Climate adaptation and cities sustainable development: the role of urban green in the political strategies and programs

Climate change and the theme of urban development are considered as central topic in the international political agenda. In fact, these two issues represent the great challenges of our century that require the need to identify new forms of urban landscape and different approaches and policies in order to design, manage and plan the urban context. For a long time, however, the climate adaptation programs and the urban development policies have not been integrated with each other, while a regulatory harmonization process would have been necessary. In fact, the expansion of the Megalopolis with their processes of development and densification are among the causes of the phenomenon of Climate change and, at the same time, the cities are the place where, trough the urban sustainable development policies, could be possible to find concrete solutions to this fundamental issue. Therefore, local institutions must integrate these two different strategies, because the cities “understand that our present urban lifestyle (...) make us essentially responsible for many environmental problems humankind is facing (...)We, cities & towns, understand that the idea of sustainable development helps us to base our standard of living on the carrying capacity of nature. We seek to achieve social justice, sustainable economies, and environmental sustainability. Social justice will necessarily have to be based on economic sustainability and equity, which require environmental sustainability” (Charter of European Cities & Towns Towards Sustainability, Aalborg 1994). In this process the instrument of landscape planning and management are decisive and, in particular the role of Urban green, with its ecological function, could be fundamental to ensure, at the same time, a cities sustainable development and an urban climate adaptation