Reconfiguration Initiatives in Cagliari Living Lab
The Cagliari research team has initiated a reconfiguration process within the Molentargius- Saline Regional Nature Park in Sardinia, Italy. This Living Lab addresses the ongoing tension between urban expansion and the protection of a fragile wetland ecosystem, recognized as a Ramsar site. The initiative aims to implement nature-based solutions (NBS) that embrace the area´s diversity of ecological, recreational and commercial uses.
The Cagliari Living Lab as a part of the COEVOLVERS Project located within the Molentargius-Saline Park and its extensive saline lagoon, has begun the reconfiguration process. According to Ramsar site since 1977 is a valuable locality for pink flamingos and local or migratory water birds, amphibians and reptiles, but used as well as a vacation and recreation area for people. Biodiversity of natural parks close to urban areas are often accidentally and purposefully threatened by human activities, so researches had to define the key vulnerabilities: prioritisation of human use over wildlife (economic profit), accident and purposeful misuse of shared space with most important flamingo nesting site in the Mediterranean area.
One of the method approaching to reconfiguration process is engage in Ecopoly - Role Board Game, an interactive simulation of resource dilemmas developed by the CETIP and SlovakGlobe teams and designed as a Multispecies Arena which helps to recognize the multispecies agencies. On May 14th Ecopoly session with students from Cagliari University explored new version with inclusion of biodiversity and saline dynamics to NBS as essential for human - nature welbeing, with the atributes of Molentargius Ramsar site at Sardinia: animals like pink flamengos, Artemia Salina and mediterranean flora.
COEVOLVERS team: Ferdinando Fornara, Oriana Mosca, Silvana Mula and Alessandro Lorenzo Mura managed the game with the supervision by professor Kluvankova and online support of Martin Spacek and Dominik Horvath from SlovakGlobe and CETIP Network.
In parallel with the Cagliari meeting, Sardinia’s most important festival, Monumenti Aperti, took place in the city on May 17th and 18th. This is a well-structured cultural initiative that has evolved into a scalable, replicable, and successful model of territorial development. As part of the event, the researchers participated in an excursion to the nature park, engaged in discussions with stakeholders and visitors, and gave a public lecture for psychology students at the University of Cagliari.
