Five working tables, to discuss the key topics of the cities of the future. The first semester of City Visionthe project by Blum and Padova Hall to talk about and encourage the intelligent transformation of territories, brought together more than 100 representatives from the PA, companies, research and the world of associations to summarize the best public policies along the Peninsula.
The next big event is in Padua, with the States General of smart cities, scheduled for 21 and 22 October at the Altinate S. Gaetano Cultural Center. Now in their fifth edition, they have always represented a hub for thinking and building the public spaces of the future in a dialogue between PA, businesses, the academic world and the research and innovation system.
The program is available on the official website. Over the two days there will be space for working tables, inspirational speeches, networking moments, as well as for theatrical performances and the award ceremony. Municipalities can still apply for the City Vision good practice awards, a recognition awarded every year to the best Italian innovative projects in the PA sector.
The balance of the 2024 roadshow
The stages of City Vision’s 2024 roadshow touched the cities of Naples, Genoa, Milan, Udine and Syracuse in the first half of the year. In each appointment, a working table, behind closed doors: a format designed specifically to fuel the debate within the communitywhere the exchange of ideas and networking are fundamental elements.
“City Vision and its community are growing – he declared Domenico Lanzilotta, director of City Vision – In the five stages organized so far we have met dozens and dozens of people who administer cities with competence and passion. We talked about mobility, inclusion, sport, tourism, energy and many other topics, apparently distant from each other but in reality united by a new vision of what a city, a village, a territory can offer to the people who live there. they live. And step after step we have experienced the transformative power of innovation when it takes the form of a shared project in which each and every one, in whatever world they find themselves operating – public administration, business, research, professions, associations – is called to bring the own contribution”.
Naples, municipalities on the move
The journey began at Naples (15 March), the city where the City Vision working table format took shape in 2022. In this year’s edition the theme was that of mobility and the challenges associated with infrastructure, investments and ecological transition. Among the speakers present Edoardo CosenzaCouncilor for Infrastructure, Mobility and Civil Protection of the Municipality of Naples ed Enrico Franzamayor of Ariano Irpino. “With EAV we are taking forward a great challenge: that of a company with 130 years of history that returns to being at the forefront by implementing innovative projects – explained the president of EAV Umberto De Gregorio – We are currently working on a hydrogen production plant in Piedimonte Matese”.
In Naples there was then the opportunity to talk about the White Papers of City Vision, created by Data Valley, whose objective is the collection of best practices at national and European level regarding data governance. Data, especially for mobility, is an essential element for making the best decisions. “With the White Paper in collaboration with City Vision – he said Vanessa CoccaCEO of Data Valley – let’s try to frame the
Italian and European regulatory contexts to analyze obstacles and ways to overcome them”.
Sport against isolation
From mobility we then moved on to another fundamental theme for the future of cities. City Vision Sportsin partnership with Prokalos, was held in Genoa (May 15), in collaboration with the Blue District. “We are investing not only in sports infrastructures, but also in the diffusion of sports culture, starting from schools and the young generations, to create sporting events of all sizes”, commented the councilor
Sports of Genoa, Alessandra Bianchi.
He echoed her Cristina Clerico, councilor for youth policies in Cuneo. “Talking about sport means talking about the future of the young generations, which is why we try to regenerate spaces in a multipurpose way by combining sport and art”. In this particular stage, City Vision understood sport not only as a physical activity that everyone can practice for their own well-being, but also as an important antidote to the isolation of neighborhoods and
attractor of opportunities during major sporting events.
Michele Pianetta, founding partner of Prokalos, commented on the meaning of the meeting in the city of Lanterna: “In 2004 the constitutional court highlighted the role of sport as a people’s right. This is why with City Vision Sport we want to make people reflect on how it can be a tool for citizens and for the intelligent transformation of territories”.
Data, but above all people
The City Vision roadshow never fails to mention the topic data. The topic was at the center of the working table at Milan (May 10) at MIND, one of the iconic places of the city of the future, where Expo 2015 took place. Among the speakers Adriana Nepotecouncilor for smart city in Mantua, and Diego Valazza, Business Development Director Lendlease. In a period in which artificial intelligence dominates the debate on technology – data is at the basis of AI – the meeting with more than 20 speakers never overlooked a key element that guides the daily work of those who administer cities .
“The smart city cannot be built without people, we must therefore create interest around this topic, explain to citizens what opportunities it brings,” he declared Emiliana Brognoli, innovation councilor of Rho. “The topic of technological evolution is a topic of risk of increasing inequalities but also of opportunities in combating them,” he added Luca Benettibudget councilor in Legnano.
The essential for a smart city
Continuing the story of the activities during the first half of 2024 of City Vision, the stage of Udine (30 May) was part of the Accessibility for Future exhibition and was created in collaboration with Willeasy. The focus: the accessible tourism and the ability of cities and territories to always think from a perspective of inclusion when developing services and more. “Udine is a city that is opening up to a very important and increasingly vertical debate on the topic of accessibility, understood not only as a listening process for people with disabilities, but aimed at a broad spectrum of citizens,” he said William Del Negropresident of Willeasy.
He spoke at the working table Ivano Marchiol, councilor for public works, roads, public green spaces of the Friulian municipality. “In every city there shouldn’t be a limited accessible area, the entire territory should be accessible. Hence the idea of creating an accessibility mapping plan that analyzed 400 city locations to make them more inclusive was born.” Other speakers such as Mark De Laurentiisdirector of the Passenger Rights Protection Department of ENAC, e Alessandra SileriArea Manager North East, Sicily and Malta of Booking.com.
On the occasion of the Udine stage there was also the contribution of Marco Panieri, mayor of Imola, where one of the most iconic motorsports events is hosted. “There were 210 thousand people at the Formula 1 Grand Prix and to be able to make the experience accessible to everyone, we optimized the pedestrian routes making them accessible also to people in wheelchairs. A new project in the field is the audio track: the story of the racetrack on a sound level and not just tactile, to allow everyone to enjoy the experience”.
Energy is culture
The first semester of City Vision ended in Syracusefor a territorial stage focused onpower. Various local actors were present at the working table, from trade associations to large and small municipalities, each with their own contribution in terms of results and goals to be achieved. “Talking about energy transition must start from the awareness of the need to intervene on people’s discomfort and energy
who inhabit our cities,” he said Francesco Italymayor of Syracuse.
Also present Giuseppe Cassì, mayor of Ragusa. “The issue of energy – he commented – is central in convincing citizens to live in the historic centre, giving them as an incentive the possibility of adapting properties to modern living standards”. Rossana Cannata, mayor of Avola, added: “Redevelopment, regeneration, transformation. These are all issues on our political agenda. We want to have an impact on a policy that then also has a concrete effect on the citizens’ pockets.”
The “Intelligent Cities” show and the meeting with the District
City Vision’s 2024 program was also enriched by other online and live events. In fact, a digital meeting was organized for the community with some companies in the Innovation District, with pitch sessions from the startups which then collected ideas from the administrators. And then the “Intelligent Cities” show, organized by City Vision in the Scampia EAV station, in Naples. This reading-show, curated by the director of City Vision Domenico Lanzilotta and by the actor Lorenzo MaragoniPoetry Slam world champion, provided the opportunity to share insights, ideas and visions on the future of the Municipalities.
City Vision is a project in collaboration with A2A and in partnership with Anm, Eav, Open Fiber, Rubner, Volksbank. The community partners are ANFoV, Data Valley, Entopan, Istituto EuropIA.it, indig communication, Innovation Hub South Europe, InnovUp, Living Future Europe, Milano Smart City Alliance, NAStartup, PA Social, Rete dei Comuni Sostenibili, Smart Communities Tech. The project has the patronage of Anci, the National Institute of Urban Planning and the National Association of urban planners and territorial and environmental planners.
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