School facilities as a driver and tool of urban climate strategies. "The Green Schools of Lucca" initiative as a case study

The paper presents the results of a research study commissioned by the Municipality of Lucca (Italy) and carried out by a research group from the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence, with the aim of verifying the benefits of greening projects for 18 preschools and primary schools and the rehabilitation of a public park in terms of mitigating the effects of the increasingly frequent heat waves affecting the city. The analysis, carried out with the help of a climate simulation software, highlighted the positive and negative aspects of the project, and laid the foundations for the definition of a methodology to be applied to future interventions, integrating the objective of increasing urban resilience to climate change with that of making school spaces more liveable for pupils, following a line of action research that already counts numerous experiences in Europe.