Il Progetto europeo ROCK. La città come laboratorio di conoscenza e innovazione

Urban systems are increasingly intended as “pools” of formal and informal resources to be re-activated with the ambitious goal of achieving global goals related to sustainability and innovation. The cities are reactivating their urban and social capitals, proposing themselves as guarantors of the distribution of benefits and values, setting the basis for framing themselves as laboratories. ROCK project aims to develop an innovative collaborative and systemic approach to effective regeneration and adaptive reuse strategies in public spaces and generally in historic city-centres. The spatial and collaborative approach is tested addressing specific needs of research-areas. Main expected impacts deal with the achievement of effective and shared policies able to accelerate public spaces regeneration, improve accessibility of material and immaterial heritage and social cohesion, increase awareness and participation in local decision making and civic engagement. With reference to Bologna, the two key concepts of the project, based on consolidated models are: a creative city and a city of knowledge. Creativity and knowledge are understood as potentialities and “devices” that can innervate and boost the economic and social growth of the city, transforming it according to models based on sustainability. The central concept and operational objective of ROCK is the co-planning of actions (safety, “green” lifestyles, “living lab”, etc.) that allow a co-production of the city (by decision makers and technicians but also by city actors and users) in a mutual recognition of visions, knowledge, skills. The key-concept that moves the project is the circular approach and flow in which a social action is fundamental for constant construction of the city and its public spaces as a common good.