PROJECT SUMMARY

LUIGI - Linking Urban and Inner-Alpine Green Infrastructure- Multifunctional Ecosystem Services for more Liveable Territories, is a 33-months project funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund within the Interreg Alpine Space programme.

One of the four priorities of the Alpine Space programme for 2014-2020 is achieving a "Liveable Alpine Space", by i) sustainably valorizing the Alpine Space cultural and natural heritage, and ii) enhancing the protection, the conservation and the ecological connectivity of Alpine Space Ecosystems. The LUIGI project addresses the second objective of this priority. 

By recognizing the pressures on Alpine ecosystems and the services they deliver to wider areas beyond mountain regions, the project aims to strengthen the link between mountain ecosystems and urban centers at the foot of the Alps and to address the unbalance in the supply and demand of ecosystem services in rural and urban/peri urban areas, through sound economic and social exchanges. The LUIGI project aims to recognize and valorize the joint benefits deriving from a green infrastructure network between mountain/rural and urban areas as well as their potential for sustainable economic development, based on natural capital and ecosystem services that participate in assuring higher quality of life and better urban environments to people living in urban centers.

The project targets groups along the urban/rural value chain, including civil society, landscape planners, and local authorities to foster investments, the integration of the Green Infrastructure concept into planning, and the maintenance of a GI network throughout the Alpine Space.

More specifically, the project will i) make policy makers aware of Alpine ecosystems, GIs and the services they deliver to urban areas, ii) identify and assess the economic, environmental and social benefits delivered by GIs, iii) develop business models to seize the market potential of conserving and enhancing rural GIs iv) share knowledge on alpine and rural ecosystems, GIs and effective techniques for their maintenance and enhancement on a transnational level and v) provide tools to match the demand and the supply of alpine ecosystem services in regional, metropolitan and urban markets.

PROJECT STRUCTURE

The project is structured into seven different work packages, all contributing to the final main project output that will incorporate the whole body of knowledge produced throughout the project. More specifically, work package 1 (WP1), coordinated by EURAC research, spotlights the multiple benefits (ecological, economic and social) of green infrastructure as a "common natural capital" and as ecosystem services providers. WP1 performs a broad literature review and produces a state of the art and guidelines for conserving and enhancing multiple ESS provision from GIs. WP2 identifies business opportunities and test market tools and mechanisms for enhancing value chains for a more effective cooperation between urban and rural areas. WP3 explores participatory and governance approaches for spatial development of GI in the pilot regions of LUIGI and it will produce modules for a participatory GI manteinance implemented by a co-creation process in the pilot regions. WP4 takes care of the module on education and training for sustainable GIs management and ESS provision. It wil provide an overview on present education and knowledge transfer mechanisms to assure a basis for future strategic planning of GIs and will propose improvements for teaching and training modules. WP5 deals with the capacity building and knowledge transfer to policy makers module. It will raise awareness and empower policy makers at all levels with capacities in GIs enhancement and ESS valorisation through special events, workshops and courses, allowing knowledge transfer and sharing of experiences. WP management and WP communication support project activities and administrative procedures, and help disseminate the project findings. 

Project partners and observers will implement project activities involving stakeholders in nine pilot regions across the Alpine Space (South Tyrol, Turin, Milan, Isère, Munich, Südburgenland, Salzburg und Umgebung, Graubüden, and Goriška).