THE PROJECT

OVERVIEW

Merezzate+: A living lab for the integration of clean energy, sustainable mobility and circular economy

The challenge of Merezzate+ project, co-financed by EIT Climate-KIC, is to increase the uptake of innovative solutions by integrating them in an urban development model aimed at the promotion of social inclusion, renewable energies and energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and circular economy activities. The project intends to demonstrate this innovative approach in a new affordable housing district in the south-east of the city of Milan called REDO Milano, currently under construction, with 800 apartments 615 of which dedicated to social housing.

The activities are driven by a strong engagement of the REDO Milano district new residents, of the main local public actors and of demand side stakeholders (i.e. housing associations, utilities providers), in order to co-design the actions to better reflect the user needs and therefore to increase their efficacy, to create a community and to foster grassroots initiatives.

The results of Merezzate+ will be used to draw guidelines on the potential transferability and replicability of the model to other areas of Milano as well as other Italian and European cities.

Within the project, an integrated set of measures will be co-designed, implemented and monitored on the following three pillars:

Clean energy and energy efficiency

• Design, testing and implementation of a new generation 4GDH – low temperature district heating network

• Testing and application of latest technological tools for the improvement of comfort, the reduction of energy consumption and allowing the tenants to control the thermal energy and electricity use in their homes

• Design and implementation of a thermally powered high-efficiency air conditioning system

Sustainable mobility

• Design and analysis of people’s travel behaviour and optimization proposals for e-mobility and shared mobility

• Feasibility study and proposal of a District Walking Bus for children

Circular economy

• Green purchasing groups and shared vegetable gardens

• Workshops on repairing and reusing products and objects

• Information and training on good practices related to waste management and recycling

PILLARS AND THEMES

Clean energy and energy efficiency

The testing of a new low temperature district heating model at REDO Milano, has a unique feature: it is the first plant of this type in Italy that is also used for summer cooling and it is an ideal solution for efficient clean energy production in our urban areas. In this case, lowering the heat distribution temperature greatly increases the potentials for the integration of renewable energies and waste heat recovery (from industrial processes and/or waste disposal) and, at the same, time it decreases the energy losses in the distribution network.

The air conditioning and ventilation of selected environments will be realized through “Freescoo”, an innovative system mainly fed by the district heating network. The system will benefit from minimum power consumption compared to traditional air conditioning systems therefore gaining substantial savings on energy costs.

ICT tools for the control of thermal and electrical consumption of individual dwellings will be tested at REDO Milano, allowing the tenants to monitor their behaviours in real time, ensuring autonomy in the management of comfort in indoor spaces and creating the conditions for a sensible energy consumption. Lastly, an advanced logic for the control of the heating system will be tested in order to minimize the energy consumption keeping the same level of comfort.

Sustainable mobility

District-level mobility at REDO Milano, is proposed as sustainable and innovative. A home-school/work planning will be developed based on the analysis of supply and demand as well as by implementing strategies that optimize the efficient transport of people and goods, starting from the social and environmental values shared with the community, and promoting the positive changes in the user’s behaviour. Overall, all these activities foresee the integration of new partnerships and a set of support tools encouraging the change from private transport habits towards a more sustainable mobility.

The main solutions may concern the cycle-pedestrian and shared mobility (such as the condominium car-sharing or the cargo-bike sharing as well as the implementation of the Walking Bus for children) that will be co-designed with the community. Then, efficient connections with the main local public transport hubs by means of service, will be promoted as focal points of sustainable mobility.

Circular economy

Circular economy’s principles will be promoted among the REDO Milano residents, in order to sensitize them about a aiming to adopt a new consumption model, of consumption within the community, where products, spaces, services and objects can be shared and continually renewed throughout their life cycle. The reduction of GHG emissions, energy consumption and waste production will have a positive impact on the environment which will also benefit from it.

Different innovative and circular solutions will be proposed to the community. For instance, participating in purchasing groups for buying furniture and household appliances, for daily shopping or for energy supply, will allow the REDO Milano residents to save money and get used to purchase in a more responsible way. Cultivating a shared vegetable garden will be an opportunity to socialize, reducing the carbon footprint, the environmental impact and increasing biodiversity. Spaces and moments will then be set up to leading the community towards good practices of repairing, re-using and sharing objects. Finally, the residents of REDO Milano will be educated and informed on the correct way to manage waste, from the prevention of waste production to their disposal.

Engagement

Merezzate+ project has been thought as an innovative Living Lab to co-develop, test and implement an inclusive and participative district concept based on circular and low-carbon economy as means towards the achievement of the Paris Agreement objectives.

The philosophy and the background of the Merezzate+ project implies involving public and private stakeholders in a new integrated and multidisciplinary perspective to reach the goals of the projects in relation to the themes of mobility, energy saving and the circular economy. The relationships that have been created up to now, and that will be created within the project among project partners, other actors and stakeholders and the local community in the district and in the area of the city, then, become strategic.

The ideas and suggestions deriving from the involvement, listening and interpretation of needs and proposals expressed by the stakeholders must become well-designed and well-structured actions in such a way their contribution is strongly linked and useful for the project goals achievement.

The stakeholder’s participation and support to the project meetings and workshops will be essential to obtain the biggest results defined in the project and to help REDO Milano’s citizens community both during all the long process and after their settlement.

More in detail, the main engagement actions will be:

The Local Stakeholder Coordination Committee

Ensure coordination and collaboration among the many stakeholders involved in Merezzate+ project implementation is a critical component to the success of the project itself: that is the reason why a permanent panel of stakeholders of the district, the so called “Local Stakeholder Coordination Committee – LSCC” has been established since the beginning of Merezzate+ activities, involving all key stakeholders that have influence or power over Merezzate+ project, that are affected by the project work or have an “interest” in its successful or unsuccessful conclusion.

The LSCC aims to ensure the harmonization and effective integration of the activities conducted in the district by the local actors and the measures implemented by the partners in the framework of the Merezzate+ project and at creating positive relationships with stakeholders through the appropriate management of their expectations and agreed objectives.

Community engagement activities in Merezzate+

The residents and local community’ people engagement activities to be developed in Merezzate+ project have been planned and defined starting from the given opportunity of the Fondazione Housing Sociale “Starting up Community” process for collaborative housing and social innovation, enriching, customizing and strengthening the REDO Milano community process co-design activities and tools in the light of Merezzate+ main environmental and sustainability pillars, circular economy, mobility and energy.

Moreover, as Merezzate+ project will introduce some new services at a wider territorial scale, some of the participative and co-design activities will be opened to the whole area and to adjacent ones (e.g. Santa Giulia district).

Finally, it is important to underline also that a community involvement process always entails elements of unpredictability related to the contribution that people involved will bring in the process itself; Merezzate+ partners and participative process experts will watch over all the ongoing activities, and be ready to intercept the community engagement process occasions suitable for adding the Merezzate+ project sustainability focus and plus.

The engagement activities in Merezzate district will be introduced since the tenants’ selection phase (starting in June 2019) and will go on until September 2021, according with the FHS Final Meeting set up.

Awareness raising and training activities

Merezzate+ project will propose awareness raising and training initiatives and local neighbourhood discussions capable of involving residents’ community in the uptake of the green approach of project: such activities, focused in the fields of energy efficiency, available mobility services, circular economy and waste management will help to promote a correct use of the new co-designed services and to adopt sustainable behaviours.

Merezzate+ project will activate workshops and training sessions on the project pillars themes and on the activities and services provided by the residents themselves, in close connection with the different steps in the start-up community process. The training activities (training modules, events, workshop and laboratories) will take place at the beginning of the community involvement activities (i.e. in support of the Buying Groups to propose green procurement criteria and “how to manage an eco-apartment” suggestions), while some will be delivered after the co-design phase, to disseminate results and present the energy-mobility-circular economy activities that will be implemented to a wider audience.

Community engagement and behavioural change through ICT gamification tools

An important role among the community engagement tools available at REDO Milano district will be played by the community App – Planet App, a socially rich e-environment designed with multiple purpose and functions: together with tools to optimize the organization and management of the community shared spaces and services within the social housing complex and to collect and interpret data to manage and remotely control the home comfort, the App is designed to fulfil a social connection function and provides a preliminary gamification framework to nudge final users towards a more virtuous and sustainable behaviour.

Thanks to Merezzate+ project, the gamification and competition mechanism amongst neighbours will be triggered through the App by:

– Enabling users to compare their environmental performance during time and versus other REDO Milano’s inhabitants, starting from the data collected on consumption of water, energy for space heating and sanitary hot water, and electricity consumption.

– Offering rewards and incentives as a mean of positive reinforcement, to increase fun, social reputation and engagement.

WORK PLAN

The Merezzate+ project includes 5 work packages.
The total cost of the project amounts to 3,352,500 euro.

Below a very brief synthesis of each WP is presented with the list of the foreseen tasks.

WP1 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT (lead-Politecnico di Milano)

The project management activities (WP1) started on June 2018 and will end on December 2021.

The aim of this WP is to provide a proper coordination of all project activities, the smooth functioning of the partnership network and the timely execution of the agreed work plan, along with the appropriate and efficient management of technical reporting and all financial obligations.

• Task 1.1: Project management and coordination

• Task 1.2: Administrative and financial management

• Task 1.3: Quality assurance procedure

WP2 – STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT (lead- Poliedra)

The stakeholder engagement and citizen involvement activities (WP2) started on July 2018 and will end December 2021.

The aim of WP2 is the application of methods to co-design the actions to better reflect the user needs, to enhance sustainability of the community building process, to foster grassroots initiatives, and to train and raise awareness among the residents of the district.

• Task 2.1: Stakeholder coordination committee

• Task 2.2: User Research

• Task 2.3: Co-Design Workshops

• Task 2.4: Local awareness and training

WP3 – DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION (lead- A2A Smart City)

The design and implementation activities (WP3) started on June 2018 and will end December 2021.

The objective of the WP3 is to design and implement the three main pillars of Merezzate+ project: energy, mobility and circular economy. In general, the process will involve the following steps:

• Feasibility study and design of the single measures in an integrated and optimized way

• Set up of the basic infrastructure

• Implementation, tuning of the services and demonstration

An ICT community tool is developed to inform, manage, and monitor the services, and to introduce gamification actions as a “nudge” towards behavioural change.

• Task 3.0: Preliminary design

• Task 3.1: Energy

• Task 3.2: Mobility

• Task 3.3: Circular economy

• Task 3.4: ICT tool

WP4 – MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF THE IMPACTS (lead- Politecnico di Milano)

The activities related to the monitoring and evaluation of the expected project outcomes and impacts (WP 4) started in June 2018 and will end in December 2021.

The overall objective of WP 4 is to monitor and evaluate the impacts of the project actions, taking into account the environmental (e.g. the decrease in GHG emissions), social (e.g. the degree of inclusiveness of the residents) and economic (e.g.: the financial sustainability) criteria. The aim is to provide a comprehensive, updated, project-focused and easily accessible system able to collect and accurately measure the progress of the activities and their impacts, and to share them transparently within the consortium partners, the residents of the Merezzate district and the involved stakeholders.

• Task 4.0: Preliminary assessment

• Task 4.1: Definition of the monitoring and evaluation framework

• Task 4.2: Design, implement and maintain a monitoring programme

• Task 4.3: Economic, social and environmental evaluation

WP5 – REPLICABILITY, TRANSFERABILITY AND COMMUNICATION (lead- Poliedra)

The replicability, transferability and communication activities (WP5) started on August 2018 and will end December 2021.

The WP 5 identifies the barriers, conditions and benefits for in order to replicate the proposed approach in other contexts, and creates a stable and strong institutional network also through communication and dissemination activities.

• Task 5.1: Replicability and transferability guidelines

• Task 5.2: Replicability assessment

• Task 5.3: Communication and dissemination

The project

Merezzate+: A living lab for the integration of clean energy, sustainable mobility and circular economy

Clean energy and energy efficiency

Sustainable mobility

Circular economy

PILLARS AND THEMES

Clean energy and energy efficiency

Sustainable mobility

Circular economy

Engagement

WORK PLAN

WP1 – PROJECT MANAGEMENT (lead-Politecnico di Milano)

WP2 – STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND CITIZEN INVOLVEMENT (lead- Poliedra)

WP3 – DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION (lead- A2A Smart City)

WP4 – MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF THE IMPACTS (lead- Politecnico di Milano)

WP5 – REPLICABILITY, TRANSFERABILITY AND COMMUNICATION (lead- Poliedra)

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