Homes, the need to be addressed with public-private alliance

Giancarlo Tancredi (Councillor for Urban Regeneration, Milan City Council) confirms that the situation in Milan is not dissimilar. "We need housing reform and metropolitan areas,' he explains. 'On housing we have not had a programme for a long time and we are lagging behind. It is not enough to build housing, we need infrastructure. In addition to this we need to create services, quality as well as sustainability. The focus on the big cities, which have more opportunities but which have more critical issues, has not yet been addressed in the country. We are working on the new plan on two strategies: one on the plan of the neighbourhoods, nine municipalities, for those in contact with the belt municipalities we are also involving these municipalities; we are also thinking of regenerating the interchange nodes and gateways to the city. Within the current legislative framework, it is difficult to interact with the neighbourhood municipalities. There needs to be a look from the national and regional government in creating the conditions for a system' .

'Turin is a district of Rome,' adds Paolo Mazzoleni (Turin City Councillor for Urban Planning), 'but the metropolitan city is very large. In the type of city we have, compact, with a limited centre, not being able to build effective governance is significant. The effort to succeed in involving the metropolitan area is enormous compared to the results that are achieved. It too often passes through good personal relationships between mayors and councillors because there is no instrument that regulates good practices'.

"Local government in Genoa is no exception - Mario Mascia (Councillor for Urban Planning, Genoa City Council) - and spatial planning is tolerated with difficulty, between an administration tied to competence criteria and a citizenry that always has new and advanced needs.