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P. Caputo et al.
energy, and transportation. On a worldwide level, food production is responsible for
about 30% of end-use energy, 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, and 22% of
greenhouse gas emissions. Given the expected increase in the global food demand,
in step with population growth, and the ongoing dietary changes due to cultural and
technological attitudes, policies increasingly encourage this sector’s transformation,
promoting innovative agricultural practices with a reduced use of land, water, fertilizers, and energy (FAO 2017).
In this framework, under the UIA umbrella, the project ‘OpenAgri-New Skills for
new Jobs in Peri-urban Agriculture’ (UIA-OpenAgri Web site) was launched in order
to foster the creation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the agri-food sector,
while also promoting urban regeneration of a degraded peri-urban area and social
inclusion of disadvantaged people. In detail, it promotes: an inclusive, coherent, and
reflexive urban-rural food governance system; the development of an infrastructure to
reduce the distance between producers and consumers and to boost circular economy;
new opportunities for local quality food producers; the challenge for experimenting
new forms of entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector and for creating new jobs
and skills. At the core of the UIA-OpenAgri project is the creation of an ‘Open
Innovation Hub on Peri-Urban Agriculture’ as a ‘living lab’ for promoting open
innovation on the different dimensions of the initiative involved (entrepreneurial,
social, and technological). The hub will be located in a peripheral district of south
Milan, an ‘urban fringe,’ i.e., a peri-urban area between the urban built environment
and the nearby rural areas within the surrounding parks (’Parco della Vettabbia’ and
‘Parco Sud’). The project site includes some existing facilities that play a key role.
The ancient farmhouse Cascina Nosedo is expected to be renovated and host new
functions for the coordination and promotion of foreseen activities, the agricultural
area of Vaiano Valle to host agricultural enterprises; moreover, the close wastewater
treatment plant (WWTP) Depuratore Nosedo, managed by Metropolitana Milanese
SpA (MM SpA), and other farmhouses are important symbols of the local territory
(Fig. 1).
The project involves 16 partners among municipal institutions, universities and
research centers, social cooperatives, start-ups, and non-governmental organizations.
1 For its realization, nine work packages (WPs) have been set and the ABC
Department is charged with contributing to WP7, ‘Environmental modeling and
impacts,’ by defining and implementating analytical tools for supporting and monitoring the energy and environmental performances of the implemented project. Such
analyses are divided into three main phases:
– the preliminary outline of the main energy and environmental figures of the project
area (Caputo et al. 2017b), as outlined in Sect. 2;
1 Municipality of Milan, Milan Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Craft and Agriculture, Fondazione
Politecnico di Milano, PTP Science and Technology Park, Milan University—UniMi, Politecnico
di Milano—Polimi, Poliedra, La Strada Social Cooperative, Sunugal, IFOA—Training Institute for
Enterprises Operators, Mare s.r.l. social enterprise, Food partners SRL, Avanzi SRL, Cineca, Future
Food Institute, ImpattoZero SRL.
P. Caputo et al.
energy, and transportation. On a worldwide level, food production is responsible for
about 30% of end-use energy, 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, and 22% of
greenhouse gas emissions. Given the expected increase in the global food demand,
in step with population growth, and the ongoing dietary changes due to cultural and
technological attitudes, policies increasingly encourage this sector’s transformation,
promoting innovative agricultural practices with a reduced use of land, water, fertilizers, and energy (FAO 2017).
In this framework, under the UIA umbrella, the project ‘OpenAgri-New Skills for
new Jobs in Peri-urban Agriculture’ (UIA-OpenAgri Web site) was launched in order
to foster the creation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the agri-food sector,
while also promoting urban regeneration of a degraded peri-urban area and social
inclusion of disadvantaged people. In detail, it promotes: an inclusive, coherent, and
reflexive urban-rural food governance system; the development of an infrastructure to
reduce the distance between producers and consumers and to boost circular economy;
new opportunities for local quality food producers; the challenge for experimenting
new forms of entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector and for creating new jobs
and skills. At the core of the UIA-OpenAgri project is the creation of an ‘Open
Innovation Hub on Peri-Urban Agriculture’ as a ‘living lab’ for promoting open
innovation on the different dimensions of the initiative involved (entrepreneurial,
social, and technological). The hub will be located in a peripheral district of south
Milan, an ‘urban fringe,’ i.e., a peri-urban area between the urban built environment
and the nearby rural areas within the surrounding parks (’Parco della Vettabbia’ and
‘Parco Sud’). The project site includes some existing facilities that play a key role.
The ancient farmhouse Cascina Nosedo is expected to be renovated and host new
functions for the coordination and promotion of foreseen activities, the agricultural
area of Vaiano Valle to host agricultural enterprises; moreover, the close wastewater
treatment plant (WWTP) Depuratore Nosedo, managed by Metropolitana Milanese
SpA (MM SpA), and other farmhouses are important symbols of the local territory
(Fig. 1).
The project involves 16 partners among municipal institutions, universities and
research centers, social cooperatives, start-ups, and non-governmental organizations.
1 For its realization, nine work packages (WPs) have been set and the ABC
Department is charged with contributing to WP7, ‘Environmental modeling and
impacts,’ by defining and implementating analytical tools for supporting and monitoring the energy and environmental performances of the implemented project. Such
analyses are divided into three main phases:
– the preliminary outline of the main energy and environmental figures of the project
area (Caputo et al. 2017b), as outlined in Sect. 2;
1 Municipality of Milan, Milan Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Craft and Agriculture, Fondazione
Politecnico di Milano, PTP Science and Technology Park, Milan University—UniMi, Politecnico
di Milano—Polimi, Poliedra, La Strada Social Cooperative, Sunugal, IFOA—Training Institute for
Enterprises Operators, Mare s.r.l. social enterprise, Food partners SRL, Avanzi SRL, Cineca, Future
Food Institute, ImpattoZero SRL.