Ecosystem services in the Milan South-Eastern edges : an interdisciplinary monitoring approach

Peri-urban agricultural land functional recovery implies multi-facets processes, where human and ecological dynamics mostly need to be coupled in arder to ensure effective results. Ecological nd human sciences can help, from different perspectives, interlinking this plurality of impacts, while building composite management strategies far overcoming the existing barriers and enhancing the capacity of these systems of delivering multi-spectrum services within urbanized and agricultural areas. Based on these premises a study is being led on the Milan south-eastern rural edges, in an area interested by different agroecological projects and multistakeholder strategie visions. In particular, the study facuses on the effect of the policy strategies and effective actions on one side on the landscape agroecological functionality and, on the other side, on the raie of this area as cultura! medium, in relation to the participative approach implemented by the existing projects, directly involving citizens. Both aspects of the study address the issue of reconnecting and re­establishing a positive permeability between the urban and rural matrices. On the ecologica! side, the study was preliminary facused on a detailed analysis of the current landscape ecologica! features. Based on field surveys and GIS analyses, the physiognomic, structural and dynamic traits of the landscape mosaic elements were studied, as well as their spatial patterns (Ingegnali, 2002). A qualitative analysis of fluxes dynamics across the landscape mosaic helped mapping the existing barriers currently compromising the averai! environmental stability of the area (Chiaffarelli, Vagge, 2021). This analysis was conceived as a useful tool far prioritising future interventions, allowing to map the possible effects attainable on landscape ecologica! dynamics through the agroecosystem diversification (in its composition, structure, dynamism and spatial configuration) and the mitigation of landscape texture gaps. Moreover, the analysis results were the starting point far the setting of a methodology on the monitoring and assessment of the current and potential capacity of the area of implementing and generating ecosystem services, valuable both far the urban system balance and, on a cultura! perspective, far its citizens (Dal Borgo et al., 2021). The concepts of connection, permeability and accessibility were indeed investigateci not only from an ecological point of view, but also on their social and cultural sides. lndeed, a specific study is being led on the identification and evaluation of cultura! ecosystem functions and services generateci within regenerative agriculture and agroecology projects in the area, well known to the authors, who have already established partnerships with locai associations and institutions. The here presented evaluations represent useful methodological premises far the ongoing building of a comprehensive framework far the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the raie of the studied peri-urban area in the provision of valuable and recognized ecosystem services, both on their ecological and cultural features.