A cycle of meetings and conferences
The project foresees the organisation of various awareness-raising and knowledge dissemination activities to stimulate the active involvement of citizens on climate change, hydraulic risk and natural water retention measures. The proposal includes face-to-face meetings with experts in the field, as well as itinerant conferences with guided tours to places of interest.
School of Common Goods
BEWARE envisaged the activation of the School of Common Goods, an initiative for in-depth study and discussion articulated in workshops and meetings on the theme of common goods. The aim of the school is to increase citizens’ knowledge on the concept of “common goods” and reflect on the challenges that the Altovicentino territory is facing; the set of educational activities aimed at students and teachers will have an impact on the younger generations and improve their knowledge and awareness on climate change, with a specific focus on the water cycle and sustainable hydraulic management.
Beneficiaries:
- Administrators, directors and employees of local authorities
- Representatives of associations, movements, third sector groups
- Teachers and trainers
- Professionals
- Single citizen(s) and citizens
Festival
The Festival “The Shape of Water. Territories. Resilience. Community” organised by the Consortium in synergy with fourteen other partners and local associations, took place in the Altovicentino area between Santorso, Marano Vicentino, and Giavenale (Schio) from Monday 20 September to Tuesday 28 September 2021. There were more than 700 participants. The festival, which included lectures, photo exhibitions, meetings, workshops, performances, and screenings, focused on the need to collectively develop effective resilience strategies to the increasingly devastating consequences of the climate change process the world is witnessing, with the involvement of local communities, using a variety of methods and forms of expression.
The initiatives carried out within the festival were:
- Inauguration of the festival and photo exhibition “Ecographies of Contamination. The new landscapes of the Capitalocene” by Michele Lapini.
- Conference-show “Aquadueo. A Very Liquid Planet” with Telmo Pievani and Banda Osiris.
- Two big conferences: “Quando La Misura E’ Colma: Resilienza Urbana E Cambiamento Climatico” (“Urban resilience and climate change”) with Mario Tozzi; and, “Viaggio Nell’italia Dell’antropocene. La Geografia Visionaria Del Nostro Futuro” (“Antropocene. The visionary geography of our future”) with Mauro Varotto.
- Two meetings with farmers: “Agricultural Problems And Proposals On Hydraulic Management Of The Territory” with Marco Grendele (Veneto Agricoltura).
- Two events to promote the water retention group purchase program: “Presentation Of The Help Desk Service And The Purchasing Group Of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems” at Parco Rossi.
- Two film screenings of “ANTROPOCENE – L’EPOCA UMANA”, by J. Baichwal, E. Burtynsky, N. de Pencier (Documentary, 2018, Canada, 87′).
- Two educational activities for kids: Science Workshop for Kids with Biosphaera cooperative; and, Science Workshop for Kids with Ecotopia cooperative.
- Two tours to present the interventions in Santorso and Marano guided by local technicians together with comedians: Tour With Fratelli Dalla Via; and, Tour with Nicola Sordo and Inauguration of the Giavenale Basin.
Help desk for resilient communities
The Resilient Communities Help-desk was launched in February 2020 within the already existing Help Desk “Comuni per la Sostenibilità”. The Help Desk is active both in presence and online with the activation of a specific e-mail address (beware.tesaf@unipd.it). In order to provide complete information to the interested citizens who contact the Help Desk, an information kit (Annex 2 – Deliverable: Information Kit for C1.2) has been produced to be disseminated to the citizens of the Upper Vicenza area interested in adopting Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRMs) in their private properties.
To date, 123 citizens have consulted the Help Desk asking for further information on how to prevent hydraulic risks in their properties, how to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, general regulations and standards, etc.
The information kit contains the following information:
- General information about the NWRMs: a description of the main NWRMs most suitable for private properties (e.g. single houses, private gardens…); the costs of NWRMs and the main benefits; a list of possible actions to be implemented to increase territorial resilience to climate change.
- A specific focus on rain gardens: where to create a rain garden; how to create a rain garden; and, what are the benefits of a rain garden.
Purchasing group
The process for the formation of the Purchasing Group for citizens was started at the end of 2021, with the aim of encouraging the adoption and dissemination of measures and interventions for the natural retention of water. On December 20, 2021, an online meeting was held to get to know the interested parties, to present the Life Beware project and the purchasing group. A market research was then carried out to identify the most suitable companies for the supply of the tanks. Citizens were sent the catalogs and price lists of three companies: Eureko s.r.l., PiElleBi s.r.l. and ELBI s.p.a.. The purchases concluded so far are 3, for a total of more than € 2000. The chosen tanks were installed independently with a direct connection to the downspout, and have the following capacities: 200l, 275l, 350l and 1300l.
This initiative allowed participants to:
- Contribute to the collective process for the identification of measures for natural water retention (called “Natural Water Retention Measures”) to be included in the purchasing group;
- Carry out small, medium and large-scale interventions at one’s own home and property for the sustainable management of rainfall flows at particularly favourable prices.
Sustainability and resilience centre
The project includes the creation of a Permanent Centre for Sustainability and Resilience. The Centre, which aimed to act as a reference on the issues of good water resource management and hydraulic resilience, offered training activities and guided tours for professionals, administrators, students and citizens, as well as educational visits for primary and secondary school students.
A group of national and European experts in the field identified within the project acted as the scientific committee, guaranteeing the high profile and quality of the initiatives and projects. The centre is located at the Casa del Custode, in Santorso (VI), which has already hosted numerous initiatives, conferences and debates on environmental sustainability and the commons.