AGORA: Pilot Case Study in Rome, Italy

The AGORA Project

The AGORA project promotes societal transformation to empower local communities to address the climate crisis. AGORA aims to achieve this goal through a multidisciplinary, integrated approach and four pilot studies all around Europe.

AGORA is a HORIZON Europe project started in January 2023. It supports the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change.

Introduction

The Italian pilot case study focuses on the city of Rome, the national capital and the largest city in Italy. In relation to the climate change impacts, AGORA aims to support the definition of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, currently in progress. Among the various climate risks, the Italian pilot consider nine specific sectors (urban settlements, health, network and infrastructures, biodiversity and ecosystem, among others) identified as among the most vulnerable and therefore at risk, within the key areas identified during the preparation of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. This is to integrate the climate impacts, related vulnerabilities, and risks to the possible adaptation options, not only considering the perspective of decision-makers (top-down approach) from the initial phase of defining vulnerabilities and risks.

Activities so far

Within the pilot case study in Rome there are continuous activities and workshops including:

The Inception Workshop

The AGORA project officially kicked off in Italy, with an inception workshop organised by CMCC, the project coordinator, on November 9th 2023, in Rome.  

The Italian pilot case of the project aims to support the definition of Rome’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, current under development. The objective of the workshop was to define the main socio-economic, structural and environmental vulnerabilities as well as the main needs and criticalities related to the local adaptive capacity.

To read more about the inception workshop please see here: Kicking off the first AGORA pilot study in Rome, Italy – AGORA (adaptationagora.eu)

The First Focus Group Discussion

The first focus group in the Italian pilot region of Rome, Italy involved 7 women workers who shared their personal experiences with climate change, co-created solutions and identified the best climate adaptation strategies geared at community involvement. This first event set the stage for following discussions of climate adaptation in an urban context.

To read more about the first focus group discussion please see here: First Focus Group in the Italian Pilot: 7 Working Women & Climate Adaptation in Rome – Agora

The Second Focus Group Discussion

The second focus group in a series conducted by the AGORA project explores the perception of climate change and its impacts on urban citizens. Six participants came together and shared their personal experiences of climate change, identified soft adaptation measures for local communities, and create involvement methods for younger generations.

To read more about the second focus group discussion please see here: Second Focus Group in Italian Pilot – Multicultural Communities – Agora

The Third Focus Group Discussion

The third installment of focus groups within the Italian pilot, AGORA gathered 7 university students and young working professionals. The focus group aimed to understand climate change impacts on citizens in urban environments.

To read more about the third focus group discussion please see here: Third Focus Group in Italian Pilot – Younger Perspectives – Agora

Webinar: Different challenges in different contexts

As part of the Adaptation AGORA project, on October 17th, an online event titled “Citizenship and Climate Adaptation: Participatory Experiences from Rome to Friuli Venezia Giulia” focused on the exploration of citizen engagement approaches adopted in the two different cases. The webinar focussed on two different case studies: Rome and Friuli Venezia Giulia.

To read more about the outcomes of the webinar please see here: Different challenges in different contexts: Participatory experiences and climate adaptation in Rome and Friuli Venezia Giulia   – Agora