The city of Pescara is situated on the Adriatic coast in Italy. The city is well-known for its theatres and is home to the government of the Province of Pescara. The city is also in the top ten economic, commercial and tourist centres on the Adriatic coast. Within the Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC), the commune of Pescara chose to work on the Green Economy and Local Green Deals thematic track. The ICC recently met with the city to discuss its progress and projects achieved so far.
Luca Saraceni, Manager of the European Projects for the municipality of Pescara, detailed the projects the city is working on within the ICC. Within the chosen thematic track, the city focused on its eco-efficiency and the issue of mobility.
The challenge of the eco-efficiency of theatres
The municipality of Pescara is the owner of several theatres in the city so is therefore responsible for the management, maintenance, and renovation. The municipality used the opportunity of participating in the ICC to launch an eco-efficiency project. The ‘4 theatres programme’ was designed to promote citizen engagement and art through an eco-friendly and immersive theatre experience. It focuses on four of the city theatres and is dedicated to fully renovating the theatres by equipping the theatres with energy-efficient insulation and photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, LED lighting and projectors and temperature and air quality control sensors. The programme is set to be extended to other theatres after the first edition.
Improving mobility in the city
The city noticed that an increasing number of people were biking instead of driving or walking therefore it became important for the municipality to develop a safe plan for shared and soft mobility in the city. Therefore, the city reworked its mobility scheme to add a safe road for bicycles and offer shared bicycles across the city. These two projects were developed within the scope of the ICC and were also supported by the municipality’s participation in the Next Generation EU programme.
The city of Pescara is happy with its participation in the ICC, particularly with the resource sharing benefits which allowed Pescara to connect with experts and professionals who made their projects a reality.
The Intelligent Cities Challenge is proud to see the progress made by the city during its participation in the project and is looking forward to seeing what its next steps will be.