Inclusive green areas: the Parkout project

The paper presents the “Parkout” project: an initiative for the urban renewal of a green area in Mondovì (Cuneo) through the addition of new services for outdoor sports. Despite the multiple and successful experiences related to the sporting use of urban green spaces and the acknowledgment of the benefits of outdoor sports activities for personal health and wellness, the restrictions during the pandemic have put the spotlight on the lack of quality of urban spaces, but also on the numerous opportunities for regeneration. This has given life to informal and formal initiatives by individual citizens and communities. Parkout is an original, repeatable model of action supported by both public and private funding, which was made possible through the participation of the local community and aimed to improve the urban area and offer new accessible services. The project went beyond the recovery and new use of the green areas, and also included management, maintenance, and the organization of events to involve the local community. The participation process and the partnership between social actors have produced tangible results and expressed the demands of the local community. This model may be replicated in other contexts to trigger renewal, inclusive management, and active maintenance of green urban areas.