Urban deserts, access to greenery and environmental justice: the oasis-paradise as a strategy for punctual urban transformation

In the search for the founding principles of sustainable development, the international community has clearly identified the need to combine economic and social issues with a specific attention to environmental justice. The protection of natural ecosystems and the maintenance of natural elements even in highly anthropized contexts are fundamental to ensure human well-being and also to overcome inequalities. These issues have an important impact in the contemporary city. More and more cities appear as extensive deserts, made of cement instead of sand, and in fact a correlation between urbanization and desertification exists since the uncontrolled extension of urban areas is the cause of the phenomenon of desertification and sterilization of soils due to the extensive sealing of soils and a disproportionate absorption of resources. The search for environmental justice in the contemporary city must therefore concern the restoration of natural elements and dynamics in the urban fabric and attention to a fair distribution of the benefits of this process, that means ensuring access to nature for all.