A seminar was held at the Italian Embassy in Stockholm, on the initiative of the ‘Protect Djurgården’ Association and in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in Sweden, aimed at enhancing the cultural-environmental heritage of the island of Djurgården – where both Embassies are located, the only two among the many diplomatic representations in Stockholm – and at the same time to valorize the experiences of Italian and Spanish cities in the field of urban parks.
After welcoming remarks by Italian Ambassador Michele Pala, Spanish Ambassador Luis Cuesta and Association President Catherine Engellau, moderator Henrik Ekman led an interesting discussion amongst the speakers: Henrik Waldenström, co-founder of the Royal National City Park, Annalisa Metta, Professor of Landscape Architecture at Roma Tre University, Alberto Ipas, founder of Smart Urban Parks in Spain, Richard Murray, editor of the book Why Cities Need Large Parks, and Sara Sandström, executive director of Princess Estelle’s cultural foundation, which curates the sculpture park that also features the work of Giuseppe Penone.
The discussion highlighted not only the environmental dimension of urban parks and their fundamental contribution to the sustainability of our cities, but also their social and cultural role, highlighting, in diversity, many points of contact between the three countries.
The large audience showed particular interest in learning about the different European dimensions of the preservation of national parks, and the final discussion did not fail to mention possible forms of partnership collaboration at the international level.
