University of Catania. The session was opened by interventions from the presidents and representatives of the various professional chambers involved (agronomists, architects, engineers and geologists) and of the environmental association “Legambiente Catania”, who showed great interest in the topic addressed.
In particular, the workshop activities focused on Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SuDS) for managing storm water in urban areas, with a focus on the DEMO Site in Catania.
Eng. Anacleto Rizzo of IRIDRA discussed about various SuDS and their application areas, with practical examples of rain garden and bioswale design and implementation in Northern Italy. Following this, Prof. Giuseppe Cirelli introduced the CARDIMED project, starting from the GIFLUID project results, of which the University of Catania was the lead partner. The project, ended in December 2023, invested a total of over 2 million euros to create green infrastructure for urban and suburban flood risk mitigation in Sicily and Malta. Prof. Cirelli analyzed the hydraulic risk criticalities in the urban area of Catania, highlighting how excessive land consumption in the hilly area had led to an increase in rainfall runoff on the road network, thereby putting the conventional urban drainage system under stress.
Next, Dr. Fabio Masi, as Research and Development Manager and Technical Director of the Italian engineering company IRIDRA Srl, which is responsible for the design of the DEMO Site in Catania, presented the activities and objectives of the CARDIMED project. Following this, Prof. Feliciana Licciardello and Dr. Liviana Sciuto of the Hydraulic and Territory Section of the Di3A department presented the operational methodology for hydraulic analysis and flood risk assessment, which was carried out along the Catania ring road (Tondo Gioeni and Garibaldi-Nesima rotary systems). They also introduced the concept of hydraulic-hydrological invariance within European and regional policies.
The workshop ended with an intervention by Dr. Gaia Militello, as the CARDIMED project manager for the Municipality of Catania, who introduced the sustainable urban drainage infrastructure to be implemented at Tondo Gioeni. Specifically, Eng. Anacleto Rizzo discussed the economic feasibility study explaining how the infrastructure was designed by combining NBS (rain gardens and soakaways) with traditional techniques that will allow the drainage of the runoff from Via del Bosco and Viale Andrea Doria, thereby alleviating the load on the conventional storm water disposal system.
During the workshop, participants had the opportunity to visit the green roof of the Di3A department, realized under the GIFLUID project, guided by Dr. Annibale Sicurella who oversaw its design and construction together with the University of Catania.
The afternoon was dedicated to a focus group, in which approximately 40 professionals and experts with diverse competencies (agronomists, architects, geologists, engineers, landscape architects, and planners) enthusiastically and actively participated. They had the opportunity to discuss and contribute to the development of various digital tools that will be realized within the CARDIMED project, aimed at supporting local and regional authorities in planning, managing, and monitoring SuDS, and at disseminating the results to sensitize citizens. The session was opened by Eng. Anacleto Rizzo and Dr. Liviana Sciuto, who presented the four digital tools under development proposed by the CARDIMED project partnership. Subsequently, four heterogeneous and multidisciplinary groups were set, supported by facilitators (Dr. Alessia Rizzo, Eng. Anacleto Rizzo, Dr. Vincenzo Scavera, Dr. Liviana Sciuto), which expressed their opinions and preferences on the tools’ functionalities based on their competencies, highlighting both strengths and weaknesses. The session concluded with the presentation of the results by a member of each group.
At the end of the works, Prof. Giuseppe Cirelli announced that the 1st annual meeting of the CARDIMED project will take place in Catania from September 25 to 27, 2024, at the Di3A department. For the next meeting, it is expected that around 100 delegates will participate, representing the 52 CARDIMED project partners.
