The University of Trento held its 2026 Soil Week online workshop on 21 April, which focused on reflecting on the role of desealing in contemporary urban policies. The aim of the event was to compare Italian experiences and discuss the effectiveness of interventions in relation to the European policy framework, specifically the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 and the Nature Restoration Law.

The workshop highlighted how desealing proposals are increasingly being integrated into municipal plans and policies, such as green plans, climate transition strategies, and flood-risk regulations. Examples from cities like Florence, Trento, and Padua show progress in identifying priority areas for these interventions. While some regions like Veneto and Lombardy support desealing through co-financing mechanisms, it was noted that desealing is still more developed in practice than in regional regulatory frameworks.

A major theme of the discussion was the need to verify whether “restored” soils actually regain their ecological functions. Experts from ISPRA and various universities noted that effective restoration requires the full recovery of soil processes, such as water infiltration. It was clarified that partial interventions - such as using planters or tree planting on sealed surfaces - do not restore the underlying soil processes due to remaining impermeable layers. 

The push for desealing in Italy is primarily driven by the need for climate adaptation, specifically regarding stormwater management, flood risk reduction, and the mitigation of urban heat islands. Urban greening measures and European funding programmes, such as LIFE projects, were identified as essential enabling drivers for implementing these actions.

What should be the next steps?

There is a priority to clarify and standardise the definition of “soil restoration” to avoid misleading classifications in desealing projects. Improved assessment methods are required to evaluate the actual ecological recovery of soils beneath converted surfaces. Additionally, a cross-level analysis between national, regional, and urban scales is needed to better understand the gaps between policy ambitions and practical implementation outcomes.