Castelfranco Veneto unveils its Visionary Solution 6: Totem!

On September 28, 2024, our Pilot City Castelfranco Veneto unveiled its Visionary Solution 6: a multifonctional digital totem!

 The totem offers interactive content for both children and adults, aiming to raise awareness about the positive effects of green and blue spaces in the area of Castelfranco Veneto and its neighborhood. The Totem provides information on cultural initiatives and local events, strengthening the community’s sense of belonging to the project, as well as details on the environmental qualities of Villa Bolasco’s garden and its beneficial effects. The totem encourages outdoor physical activity and active mobility for pedestrians and cyclists, offering free services like electric bike and smartphone charging, as well as tire inflation.  

In the morning of the opening event, a workshop was held with experts focused on sustainable mobility and initiatives in Castelfranco Veneto, including both institutional and private efforts to promote the use of outdoor public spaces in an urban transformation context. The local Landscape Observatory for the Castellana, which will be establish under Visionary Solution 4 of Castelfranco Veneto’s pilot will increasingly serve as a reference for future co-design actions with local institutions and associations, offering new guidelines for proper landscape management and monitoring, with a special focus on degraded areas, and promoting education, dissemination, and community involvement.  

Electric bikes, including specialized models for people with mobility challenges, were available for trial along the new bike path built by the Municipality of Castelfranco Veneto with funding from Next GenerationEU. This path connects the city center to the garden of Villa Revedin Bolasco.  

During the opening event, the mayor of Castelfranco Veneto, Stefano Marcon, laid the foundation stone for the restoration project of the Barchessa “DEGLI STREPITI”, located at the entrance of Villa Revedin Bolasco’s garden, Castelfranco Veneto pilot site. The restoration is funded by NextGenerationEU. The Barchessa will become a hub for cultural and informational exchange and the seat of the local Landscape Observatory for the Castellana, established by VARCITIES!  

The manual of best practices on the therapeutic value of urban green and blue spaces developed as part of Visionary Solution 4 was also presented. It was jointly developed by VARCITIES’ Italian partners (the Municipality of Castelfranco Veneto, University of Padua, UniSMART and Eurac Research).

The manual includes 12 sections covering various environmental and design topics related to the activities carried out at the Castelfranco Veneto’s pilot site. These sections address topics such as thermal comfort and vegetation, sound and olfactory landscapes, sustainable green maintenance solutions, community involvement in public space care, and the co-design of green spaces to enhance citizen well-being. 

All in all, a successful day at our Pilot Site in Castelfranco Veneto, with its 6 Visionary Solutions now officially all in operation!