URBASOFIA is pleased to report on a very interesting Study Visit in Pozzuoli, for the implementation of the project “Monterusciello Agro City – MAC”, organized by UIA Expert Dr. Pietro Elisei in collaboration with the municipal administration of Pozzuoli.
The MAC project seeks to reduce urban poverty in the neighborhood of Monteruscello, where poverty is understood in the social and economic sense and within the physical environment. The proposal is designed to trigger a process of economic, entrepreneurial, and social development, together with the improving of the urban environment. Monteruscello is a new large public housing district with 20,000 residents with low-income, a high level of unemployment, and characterised by large unused spaces. Problematic social conditions are combined with a difficult urban environment, in particular for the character of emptiness, anonymity, and decay of the common spaces.
Through the prestigious flagship European Programme UIA – Urban Innovative Actions, 30 hectares of Municipal open areas will be transformed into farmland, developed with the innovative techniques of permaculture in order to spearhead an economic process and urban growth as a means to combat poverty. The project will have three pillars: implementation of agriculture through innovative permaculture; improvement of the urban environment; and encouragement of entrepreneurship and employment. Read more about the project here.
An Urban Walk was organized in the morning, where the project partnership and important local stakeholders discovered the territory and addressed the main challenges of sustainably redeveloping the large unused urban areas into permacultural plots and connected facilities, including local km 0 markets and community spaces.
The discussion continued at the headquarters of the Civil Protection Center in Pozzuoli (Via Elio Vittorini, 1 – Monterusciello),with a meeting and debate involving the mayor Vincenzo Figliolia, Fiorella Zabatta (Environment) Roberto Gerundo (Territoral Government), Director of EU Projects for Urbasofia Sabina Leopa, URBACT Expert Paola Amato, Regional Adviser for Agriculture and Forestry of the Campania Region Franco Alfieri, Representative of the Managing Unit Protection of the Quality of Agricultural Products Maria Passari. The end session consisted of an open debate regarding the most pressing challenges faced by the Monterusciello neighborhood, and included diverse perspectives of the project stakeholders, ranging from university experts, agriculture associations, the city hall, to training experts.
Below, you may find the presentations of Dr. Elisei and Sabina Leopa held during the event. We will return soon with more details on the outcomes of this first event, but in the meantime, we invite you to keep updated via the Monterusciello Agro City (MAC) Pozzuoli Facebook Page!