Reconnecting communities to urban nature: insights from the Siena BiodiverCity project

The Siena BiodiverCity (SBC) project (https://www.fisiocritici.it/en/ sienabiodivercity) was created by the Museum of Natural History of Accademia dei Fisiocritici (Italy) in 2022, with a primary focus on observation, census, monitoring and promotion of urban biodiversity in the city of Siena through citizen science. It emphasises a scientific rather than an artistic interpretation of culture through the motto ‘biodiversity is culture, and culture is biodiversity.’ A key event of the project was an annual City Nature Challenge BioBlitz, aimed at discovering and surveying all wild organisms in the town through the collaborative efforts of citizens and trained naturalists. A series of community workshops followed, with theory lessons, hands-on practical classes and urban biodiversity field trips. Another two events highlighted active citizen participation in good practices fostering environmental requalification e.g. seed bombs and bee hotels. A Biodiversity Desk offered free identification of natural samples/ specimens observed or collected around Siena. Over two years, the SBC project gathered more than 5000 biodiversity observations on the iNaturalist platform, covering nearly 1500 taxa within the Siena territory, including widespread, rare and alien entities. This effort engaged more than 300 citizens and fostered a robust network among participants, city associations and institutions. The impact of SBC has catalysed significant socio-cultural change at different scales: for instance, SBC was important in Siena’s attainment of tourism certification as the first eco-sustainable city of art, prompting urban planners to actively incorporate biodiversity and nature into city development. SBC offers a replicable model, serving as a starting point for similar initiatives and collaborations throughout Italy and Europe: in 2023, BiodiverCity has merged into a European project under the URBACT IV financing thanks to the collaboration with the Municipality of Siena.