Sustainability Expo
Young people from Alba gathered at the first 'Sustainability Expo' on Saturday, April 22nd to discuss how to deal with the present and the future of the Earth. The event, organized by Wild Life Protection ETS, featured meetings and round tables with notable speakers on ecology and entrepreneurship. Several institutional representatives, including the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, the President of the Piedmont Region and other local stakeholders, attended the event.
The Expo served as the culmination of a broader effort that sought to include the opinions of the younger generations living in the area. On April 12th, students from APRO Formazione and other high schools in Alba and Neive took part in a day-long discussion on sustainability in the city of Alba. Greta and Venhar, students from APRO, recounted how the young boys and girls from their schools discussed sustainability-related issues such as waste management, city energy, transportation, and water management. Through the comparison of their observations and opinions, they identified several key challenges: the inadequate public transportation system that fails to effectively connect the city with its neighboring towns, resulting in increased private vehicle traffic; the limited use of electric public transport; the scarcity of green areas and the insufficient maintenance of existing parks that could be further enhanced; the need for motion sensors to be installed in less frequented areas of the city for public lighting.
The improvement proposals put forth by APRO students, along with those gathered from other schools, were shared with the Municipality of Alba during a joint meeting held in the central square of the city. These proposals advocate for the creation of interchanges and car parks in the city's peripheral areas, which would be served by electric buses operating at higher frequencies than at present, aiming to reduce traffic in the central area. Furthermore, the suggestions include redesigning extra-urban transportation routes and increasing the number of trees and green urban spaces. Enhancing the city from a sustainable perspective poses a significant challenge, but the initial steps in this direction have already been taken in Alba, with the added significance of incorporating the opinions of the younger generation for the first time.
