"System and method for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden" k k k The present invention relates to a system for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden.

In addition, the present invention relates to a method for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden. As it is known, green spaces intended for shared cultivation with mainly social purposes, called urban gardens, are currently in use and of growing interest.

Urban gardens are spontaneously proliferating in cities under the impulse of different needs, first of all creating opportunities and activities in the open air and recovering aspects of rural life, for example directly growing one's own food.

Urban gardens grow with different characteristics, there are those built in a "micro" by using large or small terraces, to move on to more structured ones that make use of the concession by the Municipalities and individual Circumscriptions of small plots of land in areas within a city or located in the first peripheral belt. Urban gardens are also a tool to promote sustainability and sociality: they allow those who live in a city to get in touch with nature and to experience self-production, they integrate with technology and apps, foster human relationships and constitute a precious moment of aggregation, while taking care of one's own piece of land, and the exchange of advice and opinions recurs every day.

Along with the social function there is a didactic value: those who are directly involved in cultivation study the protection of local agricultural production, the use of organic methods and plants that ward off parasites, the garden-therapy .

From Europe to the United States to Japan, there are many initiatives for the cultivation of green spaces in city areas: those already cultivated make up 5.9 percent of agricultural fields around the world. In Italy today there are 3.3 million square meters of land owned by the municipalities divided into small plots and used for domestic cultivation, horticulture or recreational gardening. In France, Germany, England and Northern Europe, urban gardens have a longer history than in Italy. In Paris the "Jardins Partages", collective gardens created and managed by neighborhood associations, made available by the Municipality in small plots of land, are spreading.According to such a model, in many cities, citizens are invited to cultivate the land so that everyone is free to reap the benefits. The success is enormous and the goal is to encourage self-sufficiency from a food point of view. In Japan, the East Japan Railway Company has launched an initiative for commuters waiting for the train, who can work a garden, created in the station itself, from which they can then collect fruit and vegetables. A space to relax and make new bonds. However, currently urban gardens and their management are not associated with a system or a method that optimizes their phases and benefits. Still, the current management of urban gardens does not have a tool able to perform an objective assessment of the benefits provided by the activities in the garden itself.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a system for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden and a related innovative method aimed at a better functioning of a community garden, to the advantage of the parameters of well-being, reconnection to the nature and socialization, in an urban setting, having, therefore, characteristics such as to overcome the limits that still affect the systems concerning the management of an urban garden, with reference to the known technique. According to the present invention, a system for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden is provided, as defined in claim 1.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, a method for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden is implemented.

For a better understanding of the present invention, a preferred embodiment is now described, purely by way of non limiting example, with reference to the annexed drawings, in which:

- figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden, according to the invention; figure 2 shows a correlation scheme between the variables of the system for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden, according to the invention;

- figure 3 shows a block diagram of the system for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden, according to the invention; - figure 4 shows a block diagram of a method for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden, according to the invention. With particular reference to figure 1, a system 100 for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden is shown, according to the invention.

More specifically, the system 100 for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden comprises:

- a plurality of first input data 11 related to parameters: motivational, related to technological dependence, psycho-physiological issues, connection with nature, emotional regulation, relational skills, at a time tO when a user starts his own management of an urban garden;

- a plurality of input data 12 related to environmental parameters ;

- a plurality of input data 13 related to demographic variables;

- a correlation system of input data 11, 12, 13;

- a plurality of second input data (11') related to parameters motivational, related to technological dependence, psycho-physiological problems, connection with nature, emotional regulation, relational skills, at a time tl>t0 when a user has already performed N hours of activity in the urban garden; - a calculation block for calculating an improvement factor concerning each parameter, based upon the difference between the first input data 11 at time tO and the second input data 11' at time tl; - a visualization block for displaying the improvement factors, calculated in the previous step;

- an output block of a parameter associated with an improvement factor smaller than the others, able to highlight suggestions for improving the management of the urban garden.

According to an aspect of the invention, the plurality of first and second input data 11, 11' related to parameters: motivational, related to technological dependence, psycho- physiological issues, connection with nature, emotional regulation, relational skills, at times tO and tl are evaluated using a set consisting of eight batches of surveys validated scientifically in the academic field, and that represent the validated tool for measuring unobserved (i.e. latent, hidden) constructs and trends that characterize the phenomena that take place in urban gardens.

In particular, the system 100 comprises a block for processing the results of the questionnaires, included in the set consisting of eight batches of surveys, so as to automatically choose the observed variables that characterize four unobserved factors:

1. psychological malaise/well-being;

2. personal resources / emotional regulation; 3. connection to nature;

4. individual behavior.

The data processed by the processing block according to the aforementioned procedures, and related to the four unobserved factors, feed algorithms configured for optimizing the parameters included in the system 100. The initial causal model processes the six unobserved variables mentioned, i.e. motivational parameters, technological dependence, psycho-physiological issues, connection with nature, emotional regulation, relational skills, according to a progressive iterative procedure, which is able to identify the best combination of variables and their interrelations. Such a procedure uses the eight batches of observed variables and acts, as a structural model, in establishing the relationship between the unobserved variables.

According to an aspect of the invention, the system 100 comprises a machine learning block able to predict the general performance of a user, who works in the garden, through machine learning techniques (training-set and test- set).

Advantageously according to the invention, the output of the system 100 facilitates and guides the user to adopt appropriate behaviors depending on the objectives set in favor of increasing his own experience and the collective experience in the community urban garden.

According to an aspect of the invention, the system 100 is able to correlates the changes in terms of environmental variables (in particular georeferencing, temperature, air pressure, wind intensity, etc.) in order to significantly predict the individual measurements of perceived restorative, i.e. the subjective evaluation that the user attributes to the urban garden in terms of the ability of the garden to regenerate his psychological resources.

These subjective assessments positively and significantly increase the attendance of the urban garden in terms of days/month spent in the garden.

However, this relationship would be moderated by the values related to the main reasons that push the individual to frequent the urban garden. The latter variable, categorical, includes a relational factor, two pragmatic- economic factors and two further factors concerning psychological well-being. The correlation between perceived restorative and attendance of the garden is increased by the presence of motivational categories related to psychological well-being .

The parameter of intensity of attendance of the garden significantly reduces the levels of malaise, measured through the levels of technological dependence and the levels of anxiety, depression and stress. Furthermore, the correlation between these parameters is expressed through a subsequent double mediation mechanism. Specifically, there is a link between the attendance of the garden and the levels of psychological distress mediated both by the role of the sense of connection to the nature and the capacity in terms of regulating emotional states. In this sense, the attendance of the garden is directly proportional to the sense of connection to nature which in turn would positively predict the capacity of emotional regulation, direct factors explaining the levels of psychological distress.

According to an aspect of the invention, the measurement of emotional regulation skills derives from the use of a multi-method detection methodology and involves the inclusion of three different indicators:

1. the evaluation of difficulties in regulating negative emotional states measured on six dimensions; 2. the beliefs about the possibility of being able to modify emotional states;

3. the ability to regulate positive emotional states according to nine dimensions. The model is configured as a moderate mediation model where the connection between skills concerning emotional regulation and psychological distress is moderated by the values measured on certain demographic variables such as gender, age and level of education. According to an aspect of the invention, the system 100 comprises a graphical interface obtained by means of a computer program managed by an innovative algorithm and configured for entering the data of each user (a horticulturist or a potential one) and for displaying the predictive performance output.

The interface consists of an online/offline tool configured for filling out the survey that allows the measurement of unobserved variables. Once the survey has been completed, the user is able to visualize the scores of the unobserved variables, by means of said graphical interface.

As previously said, the invention relates also to a method for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden by means of the system 100, comprising the following steps:

101 identifying a plurality of users involved;

102 saving the data, related to each user comprised in the plurality of users involved, to a database;

103 performing a user registration and acquiring first data 11 related to parameters at time tO;

104 performing activities in an urban garden for a number of hours per month and saving said activities to the system 100;

105 acquiring from the user second data related to parameters concerning the experience in the urban garden at time tl> tO;

(106) providing the user with an output related to a trend concerning each parameter and concerning the parameter affected by the lowest variation.

Advantageously according to the invention, the system for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden and the related method allow to monitor the well- being deriving from the management of an urban garden and the variation of the parameters of well-being, reconnection to the nature and socialization.

Therefore, the system for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden and the related method according to the invention allow to improve the usability of the urban garden and to monitor its effect on one or more users.

It is finally clear that the system for evaluating data related to the management of an urban garden and the related method described and illustrated herein can be subject to modifications and variations without departing from the protective scope of the present invention, as defined in the appended claims.