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Feature: Italy eyes new metropolitan cities as growth engines

Xinhua, April 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Italian mayors have joined hands to seize the opportunities of what is considered to be a new powerful engine of development in the country, the metropolitan cities.

From the beginning of this year, 10 cities in Italy - Rome, Turin, Milan, Venice, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, Bari, Naples and Reggio Calabria - have been transformed into "metropolitan cities," or areas that include a large core city and the nearby smaller towns.

Another four cities in the south of Italy - Cagliari, Catania, Messina and Palermo - have also started such a process.

The metropolitan cities are the new "backbone of Italy," Valerio De Molli, Managing Partner of Italian think tank The European House-Ambrosetti, told a press conference held in Milan earlier this week.

Overall, the 14 metropolitan cities of Italy are home to 22 million inhabitants, or 36 percent of the Italian population, and generate over 40 percent of national gross domestic product (GDP), De Molli noted.

The European House-Ambrosetti along with ANCI, the association of Italian cities, has launched a project named "Start City" aimed at exploring the strategies to foster growth and attract investments in the metropolitan cities.

"We will reflect and find answers on what makes a metropolitan city attractive, thus competitive also in the medium-long term," Piero Fassino, Turin Mayor and ANCI President, said.

Just like in the other metropolitan cities in Italy, the mayor of Turin has automatically become the mayor of the enlarged area.

Metropolitan cities have a governing council and funds from the national government as well as from the European Union (EU) to spend on priorities such as transportation, housing and energy efficiency.

Giuliano Pisapia, Mayor of the Milan metropolitan city where the Italian world exposition is to kick off on Friday, stressed a first result of the enlarged area was visible with "Expo in citta" (Expo in the city), a project involving the entire city in the six-month event.

It means that before or after visiting the Expo Milano 2015, which like other world expositions of the past takes place in a confined space, for the first time visitors will be able to enjoy a sort of parallel expo with more than 20,000 events throughout Milan and its outskirts, Pisapia said. Endit