[Fabio Gresta]

The Plant Production Unit of the University of Messina (Italy) is interested in connecting with potential partners to jointly develop a proposal for the Interreg Euro-MED Call 8 under the Mission “Promoting Green Living Areas”.

The emerging project idea focuses on the regeneration of vacant or underused urban and peri-urban land through its transformation into climate-resilient, multifunctional productive green spaces. Possible interventions may combine urban agriculture, soil regeneration, water-efficient management, biodiversity enhancement and community engagement.

We would be pleased to establish contacts with universities, research organisations, local authorities and other public bodies from eligible Euro-MED countries interested in co-developing this concept.

Particular interest is given to organisations that can identify or secure access to suitable urban or peri-urban pilot sites, including university-owned or public land that is currently vacant, degraded or underused.

Relevant expertise may include agronomy, horticulture, urban and peri-urban agriculture, soil management, biodiversity, green infrastructure, local food systems, nature-based solutions and urban regeneration.

[Martina Kmet]

Dear University of Messina Plant Production Unit,
We came across your partner search for Interreg Euro-MED Call 8 and found the proposed concept particularly relevant to our field of expertise.
Agroeduka is a Croatian non-profit organisation founded by two graduate agronomists, with expertise in horticulture, urban agriculture, climate-resilient planting, plant health, biodiversity, water-efficient plant management and practical environmental education.
We noticed that your partner search is primarily addressed to universities, research organisations, local authorities and other public bodies. However, we would like to ask whether you would also consider the involvement of a specialised Croatian non-profit organisation as an agronomic, educational and field-implementation partner, potentially in cooperation with a Croatian local public stakeholder for the development of a pilot component.
Our contribution could focus on practical horticultural and agronomic implementation, plant selection, monitoring of plant performance, water-efficient cultivation practices, biodiversity-oriented planting, stakeholder engagement and educational activities.
If this type of complementary expertise could be relevant to the consortium you are developing, we would be very pleased to discuss possible cooperation.
Best regards,
Martina Kmet
President | Agroeduka
Zagreb, Croatia
agroeduka@gmail.com

[Joëlle VILLEGAS]

Dear Plant Production Unit Team,

We are very interested in your proposal for Interreg Euro-MED Call 8 – Green Living Areas.

A Bulabuledda is a Corsican association working directly in rural communities and schools on educational gardens, village greening, biodiversity, Mediterranean and endemic plants, soil knowledge, healthy and sustainable food, and environmental education.

Our experience combines practical fieldwork with education and community involvement. Before developing A Bulabuledda’s current activities, I worked for three years in a community garden and later at an agricultural high school in Sartène, Corsica. I have also carried out around ten years of research and practical work related to endemic and Mediterranean plants and their properties.

Today, our association works with municipalities, schools, children, older people and local communities. We develop intergenerational activities connecting gardens, plants, food, biodiversity and traditional knowledge.

The geographical and environmental proximity between Corsica and Sicily makes your proposal particularly relevant to us. As two Mediterranean islands, our territories share many common challenges: increasing drought and heat, water management, soil preservation, protection of Mediterranean biodiversity, adaptation of vegetation to climate change, and the need to reconnect local communities with productive and resilient green spaces.

This proximity could provide a very interesting basis for comparing and testing solutions in two Mediterranean island territories, while adapting them to their respective local contexts.

Your approach to regenerating vacant or underused land through productive green spaces, soil regeneration, biodiversity, water-efficient practices and local food systems therefore strongly connects with our work.

Although A Bulabuledda does not itself own an urban or peri-urban pilot site, we work closely with local municipalities in Corsica and would be interested in exploring the possibility of identifying an appropriate public pilot site together with them.

We would be very interested in discussing how Corsica could contribute as a Mediterranean island territory and how our practical, educational and intergenerational experience could complement the scientific and agronomic expertise of the University of Messina.

Kind regards,

Joëlle Villegas
A Bulabuledda Association
Corsica – France

[Antonia Basic]

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for sharing your project idea. University of Applied Sciences Baltazar Zaprešić (Croatia) is interested in joining the consortium and contributing to the development of the proposal under the Mission “Promoting Green Living Areas.”

As a higher education institution, we could contribute particularly in the areas of education and training, student engagement, community and stakeholder engagement, capacity building, dissemination and communication, as well as the development and piloting of educational activities related to sustainable and resilient local food systems.

While our main contribution would be related to the educational and stakeholder engagement aspects rather than providing a pilot site, we would be interested in discussing how our expertise could complement the partners providing the pilot locations and technical expertise.

I am responsible for project preparation and coordination of our participation at the University of Applied Sciences Baltazar Zaprešić.

Please feel free to contact me at abasic@bak.hr so we can discuss potential cooperation and the role of Baltazar in the project.

Best regards,
Antonia Bašić
Project Preparation
University of Applied Sciences Baltazar Zaprešić
Croatia

[ersilia incelli]

Dear Fabio Gresta,
our interdisciplianry research group at Sapienza Faculty of Economics would be interested in developing a contribution we could make in terms of heat, wellbeing and public perception: whether regenerated green areas reduce not only measured exposure but also perceived thermal stress, how people understand adaptation interventions,. You can contact us at ersilia.incelli@uniroma1.it.

[Bari Ebibi]

Dear Plant Production Unit team,

Thank you for sharing this inspiring project concept for the Interreg Euro-MED Call 8 under the “Promoting Green Living Areas” mission.

We are very interested in establishing a partnership and actively collaborating on this initiative. As a local public unit, we are well-positioned to contribute by securing a suitable urban or peri-urban pilot site—specifically public land that is currently vacant, degraded, or underused—where these climate-resilient, multifunctional green spaces can be practically tested, demonstrated, and monitored.

We look forward to discussing how we can join forces to co-develop the proposal. Please let us know the next steps or if you would like to set up an introductory call to align on priorities.

Best regards,

Bari Ebibi
email:vrapcistbmp@gmail.com
email: info@komunavrapcisht.gov.mk

[Julia Chernetsky]

Dear Mr Gresta,

Boreal Light (Berlin) produces solar-powered systems that treat saline, brackish and polluted water for irrigation, running without fossil energy and with real-time remote monitoring of every unit.

Your concept of productive urban green spaces with water-efficient management caught our attention. Where the irrigation water available at a pilot site is limited or of poor quality (salinity, pollution), our technology could supply clean irrigation water on site.

Is your consortium taking shape, and will the University of Messina lead it? We would be glad to join as technology partner.

Julia Cherenetsky
CBDO
Boreal Light GmbH
chernetska@winture.de
boreallight.com

[Cristina Collini]

Dear prof. Gresta,
as Food Sustinability Lab of Politecnico di Milano (Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering), we are interested in your proposal in which we can bring experience in local food system and in urban regeneration. The Food Sustainability Lab is a multidisciplinary knowledge centre dedicated to the sustainable transformation of the agrifood system investigating, developing and experimenting multidimensional innovations in strong connection with local authorities and stakeholders. We have relevant experience on the ground on strengthening various aspects of urban agri-food resilience, reduction of food waste and food, nutritional security with a focus on support for food policies, participation in codesign workshops with local public and private stakeholders, guidelines for optimizing logistics and the recovery of surpluses and measuring impacts.
if you believe our experience can be suitable for your proposal, we would be glad to join.
kind regards,
Cristina Collini
mariacristina.collini@polimi.it

Senior Consultant | Food Sustainability Lab
Politecnico di Milano | Department of Management Economics and Industrial Engineering

[Denisa Sarajlic]

Dear Professor Gresta and colleagues,

I am reaching out on behalf of SKRIPTA, an SME from Bosnia and Herzegovina, regarding your Call 8 concept on multifunctional urban agriculture and the regeneration of vacant or underused urban land.

Our potential contribution would be complementary to the consortium’s environmental, agricultural and technical expertise. SKRIPTA works at the intersection of local government, innovation, design thinking and human-centred design, helping municipalities translate concrete local problems into focused innovation challenges and connect them with SMEs, researchers, innovators and users.

Within your concept, we could support participating municipalities in identifying suitable pilot territories and defining practical challenges around issues such as small-scale green public-space interventions, shade and thermal comfort, green and blue connections, accessibility, community use and the regeneration of underused spaces. We could then help structure co-design and innovation sprints, engage relevant solution providers, facilitate user-centred testing and support learning and replication across territories.

We could also help consortium partners identify municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina where their existing solutions, technologies or methodologies could be tested in response to a genuine local need.

We would be very interested to explore whether this role could complement the partnership currently taking shape. If you would like to discuss more through a short call, please contact us at info@skripta.ba; nedo@skripta.ba

[Allyson BARBAUD]

Dear Fabio,

Thank you for sharing your project idea. Cannes Pays de Lérins Urban Community (France) is interested in joining the consortium and contributing to the development of the proposal under the Mission “Promoting Green Living Areas.”
Your approach to regenerating vacant and underused urban and peri-urban land through multifunctional, climate-resilient productive green spaces strongly resonates with our interests in agricultural innovation, sustainable land use and resilient local food systems.
We see several promising opportunities for collaboration, particularly around the following areas:
-Urban and peri-urban agricultural experimentation: exploring the development of pilot sites to test innovative agricultural production systems and new ways of bringing underused land back into productive use, including opportunities to support the establishment of farmers.
-Climate-resilient cultivation practices: testing new cultivation methods adapted to water stress, with a focus on water-efficient production systems and adaptation to climate change.
-Soil regeneration and cultivation under environmental constraints: exploring appropriate solutions for sites affected by soil degradation or potential contamination, including alternative cultivation systems adapted to local conditions and environmental and food safety requirements.
-Synergies with our AGRITECH project: exploring how some of the project’s development areas could complement the proposed initiative, particularly in relation to agricultural experimentation and innovative production models.

We would be delighted to exchange ideas with your team and the other prospective partners to identify complementary expertise, potential pilot activities and opportunities to develop a strong, collaborative project.

Your focus on transforming underused spaces into productive, multifunctional green areas offers an exciting opportunity to connect agricultural innovation with environmental regeneration and local community needs. We would be very happy to contribute to this process and explore our potential role in the consortium.

We look forward to hearing from you and hopefully working together on this initiative!

BR

Allyson BARBAUD
Communauté d’Agglomération Cannes Pays de Lérins – FRANCE
allyson.barbaud@cannespaysdelerins.fr

[Francesca Pini]

Dear Professor Gresta,

I am reaching out on behalf of Biplano, a social cooperative based in Bergamo (Lombardy, Italy) and part of the local Bio-District (Biodistretto di Bergamo), regarding your proposal for the Interreg Euro-MED Call 8 (Promoting Green Living Areas).

We operate in a suburban/peri-urban area of the Bergamo hinterland where we currently manage about 2 hectares of land suitable for environmental regeneration. Depending on the scope and requirements of the project, we can allocate land for the pilot activities and potentially secure additional space if needed. We specialize in certified organic horticulture (ICEA certified), focusing on sustainable soil management, biodiversity, water efficiency, and short food supply chains (direct sales, local markets, and Ethical Purchasing Groups).

Social Rehabilitation & Community Impact: We combine agronomic practices with social innovation, providing structured pathways for the social and professional reintegration of vulnerable individuals, particularly those with psychosocial distress.

Ecosystem Connection: As an active member of the Bergamo Bio-District, we bring a strong connection to local public and private stakeholders involved in urban transition and sustainable food policies.

We are interested in discussing how our site and expertise could complement the technical and scientific goals of your proposal.

Please let us know if you would like to schedule a brief call to evaluate potential synergies.

Best regards,

[PETRA TOMŠE]

Dear Crop Production Unit team at the University of Messina,

Mozaik dobrot from Slovenia would like to contribute to the development of your project by involving persons with disabilities in the planning, use and maintenance of productive green spaces. We see your concept as an opportunity to connect the regeneration of underused land with accessible food growing, practical training and active community participation.

We are a private non-profit organisation with employment centre status, employing approximately 30 people. Our daily work combines the employment of persons with disabilities, food production and processing, and activities involving herbs and orchards. We are the Lead Partner of B-ROUND under Interreg Slovenia–Austria and KUL-S-POT under Interreg Slovenia–Croatia, bringing experience in managing international partnerships.

We can offer the consortium practical expertise in adapting growing spaces and tasks to people with different abilities. We propose that the selected pilot site should test not only agronomic and environmental solutions, but also whether persons with disabilities can use the space and actively participate in growing food.

Our contribution would cover three connected activities:

1. Involving users from the planning stage
Together with persons with disabilities and their mentors, we would assess the proposed layout: access and movement between beds, reachability of plants, use of tools, clarity of signs and opportunities to rest. We would share findings with designers and researchers before implementation so that necessary adaptations are incorporated into the site design.

2. Practical testing of accessible food growing
Together with your experts, we would select suitable plants and tasks and test planting, watering, tending and harvesting. Depending on participants’ needs, we would assess solutions such as raised beds, adapted tools, visual plant labels and step-by-step instructions. We would monitor independence, assistance required and the usefulness of individual adaptations.

3. Connecting growing activities with food use and regular site maintenance
Drawing on our food processing experience, we would help plan practical uses for the herbs, fruit or vegetables grown. We would also assess which tasks users could undertake regularly, how much mentoring they need and how to organise work throughout the season. This would provide the pilot with a practical model for continued use and maintenance beyond the project activities.

Our contribution would deliver a tested model for an inclusive productive green space: recommendations for accessible design, clear working instructions, descriptions of suitable tasks, and data on users’ independence and mentoring needs. Municipalities, employment centres and other organisations could use this model when establishing similar spaces.

We understand that a suitable urban or peri-urban pilot site is central to your concept. We propose participating as a partner responsible for accessibility and practical user involvement at a site provided by a municipal, university or other territorial partner. A potential Slovenian site would need to be identified together with a suitable local partner.

Our added value is the direct involvement of persons with disabilities in developing and testing solutions. This would enable the consortium to demonstrate how a regenerated green space can deliver environmental benefits while also enabling people who face barriers in conventional gardens and public green spaces to participate in food growing.

We would welcome an online meeting to discuss how this contribution could fit into the emerging concept and connect with the planned pilot sites.

Kind regards,

Petra Tomše
Mozaik dobrot
Slovenia
mozaikdobrot@gmail.com

[Xavier Vélez Parera]

Dear project team,

I am Xavier Vélez, founder of True Regenerative, an SME from Barcelona (Spain) that supports farms in the transition to regenerative agriculture. We read your Call 8 partner search with great interest and would like to join the consortium as a field partner.

What we can bring:
– Pilot sites on peri-urban farms in the Baix Llobregat area (Viladecans, Gavà, near Barcelona) and on a rice farm, subject to each farm’s confirmation.
– Soil regeneration in practice: soil diagnostics and sampling, on-farm biofactories (bokashi, compost, biofertilisers) and monitoring of soil health.
– Capacity building: farmer training and open field days.
– Farm-level data to measure results (MRV).

We are flexible about our role and budget, and we can provide our profile and letters of support from farms quickly. Would you have time for a short call this week, given the 13 November deadline?

Kind regards,
Xavier Vélez Parera · True Regenerative (Barcelona) · PIC 870981625 · info@trueregenerative.com
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