As part of the EU URBACT III program, the Municipality of Naples has chosen the recovery of the complex of the SS. Trinità delle Monache, with a view to urban regeneration with reference to the territorial context in which it is inserted (Quartieri Spagnoli and Montesanto). ..
Problems and purpose
The Municipality of Naples has chosen to focus the development of the Local Action Plan of the project "2nd Chance" on the recovery and re-functionalization of the complex of the SS. Trinità delle Monache (former Military Hospital), with a view to urban regeneration with reference to the territorial context in which it is inserted (Quartieri Spagnoli and Montesanto) and through a participatory process that involves the local actors concerned. This activity must be completed by December 2017.
The objective of the 2nd Chance network "awakening the sleeping giant" made up of 10 European cities, of which Naples is the leader, is to experiment with new ways, processes and planning methods for the reuse of large containers, abandoned or empty buildings, to bring them back to life and return them to the city.
History and background
In May 2016 , the European Commission has announced the admission to the second phase of the Project "2nd Chance - Waking up the sleeping giants", as part of the international program URBACT III, coordinated by the Department of Urban and Urban Planning of the Municipality of Naples .
The following partner cities are involved in the program, of which Naples is the lead city: Liverpool (United Kingdom), Lublin (Poland), Maribor (Slovenia), Brussel (Belgium), Caen (France), Chemnitz (Germany), Gijon (Spain), Liverpool (United Kingdom o), Lublin (Poland), Maribor (Slovenia), Development Agency of the City of Dubrovnik (D.U.R.A. - Croatia), University of Genoa (Italy), Porto Vivo urban redevelopment company in Porto (Portugal). This network of European cities aims to discuss the issue of redevelopment and reuse of large abandoned or partially used buildings and to elaborate, through participatory urban planning workshops in each city, strategies and local action plans.
The aim of the URBACT program is to strengthen economic and social cohesion between states and to reduce the gap between the levels of development of the various regions.
The complex of the Holy Trinity delle Monache , “better known as the former Military Hospital, is one of the largest abbey complexes in Naples, a monumental site of great historical, architectural and artistic value. Built between 1607 and 1621 to house a convent, it was converted into a Military Hospital during the French occupation (1808) at the behest of Giuseppe Bonaparte, a function which it maintained until 1992. Since then the convent has been mostly abandoned, if some sporadic cultural events are excluded - outdoor music and film reviews and site-specific art installations - and the activities with the children of the neighborhood currently promoted by the "Child and Adolescent Policy Service" of the Municipality of Naples "[ 1]
Organizational, supporting and funding entities
European Union is the promoter and co-financier of the URBACT III program, through the European Regional Development Fund, (FESR 2014-2020) to encourage the exchange of experiences and good practices between European cities, to promote the capitalization and dissemination of the knowledge acquired in the field of sustainable and integrated urban development. The first phase of the six-month project involves the cities of Liverpool (UK), Lublin (Poland) and Maribor (Slovenia) and has an initial funding, for the first phase of approximately 100,000 euros, during the second phase the partnership will include from 8 to 12 partners with a total eligible cost between € 600,000 and € 750,000 (Link 1).
Municipality of Naples , URBACT Local Group Coordinator Interdirectional project unit “Coordination of URBACT projects and Networks for the Development of Integrated Urban Policies”. The municipality is the lead partner of the 2014-2020 URBACT III territorial cooperation program of the European Union. The political body of reference is the Department of the Right to the City, Common Goods and Town Planning: Carmine Piscopo (Councilor) Daniela Buonanno and Renata Ciannella (Staff). The team's representatives are: Roberta Nicchia and Nicola Masella, plus 3 other people in the staff. The amount of expenditure made is not indicated.
Ascolto Attivo SrL is the company called to manage part of the path (visioning laboratory, OST, creative comparison laboratory and formative moments). The remuneration received is not indicated, nor the application and selection procedures.
Collaborators and consultants . Giampiero Bruno (consultant in fund raising, from Turin) collaborated; Christian Iaione (professor of public law, G. Marconi University of Rome); Alessio D'Auria (consultant on evaluation and monitoring, architect and lecturer at Suor Orsola Benincasa University).
Selection and recruitment of participants
4 meetings of the Urbact local group , At the Complex of the Ss. Trinità delle Monache - Palazzetto URBAN (building H), always from 2.30 pm to 6.30 pm. The following took place: Kick off meeting (20/12/2016), 2nd meeting (20/1/2017), 3rd meeting (17/2/17), 4th meeting (24/3/17). About 50 people participated, without continuity, representing the following actors: associations (Angeli Blues, ass. Quartieri Spagnoli, FIAB Napoli, ID Est, URBanLABility, Article 45, Quarto Stato, Maggio della musica, the GGG network, Legambiente Campania , Ass. Teatro Stabile of the city of Naples, Trinità city laboratory); universities, schools and technical studies (DIARC "Federico II", Studiorotella, MUD Studio, N: EA, Consorzio Arte'm net, IUAV - post-graduate course in "Participatory local action and public debate", Suor Orsola Benincasa University) and institutions : environment departments, equal opportunities, right to the city and urban policies, school and education, general planning and urban planning service, unesco program service and historical city enhancement, childhood and adolescence policies service, 2nd Municipality. Present were the coordinators of the Municipality of Naples, representatives of the departments [2]. The adhesions were received in November 2016 following a public notice from the Municipality.
Visioning meeting (28/4/2017, h.14: 30 -18: 30, Complex of the Ss. Trinità delle Monache) 5th meeting of the Urbact local group (ULG) but open to the public, edited and mediated by Ascolto Attivo SrL. The 16 letters collected are signed individually or by several individuals (from 1 to 6), for a total of 52 participants. There are no demographic details, nor people outside the ULG.
1st Open Space Technology OST (5/5/2017, Complex of the Holy Trinity of the Nuns), 52 participants, conducted by Ascolto Attivo SrL. Those outside the ULG are not indicated.
2nd Open Space Technology OST (27/5/2017, Complex of the Holy Trinity of the Nuns), 114 participants ( including 3 facilitators of Active Listening).
Creative discussion table (9/6/2017, h. 14: 30-18: 30, Complex of the Holy Trinity delle Monache), about 50 individual participants, curated and facilitated by Active Listening.
7 Meetings of the Urban local group (from 13/7/2017 to 16/2 / 2018, h. 14: 30-18: 30, Complex of the Holy Trinity of the Nuns) number varying from 20 to 30 participants representing the aforementioned actors and others who joined during construction.
Drafting of the Local Action Plan (March-April 2018) "Reactivation strategy of the complex of the Holy Trinity of the Nuns, former military hospital" curated by Roberta Nicchia, with the contribution of ULG, Giorgia Cuccaro, preface by Councilor Carmine Piscopo and premise by Roberta Nicchia (Urbact coordinator).
Methods and tools used
Urbact local group (ULG) is the coordination of the actors who followed the project , a sort of control room to plan the itinerary, the events, the workshops and the expected products.
Visioning laboratory with letters from 2027 . “The participants had an hour and a half of time to imagine and write their vision of the ideal redevelopment of the former Military Hospital complex. A schematic drawing was provided that divided the complex into "sub-areas" and asked to write a letter from 2027, with which to tell how the place had transformed, better describing a minimum of 2 sub-areas and a maximum of 6 and paying particular attention to: A. access routes (to the site from the city and links between one sub-area and the other) B. spaces / furnishings / decoration / equipment C. people who frequent it (the mix, the origin, variations at different times of the day) D. activities (commercial, cultural, residential, hotels, hostels, etc., sports, play areas, shows), E. climate, the general atmosphere that hovers on the site. underline the aspects of ABCDE that positively surprised, what the participants would not have expected and that seemed attractive for the inhabitants of the neighboring neighborhoods, for the city, for national and international visitors 3 Urbact Local Group_Napoli_lettere dal 2027_an izio di visioning Everyone has chosen whether to perform the exercise individually or (better) in small groups (maximum of 4 people). After the delivery, the elaborated visions were read in plenary session. The publication of the individual letters and the various ideas that emerged for each of the sub-areas was handled by the facilitators "[3].
Open space technology (OST) , L 'OST is a collaborative method that takes place in meetings of varying lengths (from half a day to 2-3 days) and can involve as few people as a few thousand. It is based on the self-organizing skills of the groups, aggregated on the basis of interests and stimuli, launched by the participants themselves. The first phase is plenary, introduced by the general question (prepared by the conductors) and by the solicitation to the participants to present topics for discussion, synthetically and with a short exposition. The proposals are collected on the notice board of the OST to which all participants can then register. Then we move on to work in groups. Participants are encouraged to behave as free from patterns and labels as possible. A rule is the maximum freedom of movement, from one group to another, and there is also the possibility of isolating yourself (without being considered eccentric) or going to the buffet whenever you want and maybe meeting with others there. A self-produced synthetic report is requested for each group. The Naples OSTs developed over a morning and two afternoon sessions, all to end in one day.
What happened: process, interaction and participation
During the participatory process , the URBACT Local Group has shared a vision of transformation for the former Military Hospital, has experimented with temporary uses, concretely prefiguring possible forms of re-use, has developed a Local Action Plan, or an integrated program of interventions to implement the full recovery of the complex over a period of 10 years.
In the first 4 meetings the path, the realities to continue to involve, the study of the numerous spaces of the complex, the organization of participatory events and temporary uses. And at the end of the first phase the mission of the project was shared. In summary: "we are committed to working to outline an important project both from a social and civic point of view and from an aesthetic and defense point of view of green spaces, a context capable of acting as an emblem of that creative dialogue between urban density and natural landscape for which Naples is internationally famous "[4].
The vision . The URBACT Local Group proposes to refer from now on to the complex of the Holy Trinity of the Nuns as "Parco dei Quartieri Spagnoli", including in this meaning not only the upper garden, but the whole complex: the usable buildings and those currently uninhabitable , the various gardens, the internal courtyards and all the other open and covered spaces. According to the transformation vision shared by the members of the URBACT Local Group, the "Parco dei Quartieri Spagnoli" must become a "Community Hub - incubator of active citizenship:
- a place of experimentation of an innovative and inclusive management model, which involves the URBACT Local Group (and its evolutions) and more generally citizenship in a participatory process of transformation, reuse and management of the complex of the Holy Trinity of Nuns (former Military Hospital);
- a space open to the experimentation of permanent and temporary civic uses, in response to the needs and proposals coming from the inhabitants of the surrounding area and of the city, on the basis of a regulation of 'shared use;
- a city laboratory for urban regeneration, a place for experimentation with new forms of participatory and deliberative democracy and the shared construction of guidelines for urban policies;
- a living lab, a a welcoming and well-equipped environment, in which cooperation, sharing and self-organization can create opportunities for research, innovation, production and work on sustainability issues.
Regarding the vision, the laboratory "Letters from 2027" and the Brainstorming "Possible futures / Desirable futures". Through these tools it was possible to identify the system of shared values on which the "Mission" of the ULG was drawn up. With the exercise of writing the "letters from 2027", the work in small groups was then stimulated for the construction of a multiple scenario of desirable futures. In fact, it was required to imagine in 2027 visiting the complex of the Holy Trinity of the Nuns after a long absence, and to describe in a letter to a friend / relative the full recovery of the complex, how the spaces had been redeveloped, which you use if they made it, what kind of social relations they had, what kind of climate one breathed. All the letters were then read in plenary session. From this exercise of collective creativity, a vision of the complex emerged as an organic space, in which each element, each building becomes part of an overall and unitary design.
Strategies and actions
The projects of various short, medium and long term actions have been grafted on the basis of three objectives. The objectives are:
- Restoration of the ecological network of the hill of San Martino;
- Accessibility and regeneration of the historical heritage- architectural;
- Generating new forms of circular sharing economy
For each action a detailed sheet with estimated costs, network of actors to be involved, responsible party, resources to be found, time schedule, etc ...
Pe in objective 1 we have action 1 which is a Census of the green areas of the San Martino hill. This is an in-depth study shared with the local community about the green system, open spaces, public and private, potential and criticality of places. Other actions follow such as environmental education and a shared regulation of the Park of the Spanish neighborhoods [5].
For objective 2 we have the Paradiso installation, a light installation that signals the presence of the Park Spanish neighborhoods in the lower part of the city (Montesanto, Pignasecca) communicating the reactivation project in progress and the possibility of opening an access to the complex from vico Paradiso. A Summer school on self-recovery follows, doors open every day, reopening of the historic pedestrian staircase "Gradini paradiso" that connects Piazza Montesanto to Vico Paradiso and other recoveries of buildings and accesses.
On objective 3, we have a permanent laboratory for the redevelopment of the Park. It is a question of setting up a control room with the aim of monitoring and stimulating the reuse and management process of the Parco dei Quartieri Spagnoli. Consistent with the innovative public-civic governance model proposed, we want to establish a collective entity for the management of the entire complex through the involvement of the participants in the ULG, the Municipality of Naples and other public bodies and the third sector [6].
The door to the Community Hub follows: Transforming building A into a space that can be used immediately for civic and / or temporary uses, for socializing, production and work; The boys' house; the Café A / Buvette-Fruit corner; Workshop with Repair Café; Outdoor events: We want to propose a series of events in the open spaces of the complex, such as outdoor cinema, musical, theatrical, artistic and cultural events of various kinds; up to a zero-impact organic restaurant, an accommodation facility, artistic residences, a network of artisan shops for the circular economy; Urban Center.
For the construction of the project the OST of 6/5/2017 was decisive "How do we transform the former Military Hospital into a special place for everyone? “This is the starting question that was addressed to all participants in Open Space Technology. From the discussion between the 114 participants in the OST, 18 different proposals for the reuse of the complex emerged. The OST Instant Book (with the various reports of the discussions relating to each proposal, the images, the list of participants) was sent by email the next day to all participants in the workshop and published on the project website. The result of this intense day of work was a collection of project ideas, possible functions and potential uses / users of the complex and, above all, the construction of a "sense of community" shared by all the participants [8].
Influence, results and effects
It is an impressive participatory process, which involved 82 different local actors and the meetings and activities of the ULG were crossed by 359 people in total [ 7].
From April 2018 to March 2019 the short-term actions that had been planned were implemented, in particular the coordination structure called "Community of the Park", the info point, parties and outdoor events, guided tours, walks and presentations of the plan.
The council implemented the plan with resolution no.156 of 26/3/2019. The Facebook page is still active (last post on 24/10/19).
Analysis and lessons learned
Transparency . The contributions obtained by the EU and the Municipality, the costs of the process are not disclosed. For the rest, all the documentation that documents the path is very extensive and complete. The intensity of the path activated the local society as a whole. Although a monitoring plan was envisaged, it does not seem implemented sufficiently and everything is delegated to the FB page.
inclusivity can only be said to be fully realized while, although it is implicitly grown and the project is known to the city, there has been a lack of tools to enlarge the representation.
See also
References
[1 ] URBACT, Municipality of Naples, "Reactivation strategy of the complex of the SS Trinità delle Monache, former military hospital", Local Action Plan, City of Naples, April 2018, http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/files/0/1/c/D .7cca4901876cc4294309 / URBACT_piano_di_action_locale.pdf (release 12/11/19).
[2] Active Listening, report 1,2,3,4, https : //www.ascoltoattiva.net/progetti/progettura-partecipata/urbact-napoli/ , (ril. 12/11/19).
[3] Active Listening (edited by), Letter from 2027 Visioning exercises on the transformation of SS Trinità delle Monache, former military hospital, in Naples ", 28/4 / 2017, https: // www. ascoltoactive.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/lettere-dal-2027_ed.pdf (rel. 12/11/19).
[4] URBACT, op . cit., p. 19.
[5] Ib. p.30-31.
[6] Ib. p. 61-62.
[7] Ib. p. 93.
[8] Ib. p. 85.
External links
- URBACT project page on the website of the Municipality of Naples, & nbsp; http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT / IDPagina / 27890 (ril. 12/11/19).
- URBACT III, page with the reports of the whole itinerary, http://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB. php / L / IT / IDPagina / 31079 (rel. 12/11/19).