“Smart city and smart land for the rebirth of businesses and territorial development”

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The “grounding” of development projects must be done for public interventions by 2022. But “for the growth of businesses and jobs we can start as soon as possible, the timing can be quick”. Word of Giovanni Legnini, extraordinary government commissioner for the reconstruction of the areas hit by the earthquake in Central Italy in 2016 and 2017. “We will act with determination: we will use the model of the Development Contract” explains the commissioner “and we will support a simplification package of the regulations “. It is necessary not only to rebuild but “to restore business and economic and social vitality to an area that was already partly in decline before the earthquake”. The demographic crisis, the abandonment of many urban areas, the renunciation of investing in the territory were already there. «Now it is a question not only of getting the reconstruction off the ground but above all of triggering the rebirth of the Apennines. The measures of the Earthquake Pnrr, in fact, are complementary and supplementary to those for reconstruction and those of the national Pnrr ». For Legnini, in short, there must be a push to make «the heart of Italy» beat faster. The multilevel model of government for earthquake intervention – the Prime Minister, the four presidents of the affected Regions plus six mayors representing the Municipalities – will have to focus “on the repopulation of the territories and generate development and work with the maximum intensity of public aid possible “. The commissioner underlines how “to favor the establishment or reconstruction of productive settlements and other business activities, it is also possible to act with the instrument of the Ordinance”: it has the value of a rule of law. There are therefore the means to act quickly and, moreover, the deadlines of the allocated funds “have very tight deadlines”. The injection of funds aims at a more complex objective than the physical reconstruction of residential and production buildings. It is necessary to stimulate the birth or rebirth of businesses and make the territories attractive again “because in this way the virtuous circle of the economy begins to turn again”. The keystone of these processes “will be all-out action to transform villages and territories hit by the earthquake into smart cities and smart lands”. A model “which adds to and does not replace Minister Colao’s broadband plan. We believe that a powerful digital configuration of the areas where we operate is a determining factor in the rebirth and awakening of the local economy ». The objective of “urban regeneration” is determined with a massive “digitization of territories” according to the most up-to-date lines of technology, 5G and artificial intelligence to cite two examples. An area, that of the seismic crater, “rich in identity, traditions, hundreds of villages and three national parks, the Gran Sasso-Laga, that of the Sibillini Mountains, and with the crater 2009 also a strip of the Maiella Park, now becomes with its potential the laboratory of rebirth. We will not be able to hesitate even for a moment, we will accelerate the incentive processes with the utmost effort ».