Land use planning

Given the intensity of local land use, it has long been considered necessary to reinforce the programming/management system at a local level in order to take due account of the area’s nature as an industrial cluster.

From the early 1990s onwards, Assopiastrelle took part in the Demetra Project (1991) and the Hermes Project (1996) to propose action for rationalising transport. These laid the foundations for subsequent land development plans.

As the first contingent activity, a proposal was made in 1998 to set up a Programme for Urban Rehabilitation and Sustainable Land Development (PRUSST) in the area of the ceramic cluster. The aim of the initiative was to improve urban and environmental quality in the cluster area through a range of activities including infrastructure measures which would be capable of operating in a context that does not normally fall within the competence of land use bodies (in terms of either type of action or financial resources). Although insufficient to solve the considerable shortcomings of the area’s road, rail and logistics systems, on 13 June 2000 the PRUSST programme was admitted to the financing programmes of the Ministry of Public Works.

At a local level, the Emilia Romagna regional administration has introduced its own specific legislation (L.R. 30/96) to create a negotiation system capable of catering for all planning stages from formulation through to implementation. This law promotes the introduction and implementation of Special Area Programmes in order to improve integration between local authorities, coordination of the initiatives and the integrated use of financial resources. This is a form of negotiated programming carried out between regional administration, local authorities and other public or public participation bodies, with the involvement of social and private partners, for the purpose of establishing the conditions for sustainable local development in accordance with regional and provincial programming tools.

In particular, through the local council resolution no. 699/99 of 18 May 1999, the objectives of the Special Area Programme of the Ceramic Cluster were established as follows:
• rationalisation and improvement of mobility inside and outside the cluster for extensive and efficient connection of people and for freight transport;
• creation of an innovative logistic network to reduce vehicular traffic for transportation of finished products manufactured in the cluster and thus reduce environmental damage; and in particular creation of a network of “Transit Points”, areas serving the ceramic cluster for collection and distribution of incoming and outgoing freight and allowing the formation of complete and homogeneous loads by destination;
• urban and environmental remediation for the purpose of rehabilitating a number of towns in the area through delocalisation of productive activities and improvement in the quality of life for the local population (including remediation of the banks of the rivers Tresinaro, Tiepido and Secchia).