Summer University 2013: URBACT Talk - Furio Honsell: Leadership and European Networking or, “how to turn a bunch of keywords into concrete practices”

Leadership and European Networking

or, “how to turn a bunch of keywords into concrete practices”

Furio Honsell {M, } uni {cipal,vers} ity of UdineMayor of Udine (ITALY)

Leadership & European Networking

UDINE pop 100,000Greater Udine pop 180,000FRIULI pop 1,000,000


DIFFICULT TIMES

– Economic downturn, recession, austerity

– Political dissatisfaction– Anti-establishment movements

• The recession is extremely virulent– It acts as a multiplicative factor mostly for the worst

– Inequalities and inequities increase dramatically (reverse “spirit level” effect)


The CSDH – closing the gap in a generation

The Marmot Review – Fair Society Healthy Lives

The Spirit Level

A Fair Society•Study evidence of low sense of control, self efficacy and self esteem in population in unequal areas•Almost everyone benefits from greater equality; usually the benefits are greatest among the poor but extend to the majority of the population


Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient


• BUT We live a very important discontinuity, a time of paradigm revolution, an opportunity to improve, go beyond across borders, sectors, nations, professions– intersectoral, interdisciplinary, international, interprofessional

– transectoral, transdisciplinary, transnational, transprofessional

• the scope of many of our principles (development vs progress) and concepts (e.g. citizenship, care, well-being, prevention) can change for the better

• More holistic approach: whole-of-{society, government}

• How to achieve Unlimited Progress without Unlimited Growth?


WHAT ARE THE MAIN THREATS, CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES, STRATEGIES IN TIMES OF AUSTERITY and FRUGALITY?

Democratic and Scientific methods: two of a kind

• “Promoting knowledge is much more an ethical issue than it is a metaphysical issue, and moreover it is a duty and the hope of humanity”


The Mathematics of Politics

What matters is the first derivative, that is, the increase not the absolute amount


Scientific and democratic methods: an interesting analogy

• Science and Democracy, scientific method and democratic method

• Public debate• Incremental growth • Foster progress rather than achieve perfection (Sen’s Principle)• It is not necessary to eliminate all conflicting positions until only one is left

– Promote justice and equity and eliminate injustice and inequity

– Accountability, transparency

– Innovation

– Literacy

– transnationality

• Good explanations correspond to actions which increase justice and equity


Strategic standpoints

• High commitment, engagement

• Provide objectives (meaning, sense, points) to citizens and motivation to workers

• Break up the stabilization triangle in a number of wedges to reduce

• “best care at lower cost”

• “sometimes less is more”

• “doing more with less”


STRATEGIES

• Avoid fragmentation of services

– it leads to duplication

– continuity costs and coordination costs

• Efficiency: reduce waste of human, economic, and financial resources– Reduce gulf between research and practice,

– Hospice, the right of a swan’s song

– Various rebound effects – over treatment over diagnosis

– Bureaucracy

– Excessive cost of technologies - tenders

– Frauds and abuses – transparency and control

• Third sector, NPO’s and voluntary workers


social capital as a common good

• Services of general interest

• Avoid Tragedy of Commons

• What is a citizen? Community welfare. mutually supportive. resilient.

• Care should not be category –specific: elderly, physically or mentally disadvantaged disabled, marginalised , addicted, chronically ill, immigrants

• Collective responsibility of each and everyone towards all

• Equity (do not leave anyone behind) , equal opportunitie, sustainibility, solidarity cohesion

• The “bus” principle: the for-all movement e.g. sports for all

• Prevention and promotion, rehabilitation

– Literacy, lifestyles

• turn interaction into integration, in society but also within service providers

• take into account – be accountable


The European Dilemma: nations vs cities, liberism vs solidarity?

• efficiency market competitiveness

• freedom + transparency liberism

• Trasymachus in Plato’s Republic :

– “justice is what suits best the strongest”,

– “power goes where power is”,

– “justice goes where power is”,

– “it rains always where it is already wet”

• Constitution reduce the excess of power

• Human rights Customers Rights, Subscribers Rights

• Sustainibility the Rights of the Environment of

• the Rights of Future Generations

• In Need of a European Constitution


GOLDEN RULES

THINK OUT OF THE BOX

ONLY TRUE ARTISTS ARE ABLE TO COPY


• When should a settlement/hub be called a city?– The ontological issue

• public institutions, services or size– The psychological issue

• relations, community, identity, attachment, security, history• The numbers of a city:

– 100.000 pop, 0.5t, 9t, 100m3, 278m2, 200 l, 46y, 1:4, 1:8 • The numbers of a political agenda:

– 33%, >0, 100%, 500-steps, 20-25, 202020, 252525, 90%

CHALLENGES OF URBANIZATION

KNOW YOUR CITY! NUMBERS PROVIDE COMPARISON, SET TARGETS


THE CENTRE or HYPERCENTRE?

Imgres1.htm


Immagine1.jpg

Immagine1.jpg



The “rogge” The “rogge” waterway waterway system: system: brought fresh brought fresh water for water for drinkingdrinking and and washingwashing, as , as well as well as energyenergy for operating for operating mills and other mills and other machineriesmachineries


A street or a square?A street or a square?pedestrian streets?pedestrian streets?why preserve old buildings?why preserve old buildings?






6 4 2 0 2 4 6

0-4 5-9

10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 100-

M - F

1871

20011936

• UDINE POPULATION PYRAMIDS

• snapshots of demographic change

6 4 2 0 2 4 6 0-4 5-9

10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75-79 80-84 85-89 90-94 95-99 100-

M - F


1:4, 1:8, 1:2031 dicembre 2011

-5.000 -4.000 -3.000 -2.000 -1.000 0 1.000 2.000 3.000 4.000 5.000

0-4

5-9

10-14

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60-64

65-69

70-74

75-79

80-84

85e +

NATALITY AND MORTALITY BETWEEN 1968 & 2006 NATALITY AND MORTALITY BETWEEN 1968 & 2006


OLDER PEOPLE IN UDINE, ITALY & EUROPE

Udine

(2011)

Italy

(2011)

Europe

(2010)

Average age 46 43 40.9

Senior citizens 24.9 20.3 17.4

Old age indexPopulation (65+)

211.7 144.5 111.5Population (0-14)

Dependency ratioPopulation [(0-14) + (65+)]

57.8 52.3 49.3Population (15-64)

Old dependency ratioPopulation (65+)

39.3 30.8 25.9Population (15-64)

Exchange ratePopulation (60-64)

163.4 130.3 -Population (15-19)


PERCENTAGE OF OLDER PEOPLE LIVING ALONE

Age Males Females Total

% over 65 21,2 52,1 39,6

% over 75 10,5 35,9 25,6

% over 85 3,8 15,6 10,8

centenaries 14 49 63


Beautiful cities vs Ugly cities

• have to exhibit rules and principles, which produce joy when we become aware of them

• allow to read off the history • promote well-being• are rich in green areas• foster sustainability• are functional• balance between empty and

full volumes• ensure safety

• are chaotic (even if chaos has its regularities)

• increase discomfort• induce traffic• are noisy• induce solitude and

isolation• are unsafe


Principles underpinning the new UDINE City General Development Plan

• Reduces potential inhabitants from 125,000 to 115,000• Flexible and telescopic• Promotes re-use of brownfield and industrial and military unused

sites• Ensures eco-corridors, green and blue networks• Provides Cycle and pedestrian paths• Reduces functional promiscuity: fun areas, call-centres, penny

arcades• Avoids linear glueing between urban settlements• Promotes urban densification• Limits farmland usage:

• 1,840,000 m2 transformed into green areas• 290,000 m2 residential areas not re-assigned• Building potential reduced by 1,000,000 m3


Principles underpinning the new UDINE Urban Mobility Plan

• Sets the 252525 goal for the mobility mode distribution • Reduces excessive use of private vehicles, above all by

commuters• Cancels parasitical traffic• Designs mobility and radial circulation corridors• Encourages the use of alternative means of transport• Promotes a ‘Slow town’


GENERAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN GREEN AREAS DISTRIBUTION


Perception and paradigm shifts


The missing card


Memorize one of the following…

Done?


Now I’ll make it disappear!



Socio – political manipulations and fallacies

often deriving from innumeracywe overestimate rare eventsFooling with percentagesMinorities viewpointsThe progressive – tax swindleXenophobic Paradox


Percentage shares of equivalised total gross and post-tax income, by quintile groups for all households, 1978 – 2007/8


BEWARE PREJUDICE

• Suppose immigrants are 10% of the overall population

• Suppose that Mrs. X.Y. has quite a good reaction time and has a reasonable probability to recognise an immigrant if she sees one, notwithstanding the predicament. Let’s say she can identify an immigrant in 80% of situations.

• How likely is it that she is right and that the mugger was indeed an immigrant?


The Xenophobic paradox• Suppose immigrants are 10% of the overall population

• But suppose that 15% of pickpocketers are immigrants, while 85 are locals.

• Mrs X.Y. will identify correctly the mugger as an immigrant only 12% of the times while she will mistakenly identify a local mugger as an immigrant in 20% of the remaining 85 cases, that is 17%.

• THIS IS USUALLY DISREGARDED

• The probability that Mrs. X.Y. was mugged by an immigrant is therefore 12/(12 + 17) which is less than 50%.

• Even if the lady is almost always right, she is more likely to bear false witness than not.


I always liked taking up challenges solving puzzles

• For my first 30 years (1958-1988) I was driven by intellectual and social curiosity and Iiked solving puzzles, such as:

– An explorer chased by a bear runs for 10 miles South, 10 miles East and 10 miles North before succeeding in getting rid of the beast, only to realize that he was back to the very spot where his run started from. What is the colour of the bear’s fur?

• I enjoyed the adventures of knowledge and research, in Mathematics, Logic and Theoretical Computer Science, Semantics, Formal Languages in Pisa, Torino, Edinburgh, Stanford, Paris


A first turning point: from puzzle solving to problem solving

• But in 1998 I felt the urge to pay back what my country had bestowed onto me in my public education. I had to go back to Italy

• … in Udine a young developing university – I was appointed professor in 1989

• I had been only once in Udine before, hitch-hiking, on an occasional stop

• The paradox effect of the 1976 Earthquake – the knowledge factory - I felt a missionary

• Most of my colleagues left – but I remained – mostly for the sake of the students


Another turning point

• In such a developing university it was inevitable to have to assume responsibilities

• 1995 Dean and Rector-VC from 2001 to 2008

• The University had 17.000 students and nearly 1000 members teaching staff when I left as VC

• I think I did a good job – but I think also that that time was of special fast changes and fast growth.

• But the tide was changing


Yet another turning point

• I must say I felt the recession coming, because, at least in Italy, there were cues of a deep moral and ethical recession

• I felt that my duty was to take the offer of running for Mayor of the city of Udine

• I thought I could address political issues meaningfully just by acting as a responsible citizen, as a thoughtful scientist, a rational person, a problem solver, and knowledge manager.

• So I resigned as President of the University and ran for mayor

• THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN AND WHAT HAPPENED IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS WERE A DEVASTATING EXPERIENCE


The role of the Mayor

• Well … he has very little effective power

• Planning and control not execution

– Elected officials vs professional administrators

– Majority (?) vs Opposition

– Conflict, deliberate opposition or just friction, inertia

• The MAYOR is held responsible for everything

• the abundant but extremely rare snowfall • the increase in petty theft, • the lack of jobs for the young • the noise made by the local pub, • any speeding cars, any hole in the road • the water company which fells unnecessarily a tree• the right to justice of a father and a brain dead lady• 28 afghan political asylum seekers sleeping in a park


5 YEARS OF SOLITUDE• Meetings and decisions to be taken every half hour about issues for which

one has very little time to understand and ponder

• Decisions which often have dramatic little impact because they end up absorbed by the slackness, sluggishness, bovinity, laziness, tropidity of the bureaucracy (nobody’s government e defencive mechanism of professional administrators for breaking up responsabilities thus resist accountability)

• Crises which break out unexpectedly but to become the top-local news on the papers with the opposition capitalizing on the impossibility of an immediate solution

• Often under police investigation


• Truth does not matter, but rather opinion

• Media and public opinion are often superficial

• Washing away prejudice is extremely difficult

• Urgencies and today-ness use up all the time – no energy left for planning or strategy

• Conflict, especially malevolent conflict, manipulation, stigma are everyday’s experience

• Opportunistic views, racism, xenophobia, fragmentation


The main difficulty – A golden rule

• Defend plurality of opinion, interest, diversity

– Planning a city for disabled/disadvantaged people in fact helps you planning a better city for-all

– Copernican revolution (put to use scientific metaphors) it is not people themselves who are at pains in coping with the environment because they are handicapped in some ways, it is the environment which makes them disabled


A case in point: the Roma informal settlement

• It was there long before I first learnt that there was a city called Udine on the map

• But they became the scapegoats, the symbol of the mounting opposition to my social and protective policies

• I knew that they were the most disadvantaged minority, but to the eyes of the vast majority of my population they were the priviledged. They could break the rules and nothing would happen to them, they would get all social benefits

• And I was the culprit

• It makes a huge difference if you can tell your peers that you are part of an international network that is comitted to promoting health, houses, education, jobs


TRANSNATIONAL CITY NETWORKS – MOVEMENTS • Healthy Cities (1400 cities)

– increase healthy life expectancy– promote healthy lifestyles, tackle obesity, etc.

• Age-Friendly Cities (115 cities)– add life to years, not only years to life – promote the idea that what is good for old age is good for all age– foster accessibility and contrast the idea of an ‘enemy city’

• Learning Cities (450 cities)– promote lifelong learning and smart initiatives

• Active Cities (50 cities)– encourage physical exercise and sports for everyone

• Covenant of Mayors 202020 for sustainability (5000 cities)– Renewable sources, efficiency,reuce carbon footpint

• Giona – Playing Cities (40 cities – national network)– To promote playing as a tool for learning, integration and socialisation

• Local Agenda 21 (7000 cities)• URBACT ROMA NET NETWORK (10 cities)

– To promote wellbeing and social inclusion of the Roma population and disadvantaged groups

• Welfare well-being happiness : can we invert arrows?


the Science of Political Administration• SWOT analysis

• Transnational networking between CITIES– Europe is a network of CITIES vs NATIONS

• URBACT METHODOLOGY– LAP

– LSG

• Active learning (learning by doing)– The fish bowl environment


Roma-Net139 Members of Local Support Groups


Roma-Net Integration of Roma Population

ROMA SETTLEMENTS IN UDINE

Integration of Roma population


IMPACT

• Amazing tangible benefits

• LSG brought together, health care workers, care-givers, NGO’s, municipality workers, residents, roma people,

• Reduce by over 50% Roma population living in informal settlements

• Achieve totality of children included in some schooling programme,

• Achieve 100% vaccination programme


UDINEHEALTHY CITY

80 CO2kg/person x hr flight0,1 CO2kg/km20 CO2kg/tree x year

Energy budget

District heatingBuilding regulations, Increase thermal insulationTurbinesOrientationDirect lightGeothermalSolar


Environmental policies of municipality of Udinedevelopment of action plans and long-term programs to address critical environmental issues

ISO 14001 and EMAS – environmental management & Audit Scheme Certifications

policies for energy savingdevelopment of regulations and specific projects to address energy saving issues

in the building sector

A significant part is represented by:

Local Energy Plan and Covenant of Major Initiative joined since 2009

New energy building code and ClimaHouse certification

Obtained in for the entire local authority organisation as elements of excellence in management of critical environmental aspects and good practice for both private and public actors.


INNOVATION

• New generation network: Fiber To The Cabinet– Through the sewage & street

lighting pipes

– 50Mbps

– European Digital Agenda 20 Mbps by 2020

• Open data




ENERGY DAY: Frugality, education, integrationArchimedes Screw, Cochlea Archimedea



eco


UDINEjoined the Healthy Cities movement

HEALTH ENLIGHTMENT

in 1995



Social determinants of health across the

lifecourse



World Health Day 2012Copenhagen, 2 april 2012



Slogans

ADD LIFE TO YEARSNOT YEARS TO LIFE

What is good for older peopleis good for other people

You can’t help getting older,But You don’t have to get old

But the hard truth is:People with high income benefit more from public funding than people with low income


You don't stop laughing because you grow old,You grow old because you stop laughing

Where are their partners?



HEALTHY AGEING SUBNETWORK of the WHO HEALTHY CITIES PROJECT working to empower older persons, increase their participation & social inclusion in the community & promote their health and quality of life


Core theme Phase IV HEALTHY AGEING PROFILES (2004-2008)



POPULATION OVER 65 & BUS STOPS

POPULATION OVER 65 & GPs


POPULATION OVER 65 & PHARMACIES

POPULATION OVER 65 & GREEN AREAS


COMBINING Healthy Ageing with the Innovation Partnership On Active and Healthy Ageing


Age-friendliness community assessment

• Collaborating cities involved: 33 cities (22 countries)

• Objective: to identify age-friendliness features of the physical & social environment and elicit suggestions for improvement

• Results published in

COMBINING Healthy Ageing with the Age-Friendly Cities Programme


Age-friendliness community assessmentapplied to Udine

• Methodology adopted: Vancouver Protocol

• Period of assessment: January – December 2007

• Topics: What is it like to live in Udine as an older person?• People involved: about 100 people

• 8 focus groups (10-12 people each group):

– 4 with older people divided according to Age (2 groups aged 60-74 & 2 aged >75) & Income (2 groups with low income

– & 2 with high-middle income)

– 1 with caregivers

– 1 with voluntary sector

– 1 with public sector

– 1 with private sector


Dublin Declaration 2011 Age Friendly Cities Conference


HEALTHY AGEING STRATEGIES

• To promote healthy lifestyles and allow older people to remain PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY & SOCIALLY ACTIVE for as long as possible

• To actively involve older people in INFLUENCING & MONITORING city policies regarding health and urban environments

• To tackle SOLITUDE & ISOLATION by offering opportunities of socialization and participation in city life


Shortening the supply chain: “0 km Markets”

Are healthy eating habits more expensive?


1. Hands on the wall2. On the tip of your toes

3. Eyes closed &lift your hands

GENTLE FITNESS


PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AT HOMEThe aim is to stimulate the elderly towards a regular physical exercise and encourage them to participate to physical activity programmes


- Offering opportunities of socialization and tackling solitude- Turning our environment into a more attractive place where to be physically active

- Encouraging healthy lifestyles in adult and old age, to prevent or delay the onset of physical disability

WALKING GROUPS



KEEP PHYSICALLY & MENTALLY MOVING

Walk together up to the library and then read a book and have a

healthy snack


PEDIBUSAn intergenerational

activity“Which vehicles have the

smallest carbon footprint: black cars or blue cars with little white clouds painted on?”


BEFORE

School entrance

AFTER

School entrance

BEFORE

AFTER

Urban planning improving Urban planning improving house to school route’s house to school route’s

through Children’s and Senior through Children’s and Senior Citizen’s City CouncilsCitizen’s City Councils


HEALTH PYRAMIDCONSUMERS AWARE OF THEIR

CHOICES FOR HEALTHIER LIFESTYLES

Social marketing and health info point in a supermarket




MINDS ON THE MOVE

MOVE YOUR MINDS…• is an integral part of

the comprehensive strategy aimed at improving the quality of life of older people in Udine

• provides opportunities for people to meet and share learning activities in a useful and entertaining way


• Music• Story telling• maths & logic games

• memory games

• English words in common use

• cards games• calligraphy• information on physical &

mental health

ACTIVITIES:


Giving support to older and frail people in their everyday life, especially those living alone, with disabilities or economic difficulties

NO ALLA SOLIT’UDINE


Althought, worldwide, care for frail elderly people, is provided by the family,

changes in family structure and increasing participation of women in the

paid work force are gradually eroding the capacity of the family to

provide care

Now

Before…&


Provision of services for the everyday life:

• Listening• Commissions• Support for visits in the

hospital• Company• Advice• Professional and legal

advice• Medicines• Information• Injections• Doing the shopping • Transportation• Repairs• Other

Richieste pervenute - anno 2011

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

consulenza legale

consulenza abitativa

volontari

parrucchiere- barbiere

altro

prenot. esami-visite e prest.

compagnia/passeggiata

accompagn. da casa progr.

spesa

pedicure

aff iancamento in struttura

riparazioni

aff ian. in struttura progr.

farmaci

ritiro referti

segnalazioni

accompagnamento da casa

commissioni

ascolto

consulenze

compagnia/pass. program.

trasporti

comunicazioni varie

spesa programmata

informazioni

trasporti programmati


modern-city leadership vs modern city-leadership

Capacity building– Self esteem, self efficacy, empowerment

• Values: scientific and democratic– Accountability, trasparency,

– Responsibility, sustainability

– Innovation, opportunity

– Sometimes less is more

– Transnationality


{Hum,Urb}anism is the science of the Future.

• Since 2000 half population lives in cities • Progress (not development) depends on cities • Active citizenship, relations, participation• Promotion of civil rights, equity, sustainability • Networks: learning cities, healthy cities, age-friendly cities, Covenant of

Mayors 202020. • To unravel the signs of history and the smartness of cities• Cities are a stage, a gym, a laboratory • The main principle is to pursue beauty• Cities are increasingly intolerant• Take on ones shoulders the collective future


Integration takes time and effort.

More than one piece!

Involve Involve Involve

Summer University 2013: URBACT Talk - Furio Honsell: Leadership and European Networking or, “how to turn a bunch of keywords into concrete practices”

Business

unlimited progress

democratic methods

greater udine pop

friuli pop

unlimited growth

scientific methods

self esteem

self efficacy