Ten, one hundred, a thousand Centres in Palermo, the 2nd National Conference on City Suburbs

Bracco Foundation and the municipality of Palermo organised in collaboration with Nesta Italia the Second National Conference on city suburbs “Ten, one hundred, a thousand Centres” in key sites in the city of Palermo (June 14, 2019).

Bracco Foundation and the municipality of Palermo organised in collaboration with Nesta Italia the Second National Conference on city suburbs “Ten, one hundred, a thousand Centres” in key sites in the city of Palermo (June 14, 2019).

Aim of the day was to promote awareness and spreading of good practices, starting from the cities of Milan and Palermo, in a dialogue with other national and European experiences so that a network of social, public and private operators can construct a shared vision and a practical strategy sharing the results they have obtained. The aim of this process, started by Bracco Foundation in 2018 and set to continue in other cities with a concrete methodology focused on the exchange of ideas and projects, is to favour not only the circulation of knowledge, but also the implementation of operations.

The Conference, with 25 high profile speakers from public and private sectors, after a plenary steering session split into working tables in various parts of the city (the Teatro Santa Cecilia, the Public Archive, the Gallery of Modern Art and the Municipal Library), which studied in depth four issues:

- Businesses and Non Profit, a pact for the territories - Lack of education for children in urban areas - Tourism, infrastructures and sustainability as activators of development - Art as a power and regenerating experience

After the institutional interventions by Leoluca Orlando, Mayor of Palermo, Diana Bracco, President of Bracco Foundation and Anna Scavuzzo, Deputy mayor of Milan, particular focus was given to the role of culture in relaunching city suburbs in the interventions of Angela Tecce of MIBAC, Carolina Botti of ALES and Francesco Giambrone, Superintendent of the Palermo Teatro Massimo. Among the international best practices spotlighted by the Conference, the project described by Radwan Khawatmi of the Aga Khan Foundation for the reconstruction of Aleppo, the action of the Nouveaux commanditaires of the Foundation of France and the Garath 2.0 programme described by Jana Lauffs of the municipality of Düsseldorf.