The winners of the Polisocial Award 2018 were awarded with over € 500,000 , the fifth edition of the competition that supports research projects with a high social content at the Politecnico di Milano , financed with the contribution of 5 per thousand IRPEF for the University. has had Africa as a geographical area of study. They have names that evoke distant sounds, but the needs are similar to those of many cities in the world, from the housing crisis to sustainable mobility , through complex territorial planning. The 2018 edition of the Polisocial Award was dedicated to the themes of Cooperation and Development .
What is the Polisocial Award
The award is promoted by Polisocial, the program of engagement and social responsibility of the Politecnico di Milano active since 2012, through which the University aims to develop the third mission of theuniversity and to promote its activation in an ethical key and community service. Polisocial is one of the first academic social responsibility programs on the Italian scene and in 2012 the Polisocial Award was launched, which over the course of its five editions saw the candidacy of over 190 projects and the funding of 34 proposals, with a direct investment of 2,500,000 € provided by the Politecnico thanks to the 5 x 1,000 IRPEF for the university and additional funds offered by external partners to co-finance the initiative.
Cities and smart communities everywhere
The projects financed by the Polisocial Award will be launched at the beginning of March and will last for 15 months, with the Smart Cities and Communities as a thematic area and propose multidisciplinary research programs aimed at identifying local development plans in Eritrea, Mozambique and Somalia. Here are the key points of the winning projects in detail.
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Business ECOsystem design for sustainable settlements in Mogadishu: the project focused on Somalia, which aims at the creation of an integrated development model for Mogadishu, based on a business ecosystemfanned to promote sustainable settlements with housing , entrepreneurial spaces, social services and renewable energy production. Among the main needs of the Somali population, in fact, there is the resolution of the housing emergency determined by the intense growth of the population, the high levels of poverty, the damage to buildings caused by the civil war and the general insecurity in the conflict areas. (Scientific Responsible: Prof. Oscar Bellini)
BOA_MA_NHA!
BOAne, MoAmba, NamahacHA saw a multidisciplinary team composed of Polimi researchers with the support of colleagues from UEM (Maputo) and UniMi studying a metropolitan area of Mozambique fragmented from an administrative and which lack statistical and cartographic data, with the aim of contributing to the integrated development of the region and disseminating the culture of effective territorial planning , making available to local administrations a development plan and a methodology of which replicability will be tested. One of the focal points of the research is the creation of a model on the nexus water-energy-foodto support strategic regional planning, with particular reference to the agricultural sector. (Scientific responsible: Prof. Laura Montedoro)
SAFARI NJEMA
From informal mobility to mobility policies through big data analysis, it is also a project dedicated to Mozambique. Approximately 80% of mobilityin large African cities is based on informal mobility systems: almost all families do not have a car but at the same time there is a lack of reliable and affordable public transport systems . Through the analysis and production of new data, starting from the information offered by the use of mobile telephony, the SAFARI NJEMA project explores replicable bottom-up and place-based solutions and alternatives to formal models. (Scientific responsible: Prof. Simone Vantini)
EMotion
Eritrea Mobility and Cultural Heritage: New Frontiers of the Horn of Africa The question of the role of mobility as a driver of economic growth and social equity in the region arises in the Horn of Africa . In Eritrea, however, there is a risk of not preserving the pre-existing historical infrastructure, a cultural heritage consisting of a road and rail network linking sites of architectural and archaeological importance. The project focuses on the Asmara-Massawa axis, a road with single carriageway117 km long that, in addition to being functional for the transport of goods and goods, touches thirty civil structures of historical and architectural value. The project team will be in charge of inventorying sites of interest and collecting data that do not exist today onmovements of goods and people , in order to formulate scenarios of commercial, cultural and tourism development. (Scientific responsible: Prof. Federico Cheli).
