New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Concept category

Identify the award category for which this concept is being submitted
Reconnecting with nature

Email user
giulia.bina@mail.polimi.it

Basic information

Concept title
WATERWAYS FROM LAKE MAGGIORE TO MILAN

Full Concept Title
WATERWAYS FROM LAKE MAGGIORE TO MILAN between past, present and future

Please provide a short, catchy description of your concept to be used in communication towards the public
Europe's waterways were used in the past for the transport of goods.
Today most of the small channels are no longer used by people except in short stretches in a few periods of the year.
The goal is to create open spaces that are always accessible to the public where people can satisfy their daily needs while staying in touch with nature.
This helps people to know the importance and beauty of the waterways, as well as not abandoning them.

What was the geographical scope of your concept?
National

Where was your concept implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
Italy

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
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Does your concept address mainly urban or rural issues?
Mainly rural

Does your concept refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your concept benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your concept won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As an individual

Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
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In case my concept is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my concept in the channels of the European Commission
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
NEB Newsletter

Description of the concept
Please provide a summary of your concept.
Once upon a time, in Italy and Europe, it was necessary to create transport infrastructures for heavy goods from areas rich in materials to the city. Before the advent of the railways this role was fulfilled by the waterways. The territories have been modeled for years in order to create channels for irrigation and the transport of goods.

However, with the advent of the railway, the waterways lost their function as transport routes. This function has been rediscovered only in recent years through tourist boat trips.
Although many people do not know of the existence of these activities and, despite their great beauty, the waterways remain little used today.

To make these itineraries usable, it is necessary to create a network accessible to everyone and at any time, which allows the countries to be connected to these infrastructures and the infrastructures to each other. To do this you don't need big projects but small projects joined together.

To bring people along the waterways, it is necessary to ensure that diversified activities can be carried out in these places, which are easily accessible, free and open to all throughout the year.
The first step is therefore to create spaces that are useful for safeguarding the territory and at the same time attractive for adults and children. An example can be the creation of pools that act as a flood basin in the event of flooding and at the same time as play arenas for children and areas for events.
This responds to modern everyday needs and leads people to gradually approach nature, to then understand its importance.
However, the spaces must always be easily accessible from towns and cities through a sustainable mobility system. For this reason it is important to transform towpaths into safe cycle paths. This free and fast transport system complements the transport by boat along the channels, which is not accessible at all times of the year.

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with 5 key words.
Heritage

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Biodiversity

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Community

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Mobility

Please indicate the main themes of your concept with key words
Leisure

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept in terms of sustainability and how these have been met. Please highlight how the concept can be exemplary in this context.
The project involves the construction of a pedestrian and cycle path along the waterways and the construction of open spaces used for games and outdoor events.
It is sustainable because:
- all people can use it (disabled, children),
- it’s free and the spaces are always available for everyone,
- it does not destroy the environment and biodiversity,
- it favors the reuse of local architectures by preventing their abandon.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the concept can be exemplary in this context.
The project allows you to admire the aesthetics of the landscape. The landscape is made up of nature and the artifacts made by man within it. The experience therefore allows you to admire unique places where the beauty of natural resources blends with man-made artifacts.
In fact, along the cycle and pedestrian path you can see the buildings through which man has exploited the resources of nature and how the landscape changes from countryside to city going south towards Milan.
Along the way there will be spaces to stop and services such as bars and playgrounds in order to make the experience as comfortable as possible.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the concept can be exemplary in this context.
The project involves the construction of a cycle and pedestrian path where safety and accessibility for every user is guaranteed. These will be designed taking into consideration the needs of the disabled as well as people regardless of age.
The goal is to make routes free and accessible to all differently from the past when only a few professionals involved in the transport of raw materials from Lake Maggiore to Milan could used it.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the concept and civil society have been / will be involved in the concept and what has been / will be the impact of this involvement on the concept.
The project provides for the active involvement of citizens. This leads to the enhancement of historical architecture dear to citizens for the important function of water control that they have exercised in the past. Several associations are involved in communicating to children the importance of the waterways and for several years they have been trying to bring people to know this important part of the history of the area. These organizations would be actively involved in the project, entrusting them not only with the task of guiding people to knowledge of the territory but also with managing part of the new areas to be created.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and development of the concept. Please highlight what the added value of their engagement was
The waterways have been the subject of various projects and agreements at an international (Italy-Switzerland), regional (Lombardy and Piedmont), as well as municipal level. The implementation of the project would not only be integrated into these agreements but would allow what has already been implemented to be included in a wider network. To date, navigation locks have been designed and built to ensure that some stretches of the canals can be traveled by water and some buildings that were once used as warehouses have been converted into museums. The new project would allow the creation of a path that would bring citizens closer to what has already been achieved by the various government bodies in a unified vision of the territory.

Please explain which disciplines and / or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and development of your concept. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
Waterways are not just channels. Along the waterways there are engineering works (hydraulic barriers) and architectural works (Panperduto dam). The waterways are the result of a stratified culture and for this reason they can be considered material and immaterial heritage typical of the places. They represent the centuries-old transformation process of the territory that has seen man and nature collaborate and this sentiment must be passed on to future generations.

Please explain the innovative character of your concept when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the concept.
In different parts of the world, waterways are used for recreational and tourism purposes. However, this project does not involve using the waterways as a weekend getaway. This project makes it possible to use the waterways as a communication route between the towns along Lake Maggiore and the city of Milan and as a service for the towns they cross. Children and adults will find meeting places near the waterways where they can satisfy their daily needs.

Please which elements of your concept could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
The project doesn’t want to be the only model that can be pursued but it want to be a type of possible solution. It wants to give an idea that can be replicated in different parts of Europe. In Europe, many countries, such as France, have several waterways. The proposed project makes it possible to exploit the channels as a transport infrastructure and at the same time as a meeting place where you can find everyday services while respecting the different characteristics of the territories they cross.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the concept addresses by providing local solutions
The solutions adopted make it possible to mitigate the damage caused by events such as floods which very often affect inhabited areas near watercourses. Arenas and playgrounds for children can in fact be conceived as tanks in which to contain water and then let it gradually filter into the surrounding ground. It is useful to place these spaces upstream of the watercourses in order to regulate the flow of the canals towards the densely populated areas of the Milanese suburbs. Furthermore, the care and respect of these watercourses helps to protect the biodiversity of the area.

Please attach the development plan of your concept. This plan should detail the plans you have for the further development and implementation of your concept, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application. The plan should also include envisaged results and benefits from the concept for direct and indirect beneficiaries. The results and benefits should be specified in relation to the objectives of the concept, and to what is expected in the context of the respective category

Concept.pdf
Please attach at least one high resolution image or visual representation of your concept to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below
- Present and past.pdf
By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed concept has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the concept, initiative, and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary.
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their concepts, concepts, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted concept, concept is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes