The project promotes science-based urban forestry interventions to mitigate the impacts of climate change, improve quality of life, and restore biodiversity in Florence.
Global warming is one of the great challenges of the new millennium, affecting more than just human activity. The concept of smart cities often considers nature only peripherally, subordinating it to human needs. To address this, the Florence Project includes a natural area in its planning: the historic Giogo-Casaglia area in the Florentine Apennines will be twinned with the city, creating an integrated protection zone that complements urban study, mitigation, and monitoring efforts.
2023-2027: Study, implementation and scientific monitoring
2028-2032: Scientific monitoring
€ 3.000.000,00
(2023-2027)
€ 1.500.000,00
(2028-2032)
The main advances of the Florence Climate Change & Biodiversity project, from 2023 to today. Use the arrows or the bar below to navigate.
In the first quarter of 2026, design work begins for the first operational areas, focusing on Piazza dei Giudici and Via della Mattonaia, with technical progress also extending to Tanini. The activities link landscape design, scientific data and ex ante simulations, translating research results into concrete urban interventions.
In the first months of 2026, the installation of five additional AirQino stations is completed in the areas identified in 2025, Piazza dei Giudici, Via della Mattonaia, Via Tanini, Piazza Istria and Piazza San Pancrazio, extending microclimate and air quality monitoring across all ten project areas.
By the end of 2025, the framework for the project’s ten areas is finalised: Artom, Ferraris, Guidoni, Bartali, Zucchi, Giudici, Mattonaia, Tanini, Istria and San Pancrazio. For each area, the monitoring status, expected outcomes from ex ante and ex post comparison and intervention hypotheses are defined according to local conditions.
Technical planning prepares the transition to the new areas, including AudioMoth monitoring of bats, camera traps for small mammals, pollinator activities from March to October, thermal camera imaging and albedometer measurements, and the start of microclimate and air quality monitoring in areas not already covered by AirQino stations.
Technical work links collected data with simulations and design scenarios. The analyses estimate expected benefits from trees, vegetated surfaces, higher reflective pavements, urban drainage solutions, rain gardens, bioswales, shading systems and microhabitats for urban biodiversity.
For the different areas, intervention proposals are identified combining vegetation, water, and materials, including trees, flowerbeds, spontaneous vegetation, permeable surfaces, high albedo paving materials, green pergolas, trellises with flowering plants, rain gardens and stormwater management systems.
The first equipped areas enter a more comprehensive monitoring phase, covering pollinators, small mammals, bats, microclimate, and air quality. Air quality parameters include carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, PM10 and PM2.5, while animal biodiversity is observed using tools such as camera traps and AudioMoth devices.
In the third year, the project consolidates the set of indicators used to assess the evolution of the areas, including animal biodiversity, plant biodiversity, plant health, air temperature, relative humidity, air quality, surface temperature, land cover, albedo, and shading.
In 2024, AirQino stations are installed in the first five study areas, or in in nearby areas for technical and logistical reasons, Piazza Artom, Viale Guidoni, Giardini Zucchi, Piazza Galileo Ferraris and Piazza Gino Bartali. The stations begin meteorological and air quality monitoring activities in the pilot areas.
Data from monitoring activities are integrated into the WebGIS connected to the indicator database. The platform becomes an operational tool for visualising and accessing information on surfaces, microclimate, vegetation, environmental quality and urban characteristics.
LiDAR surveys are integrated with open data from the Municipality of Florence to build digital models of terrain, buildings and vegetation. Indicators such as the Sky View Factor and shading patterns are derived from these data, supporting the analysis of solar exposure and more targeted design choices.
From June to October 2024, monthly leaf sampling is carried out on representative plant species in the first five areas, Spirea, Cherry laurel, Photinia, and Holm oak. The aim is to assess plant water status through Relative Water Content analysis and generate data to guide planting and urban design choices.
In the second year, the project moved from the laboratory phase to the first five Elementary Urban Typologies, Piazza Artom, Viale Guidoni, Via Zucchi, Piazza Galileo Ferraris and Piazza Gino Bartali. These areas became the first urban case study sites for monitoring, surface characterisation, and intervention simulations.
The ecophysiological data collected in 2023 on shrub species in the laboratory area are established as the baseline for assessing the health of urban vegetation and plant responses to climate stress. This work informs the 2024 analyses and the preparation of a scientific publication.
Between 2023 and 2024, monitoring of urban fauna begins with 14 camera traps distributed across the city of Florence, in different Local Climate Zones. In parallel, pollinator sampling starts in the laboratory area, Piazza Artom and nearby areas, using pan traps and trap nests.
In the first year, data collection and organisation begin to describe the baseline conditions of the area, including geomorphological, vegetation, meteorological, and environmental characteristics. This phase establishes the ex ante baseline against which future interventions will be assessed.
The research and implementation project ‘Florence Climate Change and Biodiversity’ begins, aiming to build a nature based urban model to reduce climate change impacts, support urban biodiversity and improve the health of urban spaces. The project is structured around two main areas, identification of ten representative urban typologies and the creation of an open air laboratory along the Arno to test and monitor scalable urban solutions.
