11 Jul 2022 The final event of the project was a success!
<< The implementation of the works under the Life Beware Project required considerable human, organizational
and professional commitment on the part of all partners, and has resulted in important benefits that will endure over the coming decades for the benefit of the environment and the communities living in it. The most important achievement, however, remains that of the demonstration of feasibility and sustainability of these interventions, paving the way for their reproducibility just about everywhere for those willing to address the problem in a structured way. >>[Franco Balzi – Mayor of Santorso]
On the 4th of June 2022 in Santorso, the conclusion was drawn after 46 months of the LIFE BEWARE project. It was an opportunity to bring together experts, technicians, administrators and citizens in a well-paced day full of activities aimed at a wide audience.
During the morning workshop, “LIFE Beware, what next?“ a group of citizens, technicians and administrators brainstormed together on the future of the project and the territory.
The participants, with the help of the project facilitator, Giulio Pesenti, engaged in imagining together and in a participatory way the next steps to be taken to carry forward the good practices initiated in the context of the project and to address climate change.
The workshop was held using the Open Space Technology methodology, which is an innovative way of organizing workshops and laboratories that nurtures participants’ passion and interest by allowing them to choose the ways of working that they find most useful and productive. Open Space is in fact a highly engaging social participation methodology, which is based on the self-organization of participants, who, guided by the facilitator, create the program and content of the event themselves. At the end, a kind of “final report” of the ideas that emerged through this dynamic process of discussion and cooperation was drawn up, which was then presented in the afternoon roundtable discussion.
Retention basins, rain gardens, drainage trenches and permeable pavements, rainwater harvesting and recovery systems: a total of 8 interventions have been implemented thanks to the Project. The infrastructures are located at Grumo Hill, Freedom Square, Via Volti, at Aquasaliente, at the cemetery parking lot and at Via Prati in Santorso; in Giavenale di Schio – rainwater retention basin; and at the courtyard of the Primary School in Marano Vicentino. These are the Nature Based Solutions that were developed thanks to Life Beware in the Altovicentino area and can be visited in the new digital itinerary “Acque Comuni”.
In addition to the implementation of these measures , the Project also supported the creation of a more resilient community ready to take care of its territory, on the principle that active participation is considered the basis for the replicability of the Project to other communities. A participatory process was in fact activated and it lasted two years, actively involved the citizenry, and leading to the drafting of a Mayors Adapt Strategy. In addition to that, there were numerous collateral dissemination, awareness and promotion initiatives that elicited real local involvement and, in the schools of the territory, 145 classes took part in activities organized in collaboration with the Project. Technical professions and scientific research, on the other hand, found in the innovative works created and trainings reference points for case studies.
During the second part, community involvement on water-related issues was discussed with interventions by Ispra – Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale , ViAcqua, Anbi Veneto e Centro Internazionale Civiltà dell’Acqua ONLUS .They focused on involvement on various scales: local, national and international. The interventions were perfectly contextualized in the innovative spirit of the project that led to the parallel development of NBS and and citizen participation activities.
The event, as well as symbolically the project (whose last date is June 30, 2022), came to an end, undoubtedly reaffirming the common will of the partners and the entire Alto Vicentino territory, so that the activities born within LIFE Beware and the networks created both on the territory and among the partners remain solid and continue to implement good practices.
The event and the project came to an end, undoubtedly reaffirming the common will of the partners and the entire Alto Vicentino territory, so that the activities born within LIFE Beware and the networks created both on the territory and among the partners remain solid and continue to implement good practices.
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