“Verso Savio 2030”: The sustainable development of the Savio Valley through co-governance and innovation

About

 “Verso Savio 2030” (Towards Savio 2030) is a project launched by “Unione dei Comuni della Valle del Savio” (union of six municipalities: Bagno di Romagna, Cesena, Mercato Saraceno, Montiano, Sarsina, Verghereto)  in Emilia-Romagna in 2019 and supported by LabGov.City to build a strategic path aimed at encouraging collaboration and community synergies between institutions, academics, companies, social and civic actors through the development of a kit of policies and legal instruments.

 This process follows and applies the Co-City protocol that will lead to experiment concrete projects to valorize the territory of the Valley, pushing for social, digital, technological innovation and empowerment.

 Highlights

 “Verso Savio 2030” recognizes two key infrastructural values representative of the context, one natural and one artificial: the Savio River and the E45 road. These linear elements are seen as connectors for people and opportunities. On the other hand, they are crucial to provide answers and test solutions for the challenges posed by the current climate, environmental and sanitary emergencies (the spread of the Covid-19).

 From these reasons LabGov.City is strengthening its multidisciplinary vision to animate a culture of change and cooperation in the area that can begin to show its effects re-thinking mobility and tourism as strategic sectors to reach sustainability goals.

 Thanks to interviews the project is focusing on possible common areas of interest such as cycle and footpaths (eg Romea bikeway, San Vicino path), E45 and provincial roads for electric-sustainable community mobility and public transport experimentations and for the tourism promotion of the municipalities.

Objective

 The project has proposed a toolkit to guarantee the Savio Valley a balanced future development as follows:

•  strategic and integrated planning for the Savio Valley aimed at enhancing the valley starting from the Savio River;
• contractual forms to enhance the innovative contribution of private sector, such as negotiated procedures, innovation partnerships, pre-commercial contracts, to direct investments on the E45 infrastructure and promote forms of sustainable electric mobility powered by renewable sources for a gradual decarbonization;
• an agency for sustainable innovation to regulate the public-private-community partnership;
• the insertion of the planned tools and measures in “Savio 2030” framework carried out by the Union of Municipalities.

 Process

 LabGov.City intervened in bringing out the valley values and accompanying citizens, administrators, and stakeholders in its exploration, identifying the opportunities through which to make it generative. It has interpreted public demand and is currently engaged in the analysis of the private need through the engagement of stakeholders in the trials. It is bringing out any skills that can be integrated by national and international partners.

To test the first lines of action, a questionnaire has been prepared for local businesses and territorial big players. It is aimed at testing sensitivity on environmental issues, assessing the impacts of pandemic on future choices, identifying synergies between the existing activities of the companies and the process, and finally collecting data and experiences.

Local associations and citizen will be re-engaged to take part in the next co-design phases.