City Vision at Design Week: PA and companies talk about cities 15 minutes away and urban redesign

“On the Corso Buenos Aires cycle path the number of cyclists, in peak hours, is equal to that of motorists”. Speaking of the infrastructure that has changed the face of one of the most important routes of Milanthe Councilor for the House and the Neighborhood Plan, Pierfrancesco Marangave his contribution to the debate in the last event of City Vision – by title “Architecting Smart Cities” – during the Fuorisalone. Promoted by Blum. Business as a medium and Padova Hall, with the support of Jakala Civitas and EnelX, City Vision is the content and news platform focused on the ecological and digital transformation taking place in the territories, from large cities to small towns, with a view to inclusion and true transition towards sustainable models.

On the occasion of Design weekthe most important national event dedicated to design, the discussion between administrators, experts and companies focused on some of the trends concerning smart cities in Italy. The challenge of town 15 minuteson the model of Paris and other European capitals, has for example been collected by municipalities such as Bologna, represented at City Vision by the councilor for New Mobility Valentina Orioli. “We – she said – are even aiming for the city 5 minutes away for how our municipality is made”.

Smart cities are also the ones where people move more efficiently. Victor Gattari, Dott’s Senior Public Policy Manager, brought the experience of an innovative company present throughout Europe with its fleet of scooters and electric bicycles for hire. Those cities that exploit the space available to start up are also intelligent renewable energy communitiesas he explained John RossiGlobal Marketing Director of Cleanwatts, a Portuguese company that is facilitating ecological transition paths in Italy as well. on theenergy efficiency of buildings Enel X also made its contribution, which participated in City Vision with Alfredo Sbarra, Head of Smart Building and Project Development B2G.

“Architecting smart cities means at least two things – he specified Dominic Lanzilotta, editorial director of City Vision – on the one hand, building digital solutions to make our cities more sustainable, more beautiful, easier to live in, more inclusive; on the other hand, restoring meaning to urban spaces, redesigning their functions, finding new paradigms of mobility, consumption and sharing. It is no coincidence that we chose the spaces of Alcova in the former slaughterhouse, never open to the public so far, to underline the importance of the existing heritage in our cities, to be recovered and returned to citizens”.

After the outbreak of the pandemic, a lot has changed. But in Milan, for example, the transformation has been going on for much longer. “Over 60% of current residents weren’t in 2008,” added Alderman Maran. But it is not only Milan that has changed. Against the risk of depopulation Matteo Cerri, Chief Strategist of Its Italy, explained how it is possible to attract foreign investments and collaborate with the Public Administration to increase the level of services and make isolated areas of the country more attractive. If we then look at the role of companies Ruggiero Colonna RomanoProject Manager of Milano Smart City Alliance, presented some best practices regarding sharing of work spaces between the companies that join the network with a view to collaboration.

Change is possible for cities, which must rely on the vision of administrators and the skills of technicians and companies, as the architect underlined G. Tiziana Gallo. This path affects both large companies, as well as medium and small towns. The mayor of Crema was also present at City Vision, Fabio Bergamaschiwho spoke of a urban redevelopment project involving the former Olivetti area. “There is certainly a favorable component dictated by the Pnrr”, he added, explaining that it is possible to return abandoned places to citizens.

The next appointment of City Vision on the calendar is at Genoa with a roundtable dedicated to data on 4 May; then events a will follow Naples on June 16, a Wedge in september ea Pesaro in november. The States General of smart citiesnow in its third edition, are scheduled for 10 and 11 October in Padua.