Green City Network, Mayor Bugetti: “This is how Prato has changed between new ideas and research”

The Textile Museum, the treasures of Lippi, Metastasio and Botticelli, but also a manufacturing hub of 30 thousand workers, 19th century plants to be protected and even a research center to study and analyze material from Mars, samples that will arrive from the Italian Space Agency. We are in Prato , a point of reference for stylists from all over Europe who come here to look for new ideas, a city with many souls. “More or less known” describes it the mayor Ilaria Bugetti, the first woman to hold this position in Prato. “We have been dealing with sustainability here for two hundred years. Just think of the regenerated wool that has made the fortune of the area by reusing waste and leftovers. Up to the collaboration with the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, with which we created the Cardato recycled brand”.

Truly so many souls enclosed in a single city, how do you protect and enhance an environmental heritage like this?

“Working together, which means finding solutions that are good for both the economic district and the citizens. Here we are used to thinking about projects by collaborating between the public and private sectors. As happened when we set up a joint stock company between the Municipality, Confindustria Toscana Nord and the Consiag Group. Thanks to GIDA, an energy-intensive industrial district like the textile one manages not to impact water resources, because it separates civil wastewater from industrial wastewater and recycles it by putting it back into production”.

The impact of CO2 emissions is significant because of the textile district. How are you managing the transition since you have to reach carbon neutrality by 2030?

“Reducing pollution in a lively district like ours is not easy. We work on it every day. We continuously monitor our CO2 storage and absorption capacity. The whole city is involved in this commitment, not just companies, because if we want to achieve the objectives we also need to intervene on mobility and construction. We have made a commitment and we will respect it. We have approved the “City Climate Contract” signed by 51 partners from the most diverse economic, social, environmental and cultural sectors. We must reduce emissions by 83% by 2030, but we could even get to 96.4%. We are working to decarbonise thermal and electrical consumption. By the end of this year, Prato will have its own Energy Community promoted directly by the Municipality, but there will be others in the industrial area. We were ready, but we were waiting for the implementing decrees. We were also disappointed not to have been included in the Bill Decree last April”.

Or?

“The Prato district had asked in view of the conversion into law to be included in the measure decided by the government to combat the high cost of energy. But our industrial companies, usually connected to medium voltage (there was an amendment that provided for it), were deemed not to have the requirements. Too bad, it would have been a breath of fresh air for the entrepreneurs in this sector that is still suffering a moment of crisis”.

Let's talk about mobility: the proximity to Florence with the resulting commuting has always been a problem for Prato. Are there any plans to lighten the burden of traffic?

“We have completely revised the Sustainable Mobility Urban Plan, rethinking a new road system between the train station and other areas of the city. Not only that. With the funds of the Pnrr, about 8 million we are purchasing electric city buses. Little by little we will renew the entire fleet of local public transport. There are projects for cycle paths that mainly concern the station area and the connection with the industrial hub and the Ciclovia del Sole. All this without touching the splendid area of ​​the Agricultural Park, which divides us right from the urban center of Florence”.

With Florence you have an ongoing controversy in the Region for the extension of the airport runway. Why are you against it?

"Because it impacts precisely this green area that they do not want to be touched. We also consider it a useless project. Florence does not have an airport of the size of Bologna or Pisa, but we will lose a rich environmental area. My political position comes from afar, but even the citizens of Prato do not want that place to be transformed into an airport".

What do you dream for your city?

“His redemption. We are a great reality not only in textiles, here we do advanced research we discover new materials. Startups are born. Now we will even study Mars”.

The article is taken from the issue of Green&Blue on newsstands on June 4, attached to Repubblica and dedicated to the Green& Blue Festival (Milan, June 5-7)