A Dynamic GIS for the Sustainable Economic Development of the Ivrea UNESCO Site: Potentialities and Constraints of a Knowledge Exchange Process

The UNESCO site “Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century” is a large urban area designed and developed under the leadership of Adriano Olivetti. It consists of more than 100 private buildings, valuable examples of Modern Heritage, and more than 60 elements related to public and private infrastructures and green areas. Currently the whole site necessitates to be redeveloped: the assets are mostly unused or underused and the streets and green areas condition does not foster the acknowledgment of the site’s value, as well as its accessibility and enjoyment. Its enhancement and future management is a great challenge for the Municipality of Ivrea and a dynamic GIS developed, improved and implemented by the Politecnico di Torino over the last few years may effectively support this delicate phase. The aim of this paper is to highlight how the activation of a knowledge exchange process between the Politecnico di Torino and the Municipality of Ivrea may support the sustainable economic development of the Ivrea UNESCO site. In particular, it wants to demonstrate some potentialities of the GIS not only for the Knowledge Management, but also for the cost management of a series of redevelopment projects concerning both the buildings and the grey and green infrastructures of the UNESCO site. The redevelopment projects of streets, squares, car parks and public green areas constitute urgent and priority actions that the Municipality may quickly and directly activate in parallel with the ongoing mediation process with the buildings’ private owners and other territory stakeholders. The positive impacts that the redevelopment of these infrastructures could generate go beyond the site’s enhancement. Their improvement is able to foster the real estate market trends, supports the economic operators that currently operate in a rather fragile context and produce benefits for all the citizens (in terms of increase of the welfare, urban services equipment and the environmental condition). The Municipality of Ivrea could steer numerous strategic actions in this direction by investing in public projects able to generate positive impacts on the community. To achieve this important and ambitious goal, a knowledge exchange process should be activated between the Municipality of Ivrea and the Politecnico di Torino, which aims to be ever more proactive in its third mission activities, to further customize the current version of the GIS. By this way, the case of Ivrea could become a best practice of territory sustainable development and an example of fruitful collaboration between Public Administrations.