Lo stato dell’arte dei progetti nature-based in ambito educativo, formativo, terapeutico e ricreativo in Italia: quadro concettuale e una possibile categorizzazione dei settori/contesti

National and international literature on nature-based programs in the educational,training, therapeutic and leisure areas reveals a lack of homogeneityin using the different terminologies: the various terms are used with differentmeanings, both by practitioners and by scholars. The present work is theconceptual premise of a research which outlined a quantitative and qualitativemapping of the Italian organizations that use nature-based approachesand methodologies. This paper provides both a literature review of the theoreticalroots which support nature-based experiences, and a reconnaissanceof the national situation regarding the use of terminology and thedifferentiation in the various specific practical fields. In order to properly introducethe mapping research, this work proposes a conceptual organizationdefining four macro-areas of the nature-based sector. This categorization,which is organized around some indicators, aims to be flexible and to havepermeable borders; and it has the goal to help orienting in the complexframework of the numerous nature-based proposals in Italy.