Eco Design Week: first edition in the Po Delta Park

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Four days of events, meetings, exhibits and workshops: a new way to design ecosustainability for industry and handicraft.

Interaction between design and environment: this will be the heart of the first edition of the Eco Design Week, which will take place in the Po Delta Park between June 23rd and 26th 2016.

A four-day marathon dedicated to design applied to a multitude of categories: services, cultural and educational tracks, nutrition (food and wine) choices, up to the planning of deep daily interactions with the territory. An emblematic example for the initiative’s intentions is the choice of the Po Delta Park as location: it is a particular environment with a delicate biosphere and a development that is waiting to be redesigned. Only a few months ago the park was nominated UNESCO MaB area.

For the first time in Italy and probably in Europe, a cultural event will be held in a natural park: public authorities, associations, private companies and operators of different sectors will discuss together ways to add value to the area and thus contribute to the economic, social and cultural development of the territory. The first edition of Eco Design Week received the enthusiastic support of UNESCO, with the presentation of an exhibition entitled “Behind Food Sustainability” and the direct participation of Philippe Pypaert, representative of the European UNESCO office in Italy.

It will be an intense week full of initiatives concerning the following four main topics:

Design

The theme will make the object of numerous events, among which: the Eco Design meeting conducted by Marco Cappellini with the participation of Venice’s IUAV Uniersity, University of Ferrara, and ADI; the meeting “Building with Wood” (“Costruire con il legno”) directed by the Study Centre of Federlegno Arredo, with the support of the company Zennaro Giusepe Legnami; “Casa Clima Network”, a workshop on energy efficiency (which will give out training credits); the exhibit “Eco design projects and products” (“Progetti e prodotti di eco design”), in which 20 particularly significant objects manufactured by ecosustainable industry or handicraft will be exhibited together with sustainable mobility projects by IUAV and University of Ferrara. Moreover, there will be three aperitif-meetings with important designers.

Food

In addition to the above menti0ned UNESCO exhibit “Behind Food Sustainability”, the following events are planned: a Slow Food meeting on the promotion of biodiversity; the Eco Menu, a protocol developed with the organizers of Slow Food and adopted by the best restaurants of the Po Delta area; the exhibit “From the earth to the table” (“Dalla terra alla tavola”), organized by Venice’s IUAV University, with infographics to show the typical products of the territory; the sustainable canteen and bar realized by the association Più Informa in the frame of the Eco Design Forum; the event “The D.O.P. mussels of the Sacca di Scardovari area”, an information track that follows the processing steps of the only Italian D.O.P. mollusc, from production to consumption.

Economy

The following events are planned: the “Green Economy” meeting, which will study a theoretical development model that takes into account both the enterprises’ profits and the environmental impact of the whole production cycle; “Ideas of Companies” (“Le idee delle aziende”), meetings with entrepreneurs and designers with concrete expertise of ecosustainable products, services, and manufacturing processes; the meeting “New laws on environmental crimes” (“Nuove leggi reati ambientali”), with the analysis of the state of the art in criminal law concerning environmental crimes. A quite diverse panorama of themes and initiatives, all of which share the same vision: giving the same consideration to the environment as to traditional industrial values such as profit and quality.

Tourism

The main tourist operators of the Po Delta area will participate in the Eco Design Week with an offer of 12 sustainable naturalistic experiences, from boat sailing to canoeing, from bird watching to floating concerts, from traditional fishing to bicycle excursions.

Several initiatives are dedicated to children, with projects and labs such as “The shapes of nature” (“Le forme della natura”) and “Today I’m the farmer” (“Oggi coltivo io”).

Eco Design Week was born from an idea of the agency Vassalli Associati, which was joined by a Promoting Committee composed by cultural and environmental associations of the territory such as WWF Rovigo, Legambiente Adria – Delta del Po, Terra e Libertà, Network Casa Clima, Padova Rovigo Venezia, Le Dune, Città Invisibili, ASD Circolo Vela Velare Catamarano Playtime, REM and its website remweb.it.

The chief of the Promoting Committee is the association In Villa Angeli.

To see the complete program of the Eco Design Week, click here.