La Provvidenza, a district of Caltanissetta in Sicily, has been the victim for decades of a social, cultural and environmental paradox: being considered the cerebral periphery of the city despite being in its historic center, adjacent to the central square. The smalland beautiful community that survived depopulation is strong, multi-ethnic and ready to face change: Provide for Providence is an idea of the future, a real resource and a model for the advancement of European cultural identity.
Local
Italy
Caltanissetta
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): Comune di Caltanissetta Type of organisation: Public authority (European/national/regional/local) First name of representative: Marcella Last name of representative: Natale Gender: Female Nationality: Italy Function: Assessore Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Corso Umberto I, 134 Town: Caltanissetta Postal code: 93100 Country: Italy Direct Tel:+39 339 689 0412 E-mail:assessore.natale@comune.caltanissetta.it Website:https://comune.caltanissetta.it
The idea aims to quickly repopulate the neighborhood by eliminating the degradation and the various wrong technological situations that since the last century have sized Caltanissetta in a cityof 200,000 inhabitants compared to the actual 60͘͘͘'000. The General Urban Plan (PUG) and the introduction of the Green Certificate have not solved the enormous waste and consumption of land in the neighborhood, within which now about 50% of buildings are unusable or at risk of collapse.
Provide for Providence is an idea conceived by a team of young people of different ages, backgrounds and skills who, despite their specificities, have come together for study and who are interested in verifying what they can do for a sustainable, inclusive and beautiful future. The idea proposes to make the historic district of Providence in Caltanissetta an example of resilient community through an experimental urban regeneration based on conservation but also on the reefficiency and energy self-sustenance of buildings. Generating an energy community in the neighborhood and a consequent self-sustained residential area is the trigger of a mechanism that pushes and supports its progressive recovery and repopulation, also placing it as a model of economic and social sustainability as well as environmental.
By implementing building solutions designed for the long term, the regenerated structures of Providence take advantage of the large daily amount of sunlight they benefit, being the neighborhood on an ancient hill. The safety of the buildings also guarantees the whole district access to drinking water from the city aqueduct as it allows operators to intervene on the water network andtoday loses about 80% of the total drinking water on its way. Eliminating leaks and restoring water pressure gradually solves the problem of cisterns on roofs, often made of asbestos-cement or non-certified plastics.
repair
preserve
change
inclusive
sustainable
The absence of a waste cycle, the degradation of buildings and the absence of a sensitized culture contribute to the environmental degradation of the neighborhood. The team has developed an Advanced Plan for Waste Managementthat includes the introduction of ecological islands in the neighborhood and incentive campaigns aimed at guiding the community to the correct disposal of waste. In order to regenerate and make more efficient the existing building , technologies aimed at creating energy communities will be integrated into the renovation interventions: the introduction of PV panels and solar thermal systems allows to fulfill the principles of producer-consumer and energy sharing, making Providence a small and functioningecosystem in which self-supported residential life gives a taste of future and cultural progress. The creation of practicable flat roofs and hanging gardens allows an ideal thermal insulation of the buildings and a reduction of dispersion andnergetic up to 30%. To start a circular and sustainable supply chain, the project aims at the maximum reuse of waste materials through recycle or up-cycle operations . Still accessible technologies such as Re-Con Zero Evo® allowthe reuse of concrete returned on site, in order to reduce costs and use of virgin raw materials. The use of the Material Passport will also allow in the future to recognize, maintain and safely dispose of any type of product used during reefficiency and conservative requalification interventions. Provide for Providence creates accessible pedestrian paths, integrates an in-depth study of urban arboriculture in respect of the native flora, installs City Trees in the green areas created to make the Provvidenza district an exemplary experiment of resilience, winning in its strong building aggregate and its centrality within Caltanissetta.
Starting from interventions that eliminate the risk of collapse and do not disturb the architectural language given by the buildings that make up the district, the project has identified the first strategic points from whichto launch a work of urban regeneration in the name of the values of the New European Bauhaus.
The new aesthetic of the proposed neighborhood is realized with labor, materials, techniques and design of the place and provides for the creation of new spaces designed to preserve it and make it the engine of a new cultural feeling. The aesthetic interventions on small buildings are aimed at the conservative regeneration of the Providence district with a view to energy efficiency and consist of:
● Restore the normal load of the buildings by bringing the height of the buildings back to their original situation, favoring the natural lighting of urban streets.
● Conservative restorations and extraordinary maintenance aimed at restoring / inserting / combining and enhancing functional elements of the buildings to give the neighborhood a well-kept appearance, in a combination of tradition and modernity.
● Changes of intended use and conversion of buildings not accessible in green areas and ecological islands decorated bylocal artists.
● Urban furniture design: murals, sculptures, design elements such as solar LED lights with integrated PV, night projection games, the use of Structural Imaging Technology on new cementitious plasters: all to blend the mixed techniques of contemporaneity with the craftsmanship and nobility of local tradition.
● Removal of architectural barriers by replacing the current concrete flooring with a new resistant and inspired by the original.
Energyefficiency and conservation combine in the use of local construction technologies and materials to save the environment and history.
"There is only one art, but a thousand forms": the architect returns to be director of this orchestra.
By defining the project on the basis of sustainable investments envisaged by the EU taxonomy and the Italian NRP, in accordance with the recent ESG reports and the NGD, importance was deliberately given to the criterion of compliance withpeople. Interviewing the community of the neighborhood highlighted the absence of social inclusion and training initiatives, despite the presence in Caltanissetta of a heterogeneous foreign community already started at the third generation.
The transformation of the old neighborhood theater into an NEB space accessible to all directly promotes the community and the existing projects of local associations, allowing them to be among the first spokesmen of a new participatory modality in which the person is at the center of the neighborhood,aware of being a resource and need for the place. Within the neighborhood everyone has a role aimed at accompanying others to a correct and gradual change of mentality.
Initiatives such as language and training courses, digital and creative workshops, ateliers, role-plays, Gulliver maps and shared simulations allow each member of the community to express their talents, ideas, criticisms and observations, creating a fast and dynamic network also on the media members.
Being able and able to inform oneself clearly about the latest news of the neighborhood and the city having the certainty of being listened to and protected, the sense of community grows, strengthening growth and reducing inequalities. Outsidethe NEB space, the new square and the multi-ethnic inspired premises favor the meeting and flow of social life, amalgamating different ages and cultures. The pedestrianization of the neighborhood seems obvious and necessary to preserve the values andsocial harmony that the idea wants to achieve in general compliance with the SDGs, providing for the removal of architectural barriers, the installation of ramps and the creation of tactile and olfactory paths.
The citizens benefiting from the project were involved through proximity actions and dedicated interviews. The audience will be enlarged with ad hoc initiatives with the aim of intercepting new inhabitants of the neighborhood with common needs, or with other new needs. The means through which they will be involved is that of the realization of events in the spaces of the neighborhood that become moments of aggregation and opportunities to strengthen relationships.
In the design and implementation of the initiative, numerous actors were involved, public, private, non-profit, all with the shared goal of being able to achieve a significant change in the District. The involvement was voluntary, on the adhesion and signing of the territorial pact for justice and community beauty. After the June event, the manifesto of the NEB provide for providence was disseminated, the manifesto is part of a broader action that has given strength to the territorial pact and has expanded participation to other partners with whom new activities will be carried out
The fields of knowledge that have been employed in the design and implementation of the initiative are: Architecture, social sciences, sustainability, art. The project team and the partners' stakeholders were selected and consulted to ensure a broad representation of the fields of knowledge necessary to implement a systemic approach in line with the principles of the NEW EUROPEAN BAUAHAUS. The added value of the design and implementation process is represented by the fact that each discipline in the field has managed to positively contaminate the project by integrating with the proposed activities. Representatives of the fields of knowledge share the approach for justice and community beauty; in fact, they have signed a "pact" that commits public bodies, businesses, institutions, associations to think of the Providence district as a laboratory of social inclusion. Each signatory of the pact brings his own contribution in terms of resources, know-how and human resources for the achievement of the planned objectives.
The innovative dimension of the idea consists in establishing an energy community in the Provvidenza district of Caltanissetta thanks to energy reefficiency interventions and conservative redevelopment of the area respecting its architectural language and historical and cultural value.
The partial demolition and safety of buildings is managed by recognizing and assigning to the products the specific CER code with reference to the REG. CLP 1272/2008 and the most recent Guidelines on the management and disposal of artificial vitreous fibers (FAV 10/11/2016).
Once the risk of collapse has been eliminated, work is started, the soil is analyzed and at the same time the water network is restored, restoring the normal connection and water pressure in the neighborhood.
Instead of superfetations, on the roofs of the town restored to their original level, there will be solar panels and hanging gardens. Instead of ruins, decorated green areas and ecological islands sheltered from the wind.
With the idea of Provide for Providence, the preservation of Italian cultural heritage merges with the sustainable community, to tune an entire country to the future with a remote control called "awareness of the past": in the society that awaits us, man must be able to recognize his mistakes more and more promptly and know how to remedy them. The situation in which the Providence district has been for decades is in fact the result of poor management and communication to which the idea of our team poses a lasting and efficient remedy.
The experiment is also innovative because it puts to the test, for the first time in Italy, a historic center of the fifteenth century to become stronger than before, creating throughout the city a reversal of the trend aimed at the repopulation of the central areas, destined to become a model of sustainable community for all.
The merit of the initiative putin place is precisely the character of transferability and replicability. The activities follow a global direction, helping to offer local solutions for the achievement of the sustainable development goals set out in the UN 2030 agenda. The initiative is transferable as the target of the beneficiaries are citizens who live in a limited community, the methodology is replicable because it combines inclusion, sustainability and aesthetics with a view to promoting design knowledge from below. Moreover, the component that binds all the actors of the initiative is of a contractual nature, therefore negotiation and contractual, binding the partners to work for the regeneration and development of the district. Similar initiatives can be easily replicated in other contexts, even with different needs, in fact the intervention is characterized by different levels of intensity, closely connected to needs and objectives determined by the target. The same approach can be replicated with other target beneficiaries with different, different intensity needs.
The methodology used in conducting the initiative is the combination of inclusion, sustainability and aesthetics, a first aspect that unites the three dimensions is to sensitize the current community to the action of transfer or reclamation of wasted soil, involving it more and differently through a project. The approach can be described using two guidelines: 1. we worked on sustainable aesthetics, designing important interventions that aim to restore the spaces of the neighborhood. Promoting the creation and use of natural meeting places in which to develop community relations.
2. We worked with the community with a bottom-up approach trying to read the needs of the inhabitants and mediate them with the needs of renewal proposed by the project. To ensure that the community finds greater employment in the provision of services and in public participation activities, whether political, cultural or maintenance the district.
The first results of this methodology are, the increase of awareness on the part of the people and the understanding of the needs of the community by the project team.
The global challenges in which the project is part fall within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. The goals set for sustainable development have a global validity, concern and involve all countries and components of society, from private companies to the public sector, from civil society to information and cultural operators. The 17 Goals refer to a set of important development issues that take into account in a balanced way the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and ecological. The project offers local solutions to contribute to the achievement of the following goals:
Goal 1: No poverty
Goal 3: Good Health and well-being
Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities
Local solutions aim to improve the environment and the quality of life of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, increasing the possibilities of work and emancipation. Ensuring adequate services and creating sustainable communities.
After the event of the NEB Festival in Caltanissetta, a moment that represents the participation of the Provide for Providence project in the vision of the NEB and the restart towards beauty and urban regeneration, there were events to raise awareness and promote the “patto territoriale per la giustizia e la bellezza di comunità” of the historic center. The route represents a step-by-step process of regeneration of the districts of the historic center which, as mentioned, suffer from chronic depopulation and degradation. The municipal administration has inaugurated the first redeveloped real estate body in order to assign real estate units to young couples and premises on the ground floor to third sector bodies and municipal services to the person At the same time, from 2019 to today, many public and private social bodies, such as the Municipality of Caltanissetta, Department of the Historic Center, Department of Culture, and Department of Social Services UEPE, Lega Ambiente, Migrantes, diocesan Caritas, Casa Rosetta - NGO, La Salute, Sant'Agata Association, Etnos, Neighborhood Committees, Schools, artistic and craft studies, as well as individual citizens have mobilized in order to animate the neighborhoods and in particular, the areas of the Historic Center surrounding the district of Providence.
The concept is to move from several fronts actions of cultural regeneration, which must include, on the one hand, the main actions of urban redevelopment, with interventions on lighting, on the safety of the most degraded buildings, reorganization and maintenance of hygiene conditions and urban decorum; on the other hand, to rebuild the sense of community on the principle of mutual recognition of the different ethnic groups that populate the different neighborhoods of the historic center. The process is long and difficult but it must be faced step by step, in the time necessary to rebuild an integrated and integral community.
