International workshop Venice - March 11-12 1999 Concepts and Paradigms of Urban Management in the Context of Developing Countries
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Raffaele Paloscia (Universita' di Firenze, Italy)

"Self-sustainability and Urban Regeneration: a project for Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba"

Within the Laboratory of Ecological Designing of Settlements (LAPEI)) of the University of Florence there exists an operating department, the aim of which is to back up the theoretical and methodological research work with some planning experiences in specific contexts in developing countries. Through them an attempt is made at putting into practice and experimenting the territorialist approach towards ecological transformation. This approach is based on the idea of sustainability and articulated on various levels, from the production of environmental quality to the giving of true value to the local identity and resources to be brought into action through revised forms of self-government on the part of the inhabitants and the settled community.

One experience which is presently under way is the La Habana/ Ecopolis project. It has been inserted into the problematic transition phase which Cuba is at present going through.

This project has been promoted by a consortium made up of three Italian NGOs (CRIC, COSPE and Terra Nuova), Legambiente and LAPEI and by numerous Cuban partners co-ordinated by the Grupo para el Desarrollo Integral de la Capital and financed by the Italian Foreign Office. Its aim is to sustain from an economic, technical and managerial point of view, a number of initiatives put forward by local institutions and grass-roots groups working towards an ecological transformation of Habana.

At the time of writing the project is composed of a set of initiatives on the part of the Provincia Ciudad of La Habana, which have sprung from differing realities. 5 of the 15 municipalities of Habana are involved, each of which, through aiming at replying to the specific needs expressed on the spot in different areas of action has thus become an important element in that overall vision of urban re-qualification which is being pursued.

In order to unfurl the innovative potential of the project, it was decided to run, alongside these initiatives, a integrated pilot project of urban regeneration. The aim of this was to start up a general process of sustainable ecological transformation in a specified context and to form in the short-middling term, a point of reference for other initiatives heading in the same direction.

The barrio Colon was chosen because of its many extremely serious problems (very high density of population, a spread building decay, very precarious conditions of the infrastructures, lack of green areas) but also because of its high potential: it is situated adjacent to La Habana Vieja, the ancient core of the city, which is an important tourist attraction; the buildings are of high historical quality and architectural interest; the population is made up of many different cultures and many different religions; there is a presence of spontaneous grass-roots groups, of busy commercial routes and numerous empty spaces which could be re-utilised for collective use.

The elements which characterise the pilot project should be:

• the integrated approach towards urban re-qualification aimed at experimenting, in one single territorial reference situation, the practicability of the set of objectives laid down in the general project: the development of community participation on various levels and at various stages in the project; the recuperation and the functional reorganisation of the physical structures, the re-establishment of environmental balance; the apportioning of the true value of local identity and culture, the boosting of the economy of the local community based on the available human resources; the safeguarding of a dignified level of existence for the entire population especially for the most vulnerable;
• the dual character of the action dedicated to tackling the present emergency situation but which, at the same time, does not however fail to look towards the future and beyond its own existence: on one hand experimental, aimed at going more deeply into the themes which are relevant to research into new and innovative methods of action, in a process of ecological transformation articulated in phases of short and middling periods; on the other hand operational, designed to give even minimal results, but which are immediately practicable in situations in which specific action would seem urgent and indispensable.