Nine cities, 20 participants, 2 days and a bunch of valuable insights: the S.M.ALL Network approached its first Christmas with the "Ready for Action" meeting hosted by the Lead Partner in the creative atmosphere of the Laboratorio Aperto, the city's hub and former theatre dedicate to social innovation.
After the traditional welcome by the Deputy Mayor for Environment and EU Projects, Alessandro Balboni, who underlined the importance of the cooperation and the collaborative atmosphere set up from the beginning of the S.M.ALL adventure, wishing the best to the network for the achievement of its ambitious goals.
During the morning, the S.M.ALL Lead Expert, Pietro Elisei, delved the participants into the URBACT Methodology and the Roadmap designed for the APN having in mind the results of his onsite visits - the long run that, between Summer and Autumn, took him to visit all the partners, engaging with the newborn URBACT Local Groups and the local environment. Describing the state of the art in each town, focusing on the point of view chosen by the partners, allowed all the consortium to get further inspiration and widen their scope, reinforcing their commitment to improve the accessibility of urban spaces and sustainable mobility for vulnerable groups within the project lifecycle. A workshop activity, equally led by the Lead Expert, engaged the partners in animated discussion on how to foster behavioural change: encourage and nudge, or force and openly defy usual patterns?
The first day ended with a walking tour of Ferrara historical center, discovering the urbanistic dimension and history of the "first modern city of the Renaissance" and its peculiar attribute of the "city of bikes" — finally, a well-deserved networking dinner to restore and prepare for day two.
The second working day was marked by prof. Federico Cavallaro from the IUAV University of Venice, who challenged the participants' beliefs on the concept of sustainable mobility and deepened their knowledge on the appropriate measures to foster urban accessibility, exploring methodologies and overlooking transport externalities, economic and equity issues, and possibilities to measure impacts.
Participation, creativity and stories to be shared and whose finale is still to be written: these have been the ingredients of the first S.M.ALL "live" Meeting, which laid the foundations for a big URBACT adventure.
