The Food Policy Hub project of the city of Andria, supported by the ERDF and ESF multi-fund through a tender from the Puglia Region, was presented on Thursday 22 December. Location of the meeting the San Francesco cloister which also becomes the place assigned to the transformation of the rooms on the ground floor as regards the ERDF part: «The architectural project – comments the architect. Nunzia Moschetta – provides for an intervention in the rooms and a re-functionalization of these spaces. The idea is to create a flexible and remodelable place according to the uses: we have the birth of an exhibition area; a re-adaptation of the conference room into a multifunctional space; an adaptation of the office spaces into a room that will become the work space and a reception area. The works will allow the overcoming of architectural barriers and the whole intervention will tend to bring to light the architectural structure of the cloister. The “fil rouge” will become the iconic element of the architectural project: it is a metal device that will recur throughout the rooms and will create an organic space».

The city of Andria wants to create a system around the great challenges it faces today: the question of food is linked to the broad issue of climate change and to all the environmental policies in place in the area. The Food Policy Hub operates as a lever to build new responses to old and emerging social problems and needs. Andria, with its enormous territorial extension, the weight at national level for the agricultural production of excellence (oil, cheese, wine) and the high number of inhabitants (including 15,000 citizens of school age), represents an important context for experimenting coordinated management of food policies.

«The Management team of the Foof Policy Hub Andria project (Food Policy Manager; Business Development Manager and Territorial Animator) will take care of all the actions concerning the project (FSE part). The Social Innovation Hub – comments Dr. Nicola Fattibene, Food Policy Manager – aims to redefine the urban food policies of the city of Andria and to become the operational center for promoting: new styles of food consumption; training for citizens and the community; enhancement of peri-urban agriculture; urban horticulture education; fight against food waste; promotion of the short supply chain in school canteens and activation of new social enterprises».

The actions the management team is already working on are summarized in 5 thematic Focus Groups (peri-urban agriculture, public collective catering/canteens, fight against waste, healthy eating, responsible tourism); Training days, to be co-planned with stakeholders; support for the creation of new social enterprises (start-ups in the agrifood and social sectors); co-planning of urban gardens; experimentation of the Farmer's Market; experiments to combat food waste; Food Council of the City of Andria and Food Policy Guidelines.

«A wonderful opportunity for our city, which the Region has given us through two intervention measures that provide for the re-functionalization of underused spaces and, at the same time, a cultural and social work that connects the place with the citizens by creating solid alliances » – comments the councilor for Beauty, Daniela di Bari.

«An ambitious challenge, among other things, far from the logic of many municipal administrations and which instead sees us in line with a few other large countries in our Italy - comments the Mayor Giovanna Bruno - A challenge that we have accepted, almost in terms of deadline , immediately after we took office. We have worked to achieve the objective that has absolutely hit the mark: there is funding and it is an objective that is fully part of the administration's program which aims to redevelop public places thinking of them not for what are the needs of the present but imagining the city of the future".

In the coming weeks, further information will be disclosed relating to the selection call for 10 subjects operating in the agri-food and/or social sector with whom to share a path of growth, training and a phase of support for contamination (design thinking approach), for the development of supported innovative solutions.

Source: AndriaLive.it