Naples to Host the Premier European Urban Planning and Development Event

Naples will host the reference European event for urban planning and development. The fourteenth Biennial of European cities and urban planners of the European Council of Spatial Planners-Conseil Européen des Urbanistes (ETCP-CEU) will take place in the Campania capital from April 22 to 24 next, at the Department of Architecture of the University of Federico II. It is organized by the National Institute of Urban Planning, and its title is "Inclusive cities and regions". On April 21 at the Santa Maria La Nova 44 complex, the ETCP-CEU general assembly reserved for delegates and a welcome party open to all participants of the Biennial will be held. On April 22 and 23 (respectively at Palazzo Gravina in Monteoliveto 3 and at the Diarc headquarters in via Forno Vecchio 36), more than twenty workshops resulting from the international call will take place. Additionally, on April 22, there will also be a discussion on the metropolitan plan of Naples: "Territorial inclusion and functional integration in The Metropolitan Plan of Naples" and on April 23, the discussion "Inclusion in European countries planning systems". In the plenary sessions on April 22 and 23, in addition to institutional greetings, there will be interventions by keynote speakers: Janet Askew (former ETCP-CEU president), Markus Hedorfer (ETCP-CEU president), Carolina Giaimo (vice president of INU and urban planning professor at the Polytechnic of Turin), Bruno Discepolo (Urban Planning Councilor of the Campania Region), Laura Lieto (Urban Planning Councilor and Deputy Mayor of the City of Naples), Gerhard Vittinghoff, João Teixeira, Tomasz Majda. The concluding day of April 24 will be dedicated to study tours preceded, at the headquarters in via Forno Vecchio 36, by an exhibition and a debate on metropolitan cities. The official language of the event is English. Markus Hedorfer, president of the ETCP-CEU, reminds that this is the first Biennial after about five years, a prolonged pause due to the pandemic. It is a very important event, an opportunity for exchange and comparison between planning practices throughout Europe. It is significant that Italy hosts the Biennial precisely when the Presidency is of our country. The theme, based on inclusion, was proposed and approved well before the pandemic phase and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and over the years has possibly gained even greater importance, especially due to the worsening of conflicts. Michele Talia, president of the INU, emphasizes: "The themes at the center of the discussion in Naples push us to imagine a different tomorrow, in which the widespread tendency towards the regeneration of the public city can contribute to a paradigm shift, capable of ensuring social integration and restarting the best energies of society. We will discuss strategies and good practices to pursue, within the framework of European policies, the objectives dictated by the new environmental and social needs: safety and urban well-being, containment of land consumption, the implementation of actions to combat climate change, the enhancement of sustainable mobility, the improvement of accessibility conditions to the public city, the development of policies aimed at fostering social inclusion, the involvement of residents in identifying urban policy goals and in decision-making processes."