Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Among the Italian cities also Palermo, in Sicily, is defined a city in transfor-
mation in the already cited study about Cities and infrastructures for growth
carried out by Cittalia-Anci research and Siemens Italia (Siemens 2012 ).
Palermo has recently undersigned the Covenant of Mayors and has presented
the Action Plan for Sustainable Energy (Piano di Azione per l'Energia Sostenibile
2013 ), where measures to reduce emissions and improve urban mobility are
designed (Riva Sanseverino et al. 2013 ).
The city moreover is partner with the University of Palermo and some SMEs
(Italtel, Muovosviluppo, CNR-ITAE Messina) in a project (i-Next) financed by the
Ministry for Research and Education in the call 'Smart Cities and Communities'
that should support different measures in many fields (energy efficiency, electrical
smart grid, etc.).
Malaga, is a leading city in the project CAT-MED 3 (Changing Mediterranean
Metropolises Around Time), launched for the first time from the same Malaga in
may 2009, with the aim of identifying operational solutions that can influence
concretely on the habits of citizens so as to limit the environmental impact of
urbanization and the green house gas emissions.
Eleven Mediterranean cities have therefore decided to concentrate their projects
and efforts to prevent natural disasters through the promotion of a sustainable
multi-functional urban model. The project CAT-MED gathers the cities of Athens
and Thessaloniki (Greece), Barcellona, Malaga, Valencia and Seville (Spain),
Rome, Genoa and Turin (Italy), the community Pays d'Aix and Marseille (France).
The Institute for the Mediterranean technically supports them.
The objective of primary importance is that to show, through a trans-national
experimentation, the importance and the strategic value of actions implemented in
a coordinated manner between cities in order to prevent natural threats deriving
from global warming.
The implications of this ambitious goal are that at city level, each city must
promote a sustainable urban model influencing the behaviours of citizens and in
the administrations.
This is the first experimental step to create a strategic convergence between cities
that, in the long term, will be able to face the environmental challenges in the
Mediterranean Sea in a more efficient way. In the CAT-MED vision the convergence
process must be accompanied by the measurement of the objectives through suitable
indicators. The indicators involve the 5 pillars of sustainable development: envi-
ronmental protection, social cohesion, economic efficiency, territorial approach and
governance processes. Grouped by a centralized GIS (Geographic Information
System), the comparative analysis system allows the attainment of goals in fighting
against climate changes and lets people know the relative position of each city taking
part to the project as compared to the optimal values of the indicators.
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www.catmed.eu
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