Author: Marco Voltolina
What will the cities of the future look like? Private companies, start-ups, national and local governments, international organizations, universities, NGOs and neighbourhood associations around the world are giving birth to innovative projects, products and initiatives that are reshaping the urban environment. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most interesting ideas that are coming from Italy.
1 - Recycled urban furniture
Aggregate waste coming from construction and demolition activities accounts for thirty percent of the total waste produced in Italy, meaning around 50 million tons per year. Ricoeso Srl, a start-up founded in 2022 in Ciampino, not far from Rome, turns this waste into sand and uses it to make simple but elegant pieces of urban furniture, such as flower pots, fountains, garbage bins, flooring, fences, benches, street lights, and bicycle racks. These elements, designed by architect Francesco Andreani (b. 1962) can be combined to create modular "EcoPiazze", fully sustainable public squares.
Figure 1. Ricoeso urban furniture presented at the Festival of Green and Landscape held in Rome in 2022. Source: Torsello, 2022.
Figure 2. Concept design for Ricoeso's "EcoPiazze". Source: Nencioni, 2022.
Sources:
Torsello, Benedetta. "Ricoeso e la seconda vita dei materiali inerti riciclati: da rifiuti ad arredi urbani". Italia che cambia, 26 September 2022.
2 - Urban apiculture & vermiculture
Bringing Nature back into the heart of cities is a concept that is gaining momentum and is inspiring more and more interesting initiatives. Green roofs, shared vegetable gardens, green and blue infrastructures have become popular ideas that are being implemented in different places around the world. But in order to restore a functioning ecosystem in an urban area, there is need for more than that.
In 2019, the association "Impollinatori Metropolitani" (Metropolitan Pollinators) created a "Pollinators' Garden" in Turin, with the purpose of giving life to a welcoming habitat for pollinator insects. They installed and apiary for producing honey, but also sixteen chests full of nectar sources for attracting a variety of insects, including bumblebees, wasps, butterflies and beetles. They chose several species of plants with different colors and perfumes, including lavender, mint, thyme, rosemary, borage, marigold, and even some basil and arugula that are used by a nearby restaurant for making pizza.
Not far from them, "Il Lombrico Infinito" (The Infinite Earthworm), a small family-owned business based in Cassine, in the Province of Alessandria, is raising awareness on the importance of vermiculture. Earthworms, in fact, have the power to transform organic waste into a natural fertilizer for agriculture and horticulture. Thanks to this company, many worm composters have been delivered to local families, but also schools and restaurants, that now can dispose of their organic waste in autonomy and in a sustainable way.
Figure 3. The "Pollinators' Garden" in Turin. Picture by Marzia Allietta, 2023.
Figure 4. A workshop on vermiculture held by "Il Lombrico Infinito" in an elementary school. Source: Di Maria, 2019.
Sources:
Di Maria, Lorena. "Rifiuti da smaltire in casa? Ci pensano i lombrichi". Italia che cambia, 17 August 2019.
"Il Giardino degli Impollinatori: dove i cittadini coltivano le piante mellifere per nutrire le api". Italia che cambia, 22 May 2023.
3 - New construction materials
According to the World Green Building Council, buildings account for 39% of global energy related carbon emissions, and more than one fourth of this is caused by the construction process and the materials (Adams et al., 2019, p. 7). For this reason, it is crucial to find innovative and sustainable materials for the buildings of the future, and many Italian companies are coming up with interesting solutions:
- Sadun Srl, based in Seregno, in the Province of Monza and Brianza, has developed Paperstone, a material made exclusively of recycled paper and cardboard, kept together by natural resin, ideal for interior design and furniture;
- Mogu Srl, based in Inarzo, in the Province of Varese, uses cutting-edge technology based on mycelium, the fibrous root of mushrooms, to produce beautiful acoustic panels;
- Isolana Systems Srl, based in the city of Prato, makes insulating panels out of sheep wool, a material with exceptional properties of thermal insulation, hygroscopic efficiency, and air purification;
- Italcementi Spa, a multinational company based in Bergamo and one of the largest cement producers in the world, has developed TX Active, an innovative photocatalitic principle for cement products that can significantly reduce air pollution: 1,000 square meters of this material can have the same beneficial effect as 100 trees;
- Novellocase Srl, based in Oggiona Santo Stefano, in the Province of Varese, has devised a system for building beautiful prefabricated houses made of straw.
Figure 5. Paperstone, an innovative material developed by Sadun Srl. Source: Sadun Srl.
Figure 6. Mycelium acoustic panels produced by Mogu Srl. Source: Mogu Srl.
Figure 7. Insulating panels of sheep wool produced by Isolana Systems Srl. Source: Isolana Systems Srl.
Figure 8. Diagram illustrating the functioning of TX Active, a photocatalitic principle for cement products developed by Italcementi Srl. Source: Italcementi Srl.
Figure 9. Interior of a prefabricated house of rice straw in the Province of Varese, designed by architect Beatrice Castiglione and built by Novellocase Srl. Source: Novellocase Srl.
Sources:
Adams, Matthew, et al. Bringing embodied carbon upfront: Coordinated action for the building and construction sector to tackle embodied carbon. World Green Building Council, September 2019.
4 - Upscaling energy efficient buildings
The other cause of carbon emissions coming from the construction sector consists of the operational emissions of buildings, that is the energy needed to heat, cool and power them. In order to escalate the energy efficiency of the national building stock, in 2020 the Italian government launched a massive campaign for upgrading existing constructions all over the country, installing new exterior insulation and finishing systems, improved windows and renewable energy sources. Named "Superbonus 110%", this initiative led in less than three years to the renovation of more than 400,000 buildings, for a total investment of 80 billion euros.
Figure 10. Renovation of a building under the "Superbonus 110%" initiative. Source: Sciuker Frames.
Sources:
5 - Innovative clean energy sources
Besides making our cities more energy efficient, we must also find new sources of clean, renewable energy. Earlier this year, multinational energy company Eni Spa completed the installation of the first ISWEC (Inertial Sea Waves Energy Converter) device in the Mediterranean, off the coast of the island of Pantelleria, located between Sicily and Tunisia. This power plant, developed in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Turin, converts the energy of ocean waves into electrical energy, making it available for offshore plants or feeding it into the grid to provide power to coastal communities and small islands.
Another groundbreaking innovation is the KiteGen system invented by Turin-based company KiteGen Research Srl: a machine for a harnessing power from high altitude winds. This system is composed of kites that reach an altitute of 800 meters, automatically controlled by a computer and tied by cables to a structure that rotates, generating electricity. According to KiteGen Research's estimates, a machine with twenty kites could generate one gigawatt of power, equivalent to a medium size nuclear power station but with a cost ten times lower.
Figure 11. The ISWEC device developed by Eni and the Polytechnic University of Turin and installed off the coast of the island of Pantelleria. Source: Eni, 2023.
Figure 12. A prototype of the KiteGen system built by KiteGen Research Srl. Source: Bertaglio, 2o19.
Source:
6 - Expanding electric mobility
Renewable energy is also a key ingredient for the future of urban mobility. Well aware of this, the city of Milan has launched an ambitious programme, the so-called "Piano Full Electric", supported by investments for 2 billion euros, to make its public transportation network fully electric by 2030, reducing carbon emissions by 75,000 tons per year.
Venice, on the other hand, has a different priority: the electrification of boats. To contribute to this goal, a local start-up founded in 2019 and named "e-concept" is developing a network of recharging stations for electric boats, integrating the charging technology into the nautical mooring poles typical of the city.
Figure 13. A new electric bus in Milan, part of the "Piano Full Electric". Source: Moroni, 2021.
Figure 14. The recharging station for electric boats developed by e-concept. Source: e-concept.
Sources:
7 - Recycled bicycle lanes
Finally, another interesting innovation in the field of sustainable mobility is the "mOOve" system developed by Revo, a Milan-based start-up founded in 2018. It is a prefabricate modular cycle lane, made of recycled plastic and rubber, that can be easily positioned and repositioned throughout cities without any excavations or road works. Moreover, it can be integrated with sensors, lighting, active road markings, photovoltaic panels and it can even collect data and information: a perfect element for tomorrow's smart cities.
Figure 15. Revo's "mOOve" system. Source: Di Stefano, 2019.
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Source of the cover image: Wikimedia - CC BY-SA 3.0
The image depicts Bologna, awarded as most livable city in Italy in 2022 by the financial newspaper "Il Sole 24 Ore".
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