EUKN - Italy - Financing sustainable urban development in Italy

Financing sustainable urban development in Italy - IT.

Introduction

Thanks to 15 years long experience in bringing innovation into the urban sector and in promoting integrated and sustainable urban Programmes, the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure, Department for the Coordination of Territorial Development, is currently supporting Italian Cities in devising new financial instruments for the implementation of ambitious urban regeneration Programmes.

Description

To support sustainable investment in urban areas, the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure has explored innovative financial mechanisms capable of financing sustainable urban regeneration processes. The resources needed to reach the ambitious objectives for the regeneration of Italian cities can no longer be provided only through public grants. To support Italian Cities in their regeneration path, the Ministry of Infrastructure has promoted a concerted national effort for the implementation of the JESSICA (“Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas”) Initiative in Italy. The effort of the Department for the Coordination of Territorial Development addresses the following main objectives:

identify guiding principles to streamline the use of joint public-private resources in sustainable urban regeneration processes promoted by public actors. As far as this is concerned the main principles promoted by the Ministry of Infrastructure lie in:

the development of sustainable urban regeneration strategies not relying entirely on public grants
the coherence with widely shared territorial-urban development strategies 3.
the promotion of an integrated and area-based approach

test the feasibility of JESSICA’s financing mechanism in the Italian context through the elaboration of a model aimed at detecting the potential criticalities of JESSICA’s implementation process in Italy
explore ways to multiply available resources from the European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013.

The Ministry’s study on JESSICA’s implementation in Italy has highlighted the need for a strong coordination at national level (i.e. through the creation of an holding fund). Such coordination is necessary to ensure balanced distribution of investments in the national context and to prevent concentration in the fastest growing areas.

EU involvement

JESSICA is an initiative of the European Commission in cooperation with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and with the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), aimed at promoting sustainable investments in urban areas. JESSICA is the answer to the need of devising complex financial mechanisms focused on urban regeneration projects. Following the UK experience, the creation of Urban Development Funds represents an important opportunity to promote innovative financial instruments in urban regeneration processes. The promotion of this kind of investements has been requested in the context of the consultation on the draft Community Strategic Guidelines adopted by the Commission in July 2005. Moreover, the Informal Meeting of Ministers in Bristol in December 2005 on sustainable communities called for a reflection on how to enhance the impact of EIB loans.

Contact info

Ministry of Infrastructure
Ms. Cinzia Zincone

Publication date

/05/2007

Article info
Author: Ministry of Infrastructure

Links

Ministry of Infrastructure (in Italian)

Financing the city, English, PDF, 495KB English

Finanziare lo sviluppo urbano sostenibile, Italian, PDF, 299KB Italiano

Document type

policy

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Keywords

Competitiveness