VARCITIES is an EU-funded European project for the regeneration of public spaces in order to offer innovative green environments, designed for the well-being of people, especially the most fragile
Urban regeneration looks to nature and the possibilities offered by digitization to recreate spaces tailored to people. It is not a slogan, or at least it is not in the work carried out in eight European cities where pilot sites are being worked on as an integral part of the European VARCITIES project.
Behind this acronym there is the desire to restore meaning and well-being to individuals, with particular attention to fragile subjects, through the care of urban environments such as historic gardens, promenades and parks along the lake, but also busy roads, marginal or degraded areas.
Among the case studies there is also one in Italy, in Castelfranco Veneto, starring Villa Revedin Bolasco, whose park is "the most beautiful in Italy", as it was decreed in 2018. A project is being developed here. which wants to highlight the therapeutic effects of a green area. The idea is that urban greenery can also be curative not only for the benefit of all citizens, but also for fragile people such as the elderly and even the sick.
Among the partners, Italy is represented by Eurac Research and the group consisting of the University of Padua, UniSmart and the Municipality of Castelfranco Veneto.
Smart city and green: the VARCITIES project
“Shaping the future of cities”. This is the slogan that stands out on the VARCITIES website, which considers green and smart urban regeneration a characterizing note on the path of the cities that will welcome a large part of the world population between now and 2050. To be welcoming and ready, you need to start working on it right now. And it is for this reason that the green element is central to the vision of urban regeneration that characterizes this project, whose acronym implies the need to implement Visionary nature based Actions for health, well-being and Resilience in cities.
But visionary does not mean abstract. Quite the contrary: "This project, funded by the European Commission with 10 million euros, sees a large part of the funds allocated to develop concrete actions in the form of improvement and innovative interventions of public spaces in the eight selected cities", says Adriano Bisello, Senior Researcher of the Eurac center and active member of the VARCITIES project team.
Therefore, it is not a simple theorization, but intends to produce high quality public spaces, combining nature based solutions with specific elements of the smart city such as digitization and sensors, and is aimed not only at the well-being of citizens but at their active involvement through the use of innovative technologies.
What innovative means, it is the researcher himself who explains it: "among the partners of the consortium there are companies specialized in digital solutions, such as digital platforms for data collection, but also advanced sensors to record information on morphological and microclimatic peculiarities, for example, and to rely on a constant flow of data. Furthermore, VARCITIES also counts on the support of university centers that deal with psychology and neuroscience that will use specific technologies to interact with frail people ».
Urban and digital regeneration: space for the digital twin
The idea is to provide, through VARCITIES, opportunities for local development that can generate new activities capable of creating not only environmental sustainability and social well-being, but also economic and employment stimuli, systematizing data and knowledge that are necessary in the smart city logic, based on a transversal approach and sharing of data and making results available.
The idea is also to create a platform for sharing data and models (Health & Well Being Platform), building digital twins of the case studies: real digital twins that allow you to virtually reproduce the appearance, the shapes of the physical space in order to monitor them in real time and over time and provide information by making it available to users and interested parties.
Urban regeneration and VARCITIES: eight examples in Europe
To understand in practice what is being done, it is necessary to describe the eight projects.
We start from Castelfranco Veneto (Treviso). Here the University of Padua through three distinct Departments, assisted by Unismart Padova Enterprise and with the involvement of the Municipality of Castelfranco Veneto, is working on a floor focused on the historic garden of Villa Revedin Bolasco, considered suitable for providing a therapeutic space especially for the elderly and people with Alzheimer's. These subjects, monitored with the support of surveys conducted through sensors and personal surveys, will provide the study group with useful information on the effects of greenery to improve health, well-being and beneficial sensory experiences.
As for the other projects in Europe, they range from the sustainable restoration of the urban park along the lake in Bergen (Norway), to the development of infrastructures for resilience in a degraded environmental area in Skellefteå (Sweden), and to the redevelopment of an external area of the County Library / Museum Quarter in Dundalk (Ireland).
In Leuven (Belgium), on the other hand, the center of the local project will be the hospital structure in the medieval city center. This completely built area will be transformed into a multifunctional green district, reopening the banks of the river and creating the conditions for a connection with the city center.
In the town of Novo mesto (Slovenia), the VARCITIES pilot site is a sports and recreational park, on the edge of the urban area and in a degraded forest area. The Municipality intends to build a complete sports and recreation complex, to cover the needs of residents for active leisure, but also as a center for sports, recreation and education.
Instead, the project for Rue D’Argens, a long and busy street with various residential buildings and offices on both sides and little green, aims to solve the serious problem of air and noise pollution in Gzira (Malta). Here we intend to implement green infrastructures, such as green roofs and green walls, to reduce pollution and improve the quality of life of citizens. In Chania, the second largest city on the island of Crete, we intend to work on the concept of a mobile urban living room, designed in a flexible and multifunctional way, to increase the accessibility and use of public spaces and improve the health and well-being of citizens.
Source: VARCITIES: Rigenerazione urbana green e digitale infobuildenergia.it.
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