A project of a Living Lab from Torino about collaboration between French and Italian rural areas was presented in the European Week of Regions of Cities
Sometimes, only a small action can make a really huge step into the people. The frontier between different countries is a red line that divides two countries, puts culture and traditions in each side and separates communities that look only for their interests.
But this barrier can be erased.
France and Italy are involved into a cross-border project that wants to make attractive for new generations neighbors the rural and mountain areas near the division. This social program is part of a Living Lab that was presented in the European Week of Regions and Cities 2018. Its goal: the development of creative mentalities and the improvement of daily life.
Meanwhile, some frontiers are considered a problem because of migrations, like the Italian village of Ventimiglia and the Metropolitan City of Turin. This cross-border, near the Alps, is surrounded by rural and mountain areas that need more services and communications with French people, and these necessities are resolved by young people from both countries through the Living Lab, an open innovative space that integrates research and evolution in communities using collaboration and real-life environments like in an experiment.
In this case, rural places and villages are hidden in the mountains are the main points in the new integration program for 2014-2020.
"It is a participative program with our French colleagues for building a territorial plan together," explained Tiziana Fiorini, Metropolitan City of Turin Official, at the presentation of their project in the conference called Cross-border co-creation: Living laboratories for Local development.
Inside the project, there are four sides for having a wide vision about the context: InnovLab has the research and innovation part, the principal theme in ExplorLab is nature and cultural heritage, MobiLab is about sustainable mobility, and SociaLab is centered in health and social service.
But the protagonists are the youngest, who are doing all the work with the newest technology for being in contact with the administrations and the other citizens. "We have listened to the citizen’s requests for creating the platform with the Italian and French young people," said Tiziana Fiorini about their new modality of doing their project.
In this context, this project has to pass across many obstacles. For Anna Merlin, Councillor of the Metropolitan City of Turin, in the city there must be a "united view because there are inevitable problems like migration."Nowadays, with migration difficulties in places like Bardonecchia and Ventimiglia, local’s capacity of understanding is needed. "We need to overcome the thinking of seeing this zone like a cross-border", she added.
Also, the population from Torino has its own sight of this kind of projects. "I think this is a good practice. Turin has a good relationship with France, but it is true that there are many problems with immigration. Sometimes, the communication between both countries is broken," affirmed Barbara Soncin, an Italian student from Turin.
Other complicated obstacles were the change from the normative from a country to the other and the language. But finally, positive effects are more than the negatives. As Ms. Fiorini stated, "there are more possibilities of transport in an intelligent way and people have new technology that helps their lives in a good direction."
By Paula Blanco Solís (Spain)
