Urban microforests, inspired by the Miyawaki method, exemplify the contemporary shift toward ecological urbanism—an approach that conceives the city as a living ecosystem where environmental and social processes coevolve. Within this framework, the Roman “green archipelago” of microforests, from the San Lorenzo pilot project to the 15 Microforests for the 15-Minute City initiative, offers a significant laboratory for examining how small-scale green infrastructures can mediate between ecological restoration, pedagogy, and civic engagement. The study adopts four analytical lenses—ecology, pedagogy, civic engagement, and conviviality—to interpret the microforest as a regenerative infrastructure that reconfigures urban space through proximity, participation, and care. These dimensions reflect the idea of conviviality as elaborated by Illich (1973): a condition of shared agency and mutual responsibility between people and their environment. Findings from the Roman case studies reveal both the transformative potential and fragility of microforests—their success depending on sustained educational activation, cultural programming, and institutional cooperation. Building on these insights, the ongoing Third Mission initiative MiCS—Microforests Cultural Hub Sapienza: A Bridge Between Ecology and Community reframes the microforest as a civic infrastructure and living laboratory, where schools, universities, and local communities co-produce ecological and cultural value. Ultimately, the paper argues that microforests embody a new form of regenerative small-scale urbanism, capable of cultivating environmental literacy, collective stewardship, and convivial urban life within the broader trajectory of ecological transition.
Fabiola Fratini (Wed,) studied this question.