Green restoration of the industrial area of the city of Catania for improving urban resilience and sustainability

Since the southern part of Catania is a flat wetland, it has always been uncultivated and inhospitable for residential development. Starting in 1950, this part of the city became the industrial core after water was drained from the soil in a land recovery project. During the 1960s the area was hurriedly planned with parcels allocated for industrial buildings, streets, junctions and railways services. The plan foresaw both private and public green areas among the parcels, but the impermeable nature of the soil, an abandonment of industries and a lack of maintenance of drainage systems caused by the recent economic contraction, has produced problems of flooding. This is due to a combination of the orography of the city's heavy clay soil, industrial waste water, air and soil pollutants, the effects of legal and illegal landfills, in addition to the presence of the city wastewater treatment facility. This area (8% of the municipal surface area) is also characterized by proximity to vegetable and fruit farms (peri-urban agriculture) and is also close to an important nature reserve, Nature 2000, situated along the Simeto river estuary. The scope of this research is to map the actual state of this area, with a view to bring its potentialities and difficulties into focus and to individuate a strategy for planning based on a green system.