ICUC12-380, updated on 21 May 2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/icuc12-380
12th International Conference on Urban Climate
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The uRban hEat and pollution iSlands inTerAction in Rome and possible miTigation strategies (RESTART) project: challenges and preliminary results
Annalisa Di Bernardino1, Erika Brattich2, Stefania Argentini3, Francesco Barbano2, Monica Campanelli3, Giampietro Casasanta3, Andrea Cecilia3, Silvana Di Sabatino2, Margherita Erriu1, Andrea Faggi2, Serena Falasca2,4, Tiziano Maestri2, and Anna Maria Siani1
Annalisa Di Bernardino et al.
  • 1Sapienza University of Rome, Faculty of mathematical, physical and natural sciences, Department of Physics, Rome, 00185, Italy (annalisa.dibernardino@uniroma1.it)
  • 2University of Bologna, Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi”, via Irnerio 46, 40126, Bologna, Italy
  • 3CNR, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (ISAC), via del Fosso del Cavaliere 100, Rome, 00133 Italy
  • 4Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA), Via Anguillarese 301, Santa Maria di Galeria (Rome), 00123, Italy

This contribution presents the project "Urban hEat and pollution iSlands inTerAction in Rome and possible mitigation strategies” (RESTART), funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research within the Research Project of National Interest program. RESTART aims to investigate the relationship between the Urban Heat Island (UHI) and the Urban Pollution Island (UPI) in Rome (Italy). The project offers a series of mitigation strategies, including tailored Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) such as green areas, green walls/roofs, trees, and ready-to-use guidelines for improving well-being and livability in urban environments.

The first phase of the project involves investigating data acquired in Rome by ground-based weather and air quality monitoring instruments, belonging to international observatories and dense networks. This dataset allows us to determine the current state of UHI and UPI in Rome, analyze the meteorological processes affecting these phenomena, identify possible links between them, and examine how severe/low pollution events and extreme weather events could interact and trigger their occurrence.

These environmental vulnerabilities drive the numerical investigation of city-scale ventilation, heat transport, and air pollutant removal/accumulation planned for the second phase of the project. The most up-to-date numerical modeling chain combines cutting-edge simulations with mesoscale and dispersion models (Weather Research & Forecasting Model – WRF – and Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling System – ADMS-Urban) to simulate the connection between UHI and UPI in both pre- and post-NBS implementation scenarios. The thermodynamic and chemical processes governing UHI and UPI are also analyzed, focusing on thermal comfort, pollutant dispersion, and photochemical tropospheric ozone reactions.

The outcomes from the combination of numerical and experimental analyses will provide general recommendations and guidelines to be disseminated to the scientific community, the public, and policymakers.

How to cite: Di Bernardino, A., Brattich, E., Argentini, S., Barbano, F., Campanelli, M., Casasanta, G., Cecilia, A., Di Sabatino, S., Erriu, M., Faggi, A., Falasca, S., Maestri, T., and Siani, A. M.: The uRban hEat and pollution iSlands inTerAction in Rome and possible miTigation strategies (RESTART) project: challenges and preliminary results, 12th International Conference on Urban Climate, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 7–11 Jul 2025, ICUC12-380, https://doi.org/10.5194/icuc12-380, 2025.

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