Valledolmo 2030: la città che cura

The small towns can become the places to reactivate the rural areas of our country through essential factors starting from the natural and cultural heritage, from social inclusion, from psycho-physical well-being, helping to reverse the unstoppable phenomenon of the flight of young people. The current Covid-19 emergency has revealed the crucial role of health, not only in terms of health facilities, but also in new ways to feel better, spend more free time outdoors, eat healthily and boost the economies of Local communities. It is in this context that the research-action project of the research group and the LabCity Architecture degree laboratory aims to investigate the theme of the city that cares in Valledolmo, a town of resistance of agricultural production of excellence, located in the heart of the Sicilian Transversal, to rethink the current crisis as a turning point to reactivate a new vision of the relationship between small towns and rural areas. The construction of new scenarios was tested through the elaboration of a research-action project in synergy with the Municipal Administration aimed at acquiring a renewed awareness of the potential of the territory which starts from the valorisation of the human and urban heritage, of the valley of the Fiumara, of the spaces, of the abandoned fabric. The research-action assumes a leading role of the Recovery Fund, of the Green New Deal in order to identify better opportunities and strategies, increasing administrative capacities and skills, through a better use of available European, regional and national funds aimed at regenerating places up to yesterday considered on the margins.