Catanzaro’s participation in the event organized in Porto, Portugal, by the European Commission as a moment of meeting and exchange of experiences between the European cities participating in the ICC (Intelligent Cities Challenge) project, a network of intelligent cities in Europe, aroused curiosity and interest. ‘Europe. A network of which Catanzaro has been part for five years now together with other entities committed to governing urban change with digital and ecological transition processes.
The event in Porto, held in the splendid setting of the Sala degli Arabi of the Palazzo della Borsa, was attended by the President of the City Council, Gianmichele Bosco, the coordinator of the ICC Project, Antonio De Marco, the local expert Vincenzo Costantino for the City of Catanzaro. , and the Director of MUDIAC, Matteo Sainato. With them also the coordinator of the ICC Central Office for the city of Catanzaro, Saverio Romeo. An opportunity to reiterate the commitment of the communities involved in the ICC Project network on the strategic theme of environmental pacts, as a focus of the European Union’s attention, and which is transformed into the ICC Project in the signing of the “Local Green Deal ”. The Municipality of Catanzaro, which has chosen to participate in the thematic network on “Culture” of the ICC Project, illustrated in Porto the activities carried out with the socio-economic partnership, cultural associations and the Third Sector for the projects linked to the PON Metro Plus, intertwining culture and social inclusion in the co-programming and co-design phase of the interventions.
The Catanzaro experience was highly appreciated by interlocutors from other European cities, above all due to the original integration guaranteed by Catanzaro between cultural actions, especially street and urban art, and processes of social inclusion and innovative social economy. On the strategic choices regarding sustainable urban development, President Bosco expressed the adhesion of the City of Catanzaro to the appeal to the European Commission and the Governments of the Member Countries, which was signed at the end of the Porto event, and which provides the relaunch of sustainable local competitiveness through “Local Green Deals”, recognizing the crucial role of public-private partnerships at territorial level in driving the green transition.
A pact between mayors and local administrators who thus intended to support Enrico Letta’s report on the future of the single market and its “freedom to remain”, supporting a territorial approach for a stronger, fairer and more competitive single market, and committing to collaborate to regenerate local economies and enhance local knowledge and networks. “On behalf of the entire administration, I want to express the sense of pride for the strong involvement of the Municipality of Catanzaro in this global commitment of European Cities”, comments Gianmichele Bosco. “A dimension that the Capital City has managed to carve out for itself in recent years and which demonstrates the ability to plan and rethink urban development, looking at community targets in terms of environmental and digital transition. From these bases, the commitment to building new exchanges and twinning between smart cities will continue, to direct territorial planning towards a European perspective”.
