# GI Guidelines for the Metropolitan City of Cagliari (Italy): A Method for Implementing Green Areas
## 5 Discussion  
In this section, we discuss the application of the method and the findings, with respect to the aims we delineated at the end of Section 1. Thus, we focus on the outcomes of the application, with reference to context analysis, the consistency check, and the preliminary draft of GI guidelines. As scholars have scarcely addressed methods for drafting guidelines aimed at designing and implementing GIs at sub-regional scales, in this work we developed a method for leading processes of designing GI guidelines and proposed a possible implementation in the context of the MC of Cagliari, Italy. The method develops in three phases: context analysis, the consistency check, and the draft of GI guidelines. According to [PERSON] and [PERSON] [19] and [PERSON] et al. [21], we performed a context analysis with the purpose of providing a framework on the vulnerable areas of the MC of Cagliari. Such areas need to be preserved and protected against hydrological and geological risk. According to the strengths, the Metropolitan City assures significative relevance to the protection of vulnerable habitats and species, where a GI has the potential to maintain a fair conservation status [56], while the main weaknesses concern governance of adaptation to climate change and poor management and vaporization of humid zones. As for the management and vaporization of humid zones, GIs are key in terms of improved accessibility and connectivity [56; 57]. As for the consistency check, we tailored the preliminary draft of GI guidelines to the contents and sustainability goals established by the 2030 Agenda, the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the National Strategy for Sustainable Development, and regional sustainability objectives. The consistency check allowed us to draft GI guidelines according to sustainability principles. Finally, we proposed the draft of GI guidelines that is structured according to: (i) the main objectives of a GI and the measures to be implemented, (ii) where the GI can primarily be implemented, (iii) the approach to GI planning, (iv) time-schedule, (v) stakeholder involvement. The main objectives rely on considerations emerging from context analysis (Section 4.1) and the consistency check (Section 4.2), and are consistent with international, European, national, and regional purposes. Such an approach allowed us to set the GI guidelines according to a top-down approach and define its main objectives within a sustainability framework [13; 32; 33]. We suggested a differentiation of the measures for urban, peri-urban, and rural areas. The measures are aimed at enhancing abandoned sites and meeting objectives concerning air quality, sustainable mobility, ecological and landscape defragmentation, adaptation and mitigation to climate change, and improved governance, via the GI. Each general line of action allows public administrators to set certain measures depending on the context that will be affected by the GI. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Stakeholders** & **Role** & **Scale** \\ \hline Metropolitan Mayor & & \\ Metropolitan Council members & & \\ Metropolitan Conference & & \\ Municipal Mayors & Institutional & Provincial \\ Municipal Council members & & \\ Protected Areas Managers & & \\ \hline Professionals & & \\ Non-governmental organizations & & \\ Strategic public bodies & & \\ Environmental associations and local & & \\ universities & & \\ Research centers & Non-institutional & Local \\ Irrigation Consortium & & \\ Farmers & & \\ Schools & & \\ Citizens & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 8: Stakeholders to be involved in the drafting of the GI guidelines for the Metropolitan City of Cagliari by role and scale. The location of the GI has been identified by considering three issues: Natura 2000 sites, areas affected by hydrogeological risk, and landscape fragmentation.