Urban green spaces and community roots: the social infrastructure of Parco Uditore (Palermo). – This article examines how urban green spaces act as social infrastructures capable of countering fragmentation in contexts marked by austerity, marginalisation and the erosion of collective life. Drawing on critical perspectives on roots and identity, it interprets green-space care as a form of re-rooting through which communities rebuild relations, memories and shared attachments. Using Parco Uditore in Palermo as a case study, the article explores how bottom-up management fosters social cohesion, produces territorial knowledge and supports new forms of citizenship, while also revealing structural vulnerabilities and limits to replicability. The findings show how community-led green spaces can rekindle bonds of place and open pathways toward more shared and meaningful ways of inhabiting the city.

Functions and benefits of green infrastructure: from contrast to climate change to the tourist positioning of cities. – Cities, in addition to being the main protagonists of global competition, represent those territorial contexts in which the effects of climate change become more evident. Among the sustainable urban planning tools supporting them are green infrastructures that can provide useful solutions capable of strengthening their resilience, transforming them into more pleasant and liveable environments. In light of these considerations, the contribution addresses the role played by green infrastructures also for the purposes of a more effective tourist positioning of cities in compliance with the sustainable development goals.