The Role of the Agendas for Sustainable Development in Designing the Metropolitan Sustainable Infrastructure. The Case of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari

This paper presents the policymaking process for the Agenda for the Sustainable Development of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari (Sardinia, Italy), as an integration and orientation device for current and implementing planning tools, but above all a reference framework and an operative tool that confers meaning and makes it possible to monitor metropolitan policies and projects. Nevertheless, it directs programming on funding channels relating to the SDGs. The integrated projects for sustainability are the core element of the new way of operating, with the aim to stimulate collective action at all levels, promote active discussions and, around these, build the consent and the progressive definition of agreements. They are the fundamental pieces of a new organizational structure for the metropolitan city of Cagliari: the metropolitan sustainable infrastructure. They act in a complementary way on multiple dimensions of urban organization and on several spatial scales with the aim to implement the specific sustainability objectives of the Metropolitan City. In this sense, participation processes are encouraged in relation to the integrated projects to be implemented, acting as “catalysts”. Public Administrations, Authorities and stakeholders variably involved in each integrated project will formally define program agreements in specific areas of intervention to implement the sustainable integrated projects. This actively contribute to innovating the metropolitan governance processes in terms of tools and procedures in line with the EU and Ministerial requests.