Climate Education for Adaptation: Italian Perspective in the CCC−CATAPULT project

Overview & Synopsis

Green infrastructure has been widely recognised as tool for cities to sustain and protect ecosystems in delivering services. However, little has been discussed of how this approach situates in relation to a growing global debate on climate change education. As part of the JPI Solstice funded “Challenging the Climate Crisis: Children’s Agency to Tackle Policy Underpinned by Learning for Transformation (CCC-CATAPULT)” project, this paper aims to examine green infrastructure as potential tool of climate education for adaptation. This paper covers analysis of Genoa case study (Italy), as a subset of a larger cross-country inter-disciplinary research (involving Bristol, Tampere, Genoa, and Galway). The empirical analysis of the Genoa case study has foreseen a questionnaire survey involving 415 young people, 5 focus groups with 39 young people, and 2 narrative workshops with 27 young people, differentiated for school typology. Furthermore, it has foreseen four interviews with teachers and four interviews with other supporters of learning. Preliminary findings in the Genoa case study show the promising benefits of solution-driven spatial thinking to disclose to young people complexities of climate change, help them develop capacities for adaptation, and alleviate eco-anxiety through sense-making, evidence from best practices, as well as links across different spheres and actors of everyday life.