Vicenza: the Municipality was chosen as an “expert observer” of sustainable development strategies at the international workshop organized by the European Urban Initiative.

Vicenza and its Sustainable Urban Development Strategy (SISUS) are now a European model. This is confirmed by the participation of the Municipality as an "expert observer" in the international workshop organized by the European Urban Initiative (EUI) in Jiu Valley, Romania, on September 25 and 26.

Through some interactive sessions, they were examine the host city's sustainable development strategies, of the Slovak municipality of Privilege and the Croatian Usti, with the aim of improving the attractiveness of the territory.

«Once again – says the European planning councillor Sara Baldinato –, after similar experiences in Thessaloniki in Greece and Kalisz in Poland, Vicenza consolidates its role as a point of reference at European level for sustainable urban development strategies. This demonstrates the quality of the work carried out so far in this area, which has become a recognized good practice for European cities and for their territories. A development model that follows the objectives of the UN Agenda 2030".

The Sisus

The Municipality of Vicenza is the leader of the Urban Area of ​​Vicenza, which is made up of the Municipalities of Altavilla Vicentina, Caldogno, Creazzo, Sovizzo and Torri di Quartesolo, for the management of the SISUS of the area, within the scope of the Regional Operational Programme of the European Regional Development Fund-POR FESR Veneto 2014-2020.
For the co-design and management of the SISUS of the Area, within the framework of the PR Veneto FESR 2021-2027, participation is extended to the Municipalities of Costabissara, Longare, Quinto Vicentino.
The financial endowment is approximately 11 million euros for 2014-2020 and approximately 17 million euros for 2021-2027.

The Workshops

By virtue of its leading role, Vicenza was chosen in 2023 as a “City under observation”, and hosted the Peer-review workshop for the Sustainable Urban Development Strategies, co-organised with the Joint Research Centre and DG REGIO of the European Commission. The event was also attended by Sibenik (Croatia), Valencia (Spain) and Banska Bystrica (Slovakia).

The SISUS of the four cities was examined by observers (“peers”) from fourteen other EU municipalities, in the presence of members of the regional ERDF management authority, sustainable urban development experts and European Commission officials.

Following that experience, the capital was in turn selected to participate, in reverse, as an “expert observer”, in the subsequent workshop, again organised by the EUI of the European Commission, in Thessaloniki, last June, offering a technical contribution to the review of the urban strategies of four European cities: Beja and Maia (Portugal), Jelgava (Latvia) and Thessaloniki itself.

The Romanian workshop was attended as experts by Donata Gaspari and Loretta Simoni, officials of the Office for Community Policies. Through a series of interactive sessions, theand cities under observation and the “peers” have tried to develop some aspects aimed at strengthening the continuous involvement of stakeholders in the various phases of strategy construction, to create a coherent strategic vision, to carry out monitoring through coherent and objective indicators, ensuring that the strategy contributes to improving the attractiveness of the territory.

The workshop program also included a study visit to the old mining sites in the area, redeveloped thanks to European funds, and to the museum that tells its story

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