URBANPROMO XII EDIZIONE: CONTENTS

There are seven different thematic sections that characterise the current edition.
Three of these, join the typical central theme of Urbanpromo:

  • Complex programs, public and private real estate and infrastructures converge in URBAN TRANSFORMATION;
  • the best practices of revitalization of economic activities in urban centers, find place in URBAN MARKETING section;
  • SOCIAL HOUSING confirm Urbanpromo as the only national context for the construction and dissemination of the most advanced housing policy.

Two newer sections give visibility to the main channels of financing of urban regeneration:

  • ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY examine themes like the energy of the city, the waste management and the urban agriculture;
  • SMART CITY explores the opportunities created by research and technological innovation.

The XII edition comes at a particular time, which allows it to understand:

  • the consequences of EXPO 2015
  • the first phase of the new cycle of community program “EUROPE 2020”.

From all that comes the desire to support the growth of the Country, highlighting the initiatives that actively contribute to do this.

 

URBAN TRANSFORMATION

The thematic area about Urban Transformation, examine the real estate assets in relation to the evolution of the market, through the presentation of projects, actions, policies, and then:

  • the real estate market analysis and the policies important for its activation. Particularly noteworthy are the initiatives for heritage “unsold” or “suffering” as a result of the economic crisis;
  • the projects for the redevelopment of parts of the city, with the aim of regenerating degraded parts of the urban territory;
  • ideas and innovative tools that feed the operations of exploitation, alienation and management of public real estate;
  • plans and urban programs for the management of urban transformations. Proposals able to create synergies between real estate investments and the improvement of urban quality. Successful examples of redevelopment for brownfield sites;
  • projects that oppose the excessive use of the land, measures able to create synergies with the promotion of urban regeneration;
  • infrastructure projects generating positive effects on the city. A presentation of projects of infrastructure and mobility plans that make more efficient and sustainable our cities;
  • recovery and enhancement initiatives for the cultural and environmental heritage in order to produce benefits for the city.

The best examples of inter-institutional cooperation are shown: projects characterized by public-private partnerships. A presentation of equipments and high quality services that contribute to the modernization of the health system, education, culture and sport.

 

URBAN MARKETING

Policies, projects and experiences for the promotion of the competitiveness developed through public-private partnership within the network for urban regeneration.
In Media Gallery the most innovative practices regarding policies, strategies and implementation of economic activities in urban systems are shown.
During the conferences, the participants debate with the most authoritative representatives of significant experiences, they know contexts, methods and solutions in order to: create functional efficiency; improve the accessibility; create high capacity attractions for investments meeting the needs of the users and monitore the assistance to them.

Main topics:

  • city centers and urban areas with processes of revitalization going on, experience activities including temporary reuse of vacant units and looking for new smart city specialization;
  • places for productive sectors, landscape and excellence pursuing the integrated promotion;
  • revitalization paths acting on improving governance and innovative formulas like, for example, those related to policies for the strengthening of the economy of the sea, the spread of urban agriculture, and also those related to policies, strategies and instruments for making cities more accessible;
  • networks, districts and other aggregations to achieve greater competitiveness and efficiency of the territories;
  • cooperation agreements on services, culture, tourism, economic activities and quality of life;
  • urban agriculture promoted through economical incentives and urban equalization, dedicated to self-consumption in order to contain the families’ expenditure.

 

SOCIAL HOUSING

The section dedicated to Social Housing will be the qualified area where will discuss experiences and proposals for the low-cost housing and rent in low charge. A survey on urban regeneration projects that induce economic development, which promote social cohesion and integration of communities.
A look at the initiatives of technological innovation and design aimed to create housing acts in order to provide increases in standard of living, quality control costs of building against a rent control.

A comparison between good practices and projects, permits to understand:

  • joint actions that are leading to a reform of the public service through conferences between municipalities, regions and Components State;
  • a final assessment of the experience of the FIA (fund investments for living) financed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti for the establishment of local funds aimed to the implementation of programs for social housing. Comparisons and debates about social housing and its development;
  • experiences and projects of big cities: a comparison between the actions characterizing the main urban centers from the social housing point of view;
  • a launch of topics and experiences about innovation and the use of best practices with a strong investment, corporate management, with great attention to the environmental component and technological innovation;
  • management initiatives in support of social housing emergency demand, promoted and carried out by foundations and non-profit organizations.

 

ENERGY AND SUSTAINABILITY

The present age is marked by the passage from an economic paradigm (now concluded), based on mass consumption and supported by the expansion of debt, to a new one, in which the economic cycle will be driven by investments in order to create a new demand and supported by increases in efficiency.
To do this, it is necessary to create a re-collective learning, together with the planners, by the generality of economic and social actors, public private and third sector.
Therefore, the subject area is devoted to the various specific contributions on the different aspects of energy and sustainability, able to blend into the visible form of the city and in its beauty.
Projects able to enhance the value of the limit, like an alternative to the waste, through a different management of the movement in the cities, the use and recycling of waste, water conservancy, energy conservation, use of renewable energy and secondary raw materials.
A further object of analysis are the strategies to promote the urban green and the creation of green and blue infrastructures, to incentivize practices related to urban agriculture and good density that are attracted.
Projects and reflections focused on:

  • “stoke” the city, avoiding simplifications about energy performance;
  • concrete action to meet the goals of reducing CO2 emissions by promoting renewable sources;
  • achieve lasting results and economically quantifiable in terms of energy by creating a new image of city planning;
  • include energy aspects that widen the horizons of sustainability plans, aimed at reducing specific ecological aspects;
  • how to maximize these processes in models replicable, measurable and improvable.

 

SMART CITY

Particularly in recent months, the debate on smart cities seems less based on the opportunities offered by new technologies to devote increasing attention to the capacity of innovative processes to put citizens at the center of the decisions of public interest in the field of urban transformation.
The new forms of smart governance are a key element of the strategy for the overall economic recovery and they have to contribute to the affirmation of a new National Urban Agenda.
Even on the basis of some recent initiatives by the EU within the redefinition of the strategic priority, this new philosophy of intervention may be proved decisive in the transition from a production model of linear and high intensity of energy and natural resources, to a paradigm of circular type.
In this context, the resources are renewable, the products are recyclable and / or reassembled and the waste becomes new raw materials, new resource, with benefits for the environment, the economy and society.
Consistent with this clarification about the new areas of interest of the digital city, the topics that will be favored by this edition of Urbanpromo will be:

  • mobility, transport and logistics
  • energy and intelligent building (“integrated smart grids”)
  • strategies for public safety and emergency management
  • environmental protection, natural resources and human health
  • indicators and monitoring systems for the control of climate change and for the management of risk
  • practices to value tourism and culture
  • the provision of health and care services
  • Projects of e-education
  • the strategies of e-government and citizen involvement

 

EXPO 2015

Urbanpromo back to take care of EXPO 2015, a few days after the close of the great event, which for six months has been the image of our country in the World.
It will be possible to make an initial assessment, analyzing different indicators which have monitored the event during these six months:

  • number of visitors;
  • the direct and induced economic impact, estimated at the national level and on the local economy;
  • the organization, the quality of supply and the management of the services;
  • the effectiveness of the disclosure of the contents, the promotion of new scenarios of sustainable development;
  • the effectiveness of the urban structure compared to the valuation of the architectures, of the stands, and compared to
  • the large number of visitors;
  • the role of Italian Regions, important part of the offer of national values.

The opportunity of a further reflection on the event must be, however, especially due to the great theme of urban regeneration of the site, used by EXPO, near Milan.
This is the most massive European intervention for physical and economic dimensions that brings all the elements that make up the transition from the industrial city of the twentieth century to the new one, the Creative City of the XXI century.
The Company Arexpo, which manages the operation, launched a number of important activities that will be analyzed in depth during the conferences of UP 15:

  • the choice of the advisory to the location of areas on the market;
  • the thinking behind the concept of the new order of the area;
  • the new master plan;
  • the evaluation of the new scenarios estate;
  • the role of the participatory process in the choice of the new structure and integration with the consolidated city.

 

EUROPA 2020

Territorial cohesion, the policy objectives of Europe 2020, the decarbonisation scenarios of Europe 2030 and the Roadmap 2050, establish a coherent framework for the construction of these new urban policies.
However, the implementation of the different dimensions of the new development has found poor transposition in the Italian documents about the European programming.
It is therefore to build on the dimensions of flexibility and the ability to reprogram present in the Programme (Integrated Territorial Investments, urban innovative actions, Urbact III) and to build the elements of a National Urban Agenda, a shared platform for sustainable urban development which includes the Metro PON, the Strategy for the inland areas, Aces City and actions for sustainable urban development of regional POR (all except Val d’Aosta and Lazio ).
Urbanpromo intends to investigate the possible terms useful to the definition of such a policy framework, giving voice and listening to the institutional, economic and social subjects. Indeed, these are the potential protagonists of a new round of urban policy, as already indicated by the European Business Campaign “Sustainable living in the city”, supported by CSR Europe.
For this, Urbanpromo has become a place to communicate the programming locations about the most innovative experiences of urban development, in order to express their specificity and share contents and methods of their planning.
Jobs that UP15 proposes to treat these topics, will involve representatives of the reality of the Italian territory in comparison with the heads of regional programs and with some members of the scientific thought.

 

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