Unfolding the Aniene River in peri-urban Rome

Over the last decade, spatial planning tools have been embedding Green Infrastructure with the aim to preserve natural features and stimulate regeneration processes in open space, especially in peri-urban areas where suburbs mingle with agricultural and natural landscapes, and along the rivers, often neglected. This contribution frames the low course of the Aniene River, the main tributary of the Tiber River, as a potential’ blue-green infrastructure’, deemed capable of countering landscape fragmentation in a crucial area of the Metropolitan City of Rome, crossing three Municipalities holding different local planning tools. This relevant area hosts some 500,000 people living in a low-density conurbation along the Aniene and Via Tiburtina, which is commonly referred to as ‘Città Tiburtina’. Despite being the backbone of the Città Tiburtina, the Aniene is generally overlooked or perceived as no man’s land, even due to institutional disregard of inherent natural and heritage value in the area. In recent years, several bottom-up activities such as urban agriculture and urban greening practices have gradually taken hold in the urban fringe, accounting for demand for small-scale solutions able to improve the overall quality of the living environment. Finally, the Aniene River Contract complements traditional planning and represents the main opportunity for participatory processes where community turns out to be central.