The construction of new university buildings and for scientific research, through demolition and reconstruction or adaptation of existing structures, but also the increase in university residences, the enhancement of the interdepartmental scientific library, the development of the sports center and services aimed at students and staff with additional spaces for study and socialization, for catering and leisure. And, again, the identification of a pedestrian and equipped green area with the unsealing of 12,500 square meters of soil and the planting of 80 new trees. A new access system with the strengthening of cycle and pedestrian paths, the increase in bicycle stalls and the inclusion of a maintenance station; as well as a reorganization aimed at reducing motorisation, with the separation and qualification of driveways, the limitation of access to private cars, the implementation of the planned 30 zones and the adaptation of the parking offer.
This is what is foreseen by the master plan on the urban project “Modena university city – University campus in via Campi” with respect to which the Modena City Council, in the meeting on Thursday 21 March, gave the green light for the approval of the relevant memorandum of understanding between the Municipality and University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. The resolution, illustrated by the councilor for urban planning Anna Maria Vandelli, was approved with the vote in favor of the Pd, Sinistra per Modena and Modena Civica and the vote against of Lega Modena, Movimento 5 stelle and Fratelli d’Italia; abstention for Green Europe.
“Through joint work between the Municipality and the University which lasted months – stated Vandelli – with the Memorandum of Understanding and the Masterplan, a new structure was defined and shared aimed at qualifying and regulating the university campus delimited by via Campi, Vignolese, Araldi and Braghiroli, identifying the ways to arrive at an overall process of rationalization and reorganization of the area with an important impact also on the context outside the university and on the city itself”.
“The green light for the protocol – explains Mayor Gian Carlo Muzzarelli – is part of the more overall development of the “University City”, a strategic direction which has seen the Municipality and University involved for some time on various fronts (housing for students, educational spaces and of research, transport, training and didactics, integration of students even off-site, initiatives and events, communication and information) to make Modena increasingly a university center of excellence at a national level, capable of attracting a significant number of students, also qualifying the city in this perspective”.
Councilor Vandelli explained that “the previous detailed plan, now dated, needed to be aligned with the new Pug strategies, with ecological-environmental improvement actions, vehicular accessibility and safety, university equipment and services, as well as for sustainable mobility”.
In the Masterplan, in fact, greater attention is paid to the quality of life of students and staff, providing for expansion and redevelopment interventions of open, residential, educational and sporting spaces also with the aim of improving the level of environmental and energy sustainability of the ‘university. In particular, the green areas and paths are qualified and increased, implemented with furnishings and equipment, the parking areas are unsealed, green roofs are provided in correspondence with the new buildings with the aim, among other things, of mitigating the island effect of heat within the university area. The pedestrian, cycle and public transport connections between the Campus, the centre, the stations and the other university centers are strengthened and there is a commitment to build a common platform also with the Local Health Authority to jointly identify new measures for public mobility with the involvement of the Mobility managers of the various bodies.
The Masterplan therefore goes on to design a reference framework to identify the individual projects to be financed and implemented over time: “We start with a first implementation phase financed for 25 million euros by the MIUR for the construction of the new building of the Department of Biomedical sciences – concluded Vandelli – but the Municipality and University will collaborate for the implementation of the entire Masterplan, committing themselves to identifying every possible source of funding”.
