Embedding Justice in Climate Adaptation: The Role of Community-Based Institutions in Bologna

• Local knowledge can help a better definition of climate adaptation policies

• In order to make the political mechanisms useful, inclusion cannot be just formal. Formalisation and scaling up these participation opportunities are needed.

• The process in Bologna, Italy, showed that without recognition also participation can be fruitless in terms of a precise definition of climate adaption policies. 

Main Results

The study “Embedding justice into climate policies through participatory approaches: prospects and pitfalls toward community-based adaptation pathways in Bologna, Italy” explores the integration of justice into climate adaptation through participatory governance in Bologna, Italy, suggesting that community-managed public spaces showed potential to bridge the gap between institutional planning and grassroots associations, particularly in socially vulnerable neighborhoods. 

These public spaces can channel local needs, formalising them in practical requests to adapt to climate change.

In a nutshell, local semi-formal groups are a source of knowledge that can help to better define climate adaptation measures.

Central to the research is the role of the Case di Quartiere (CdQs), a network of community-managed public spaces that act as civic infrastructures to facilitate citizen engagement. Although the city’s participatory system is one of the most structured in Italy, only 9% of CdQs were involved in Bologna’s Climate Mission. Their contributions were mostly symbolic, while institutional and corporate stakeholders retained more influential roles in shaping the Climate City Contract’s 241 climate-related actions.

Despite these limitations, CdQs showed potential to bridge the gap between institutional planning and grassroots movements, particularly in socially vulnerable neighborhoods. The co-design process initiated as part of this study identified opportunities to formalise and scale up these practices through direct municipal support and integration into the city’s broader adaptation strategy.

The conclusions of the study highlight that CdQs, while not uniformly politicized, already promote awareness. For example, movements such as Bologna for Climate Justice have used CdQs to organise public assemblies to challenge the expansion of road infrastructure and the commodification of urban green space. 

Nonetheless, the study warns that Bologna’s highly institutionalized participatory system risks producing an “illusion of inclusion,” where formal mechanisms exist but fail to translate into substantive measures. Some community organizations had withdrawn from the Climate Mission in protest, particularly when grassroots concerns—such as public health risks from highway expansions—were ignored. 

Background

The city of Bologna offers a historically rich and politically nuanced context for understanding participatory climate adaptation. With a legacy of decentralized governance dating back to the 1950s, Bologna developed an early model of neighborhood-scale administration, initially composed of 18 Boroughs. Over the decades, this number was reduced to six, while the average number of inhabitants per Borough more than doubled, increasing from approximately 26,500 in the 1980s to around 65,200 by 2016. These changes coincided with broader shifts from an industrial to a service-based economy.

Since 2008, Bologna has engaged with international climate commitments, beginning with its accession to the EU Covenant of Mayors and following the adoption of its first Climate Adaptation Plan in 2015. While this and other frameworks reflect a strong institutional commitment, their participatory components often lack mechanisms to ensure inclusivity and accountability. The emergence of CdQs as urban commons and their formal recognition in 2018 under the Shared Administration policy marked a turning point. 

Moreover, integrating justice into adaptation planning in Bologna reflects the growing relevance of environmental and climate justice theory. The study identifies the need to address not only distributional justice (who suffers and who benefits) but also procedural justice (who participates in decisions) and recognitional justice (whose identities and knowledge are valued). In this context, CdQs are positioned to contribute to adaptation by incorporating local knowledge, building intergenerational awareness, and addressing epistemic injustices through community-based initiatives. 

Methodology

The study was conducted over three years, from 2022 to 2025, as part of the Horizon 2020-funded PHOENIX project, which focuses on democratic innovation in environmental governance. The first phase of research involved conducting nine semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, including elected officials, public administrators, union representatives, NGO staff, and members of social and environmental movements. These interviews were complemented by desk research using municipal documents, datasets, and academic literature to build a territorial analysis of Bologna’s participatory infrastructure.

In the second phase, which ran from September 2023 to December 2024, the research team participated in designing and implementing a pilot participatory process linked to the Bologna Climate Mission. This process included regular monthly meetings with municipal authorities and civil servants, along with eight extended sessions involving CdQ representatives and citizens, culminating in two major public events. The aim was to identify, co-design, and potentially fund climate services rooted in CdQ activities.

However, institutional delays disrupted the original timeline, and a revised, simplified process was relaunched in late 2024.

The participatory process aimed to solicit community perspectives and align the definition of climate services with specific local vulnerabilities. To this end, the spatial distribution of CdQs was cross-referenced with the regional vulnerability index developed by Emilia-Romagna. The data revealed a significant overlap between CdQ locations and high-risk areas, reinforcing the value of a place-based approach to adaptation planning. Such findings demonstrate how community-managed spaces can anchor public discussion and services in areas most affected by climate fragilities, including heatwaves, lack of green infrastructure, and social exclusion.

The final research phase, from December 2024 to February 2025, involved five additional interviews with public officials, participants from the co-design phase, and intended beneficiaries. In total, the research incorporated 14 interviews and multiple layers of participant observation.