The second Urban Thinkers Campus in Palermo took place from April 6 to 8 at Palazzo Sant’Elia. It was one of the 75 that will happen around the world in 2017.

“Right to the Future”, organized by PUSH in collaboration with the Municipality of Palermo, the patronage of the United Nations and with the support of around 70 international partners and media partners, was aimed to collect proposals and visions for the future of the city and lay the foundation for the translation of the global principles of the New Urban Agenda into concrete actions at local level.

A three-day debate including plenary frontal sessions – Urban Labs – exchange moments with the audience – Urban Thinkers Sessions – interactive co-design workshops – Roundtables – and the first Urban Journalism Academy after the ratification of the New Urban Agenda, coordinated by two representatives of Habitat III and targeted for journalists and communication and media professionals on urban policies.

During the Urban Labs international guests shared best practices experimented in other cities and countries – in Netherlands, Portugal, Israel, Egypt, Cyprus and other regions in Italy – and replicable here in Palermo, while the authors of the best proposals selected by the Steering Committee through the Open Call presented their ideas on the future of Palermo. On April 6 and 7, during the afternoon, there were the three Roundtables on the topics selected by the participants – citizens and representatives of around 30 local organizations – cultural and artistic heritage, public spaces and community living.

The whole Campus has risen a strong interest and participation. More than 200 participants, Palermitans and non, took part to the activities and to the 20 side events around the city during the same week. Around 200.000 users were reached online through the social media channels and the website of the initiative, while more than 1000 followed the online streaming of the conference during the three days.
18 were the countries represented within the Campus.

Furthermore, from April 18 to 22, the Right to the Future Intensive School took place. It was the second edition of the educational programme on service design for urban innovation and it was organized by PUSH in partnership with commonground. The School, sponsored by Fondazione CRT, Confcooperative Sicilia, LUCA School of Arts and Link Campus University, was attended by 16 international students of different age, geographical origin and academic and professional background.
In a five-day full immersion, guided by expert mentors and working in four different teams, the participants elaborated, prototyped and validated concrete proposals for the city of Palermo. Their four projects – on food and traditions, public spaces, tourism and gamification of urban contexts – were presented Saturday April 22 in the context of the Street Food Fest.

The 60 proposals collected through the Open Call, presented by individuals and organizations of 13 different countries, the 10 ideas coming from the Roundtables and the projects developed by the students of the Intensive School will be part of the international publication “Right to the Future: Vision Development Kit for the Future of Palermo” and of a special edition of the magazine UrbanisticaTre.

Less than one month to the start of City as a Service Intensive School , the educational program launched by PUSH that will take place in Erice from September 25th to October 3rd , open to young professionals aged between 18 and 35 years old.
The Intensive School will focus on how to prototype services for the cities of the future: using the Service Design methodology the participants will have the opportunity to develop and test innovative ideas able to improve citizens’ live.
The final program is available online: fourteen international Special Guests will guide the students during the 9 days full immersion.

The university students who will take part to the School will have the opportunity to get 6 CFU, approved abroad.

Moreover, the results of the initiative will be presented during the City as a Service Urban Thinkers Campus, international event of World Urban Campaign, that will take place in Palermo next October.

PUSH has already received plenty of applications from all over the world, but still it is possible to apply by September 13th on the website edu.wepush.org.

Una nuova avventura per il team di PUSH:  il prossimo autunno organizzerà City as a Service, un doppio evento che mira a interrogarsi sui cambiamenti delle città e delle abitudini dei suoi cittadini attraverso l’uso di servizi innovativi e tecnologici, adottando un approccio dal basso e centrato sull’utente.

City as a Service si focalizzerà sull’area mediterranea e su quei servizi capaci di fornire soluzioni efficaci in contesti marginali; sarà un’occasione per discutere di innovazione digitale e service design.

La prima tappa sarà “City as a Service Intensive School” e avrà luogo a Erice (TP) dal 25 settembre al 3 ottobre. Nove giorni per formarsi, confrontarsi e approfondire le dinamiche urbane legate all’innovazione e ai servizi digitali ai cittadini in contesti storicizzati: un approccio interdisciplinare per ripensare la città attraverso le tecnologie e il confronto transculturale.

L’Intensive School è aperta a 30 ragazzi fra i 18 e i 35 anni; la formula di partecipazione sarà quella della candidatura volontaria ed è previsto lo sgravio del costo di iscrizione grazie a borse di studio offerte da sponsor privati. È già possibile candidarsi sul sito edu.wepush.org.

Sarà un’occasione per lasciarsi ispirare e mettersi alla prova, attraverso un viaggio guidato nel mondo del Service Design, cercando di stimolare lo sviluppo di idee innovative.

I risultati prodotti durante i giorni di Intensive School faranno parte dei contenuti della seconda tappa dell’evento, l’Urban Thinkers Campus – City as a Service, che si terrà a Palermo dall’8 al 10 ottobre 2015 ai Cantieri Culturali alla Zisa.

L’evento è promosso dalle Nazioni Unite con lo scopo di sensibilizzare e creare consapevolezza tra i cittadini sulle questioni urbane, e preparare i contenuti che verranno presentati alla conferenza Habitat III “The city we need” (Quito 2016).

Il Campus è concepito come spazio aperto a workshop e seminari tematici, un’opportunità per condividere e promuovere trasformazioni urbane positive. Il forum intende offrire idee e soluzioni, proponendo un approccio integrato, dando voce ai diversi stakeholder, al fine di portare la società civile, rappresentanti della pubblica amministrazione, della città, dell’industria ed esperti del settore ad individuare e affrontare insieme eventuali ostacoli allo sviluppo “intelligente”.

È possibile partecipare attivamente, inviando le proprie proposte di servizi innovativi tramite la pagina web utc.wepush.org. Output dell’evento sarà un documento ufficiale che verrà presentato e condiviso alla conferenza Habitat III di Quito 2016.

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