“Quartieri Sani Hub”, project of inclusion and participation in the street from Santa Rosa and Le Piagge
A presentation of the “Quartieri sani Hub” project and, at the same time, a participatory meeting to explore opportunities aimed at improving the conditions of public space, with a view to promoting health promotion and active aging of the population in the metropolitan city . This is what will be proposed on Saturday 28 January during the public meeting entitled “Healthy neighbourhood? Let’s plan it together!” which will be held at the Centro Ponterosso, Solidarity Center of Florence, in the San Frediano district (via dell’Anconella 3).
The aim is to introduce and illustrate to the institutions and citizens the project called “Quartieri Sani Hub – Healthy and inclusive neighborhoods for the communities of the metropolitan city of Florence” supported by the CR Firenze Foundation, within the call for proposals “Researchers in Florence” , and by the Department of Architecture (DIDA) of the University of Florence. The project is promoted by an interdisciplinary research team belonging to the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence which makes use of a heterogeneous partnership made up of private and public subjects including the Local Health Authority Toscana Centro, the Municipality of Florence, the Health Society and Metropolitan City of Florence.
The “Quartieri Sani Hub” project has identified two case studies connected to two structures in the Florence district area of ASL Toscana centro, the Santa Rosa unit and the Casa della Salute Le Piagge, whose design activities are followed by Chiara Milani, research fellow research of the Department of Health Sciences of the University of Florence. At first, meetings with the health professionals of the two structures are planned for an activity of sharing and listening, subsequently the same activity will be aimed at the neighborhood and its inhabitants. Through the two case studies, the aim is to correlate the themes of inclusion, proximity and healthy lifestyles with the definition of strategies for a healthy and inclusive neighborhood as a system of public spaces, buildings, paths and with the creation of maps of health to raise awareness and inform citizens and public administrations.
“This project is doubly interesting – underlines the councilor for the right to health of Tuscany, Simone Bezzini – On the one hand it is an operation of attention to the qualification and regeneration of urban contexts. And in well-kept neighborhoods and cities it is evident that people live well, with repercussions also on people’s health. On the other hand, however, the project also focuses on the inclusion of health facilities in these places, in particular the Health Houses, which are accessible, recognizable and permeable with the fabric that surrounds them”. “The two things – he continues – are thoughtful in this case together. The qualified urban context enriches the proximity system, which is a key element of the new territorial assistance model that will have to be grounded, between now and 2026, also thanks to Pnrr funds. Therefore, you can draw interesting ideas from the project”.
At the opening in the morning, the councilor Bezzini, Gabriele Gori, Director General of the CR Firenze Foundation, the councilors of the Municipality of Florence, urban planning Cecilia Del Re and welfare Sara Funaro, prof. Giuseppe De Luca, Director of the DIDA Department of Architecture, University of Florence. Lorenzo Baggiani, health coordinator of territorial services in the Florence district area, will be present for the Asl Toscana centro. This will be followed by the presentation of the research project by the scientific directors of the University of Florence, Nicoletta Setola, Alessandra Rinaldi, Valeria Lingua and Emanuela Morelli. We will continue with the interventions of the research partners from the councilor Bezzini with the project “From home of health to the home of the community”, to the coordination projects by the councilor Del Re, to the president of district 4 Mirko Dormentoni, to the director of Health Society of Florence, Marco Nerattini.
“This is one of the projects in which the CR Firenze Foundation believes and in which it wanted to invest as part of the “Researchers in Florence” initiative – argued Gabriele Gori, Director of the CR Firenze Foundation – It is important to support young university students in their growth in a perspective of openness and giving back to the community. “Healthy Neighborhoods” specifically deals with issues dear to us such as the inclusion and participation of citizens, health and the response to the social and health challenges that the evolution of our society necessarily imposes on us. While waiting for the development and results of this process, we thank the subjects involved and wish the research team good luck”.
“The Municipality and the Health Society of Florence support this project – said the Councilor for Welfare and president of the Health Society, Sara Funaro – which addresses the theme of healthy cities, having as objectives the health and inclusion of citizens in the context of a nearby city, where people have the social and health services they need in every neighbourhood, and therefore close to home. ‘Healthy Neighborhoods’ makes it possible to ‘build’ participatory and shared strategies to create a healthy city in which space and citizens’ needs are placed at the centre. The involvement of various realities in the project is of great value because it allows us to give concrete and complete answers for the promotion of health and well-being”.
At the conclusion of the meeting, there will also be a participatory moment, “Open Space Laboratories”, during which those present, supported by the research team, will be able to express ideas, suggestions and proposals on the topics of the healthy neighborhood and the Casa della Salute. The map of the San Frediano and Pignone districts will be the main tool on which the participants will be called to intervene directly to enrich and build together a new perspective of urban health.
“Quartieri Sani Hub – explains Nicoletta Setola, scientific coordinator of the research – starts from the assumption that the health of citizens is closely related to the environment in which the communities live and reside. The project deals with the theme of healthy cities, declining it on a neighborhood scale, in which the Casa della Salute is one of the main drivers for health promotion”.
The aim is to identify the quality factors of the district (starting from the urban furniture up to the accessibility of public places, sustainable mobility strategies and the diffusion of green spaces) which, through the built environment, they can favor the promotion of health and the creation of inclusive contexts based on sharing and socialisation.
Source: Local Health Authority Toscana Centro – Press office