Lucia

Vecchi

Lucia

Validated Lead Expert

Generic Skills

B.1. Understanding of integrated and sustainable urban development:

I have more than 20 years experience in the field of sustainable urban development, and my research starts at the University of Florence, Faculty of Architecture in 1995: urban planning, ecology, geography and sociology studies led me to investigate a flood area of the river Arno for my thesis, a research/action on “the uncultivated landscape”, working with the inhabitants on the imagery of the non-planned landscape of the area. Since then, my research always pointed at working the dialogue between man and nature, and the perception of the public realm, through a strong visual communication methodology. I attended the Master in Landscape Architecture at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, working on green-blue infrastructures, public space and sustainable tourism. I worked from 2007 to 2014 as a project manager in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area-BMA, developing projects of social and environmental recovery of rivers and periurban areas. I was in charge of project development and contents for EU funded projects like Interreg-Medocc and ENPI. In 2017 I started an association in Barcelona, GÒ/acciò cultural, that organizes performative actions where artists, inhabitants and visitors can experience and activate a shared public space. Since 2014 I’m working as a freelance in landscape design projects in gmlv arquitectura del paisaje Please see more info and links to projects in my attached CV.

B.2. Understanding of exchange and learning processes at transnational level:

Working almost 8 years as a project manager in Barcelona Metropolitan Area I was in charge of project development and creation of contents for several EU funded projects, such as Interreg-Medocc, ENPI and LIFE+. I actively participated to several transnational meetings, in France, Italy and Spain, wrote reports and recollection of good practices, public presentations and speeches in the frame of EU funded projects. I was in charge of the development of the thematic contents and the follow-up of EU funded pilot projects: the design and implementation of a signaling system for the river Llobregat, in a specific pilot stretch (Interreg-Medocc FREEMED project), and the first phase of the design of public orchards in a periurban area of Barcelona (ENPI SIDIGMED project). I was also responsible for the technical selection in a design competition for the signaling project of the river Llobregat (Interreg-Medocc FREEMED project).

B.3. Proficiency in English:

I’m fluent in English, oral and written. I am able to speak, understand and write at a proficient level. I studied English and German as a foreign language at school, in Italy, since I was eleven. However, the best way for me to learn English has been from the practical experience: through listening to music, watching English movies in original version, and finally on the street, talking to people. During my Erasmus scholarship in Berlin, I was constantly in contact with the English language (as well as German). Since then, I usually live in an international context, both personally and professionally, with English-speaking clients, participating in EU projects meetings, writing emails, reports, projects, etc. I gave classes in English at the Elisava Design School, to non-English speakers (Spanish and Chinese interchange students). As a partner of several EU funded projects I have been in charge of several public presentations in English, during the transnational meetings. I also speak a fluent Spanish and Catalan.

Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:

Summary Expertise for the design and delivery of transnational exchange and learning activities:

I’m experienced in the overall design and implementation of EU funded projects, such as Interreg-Medocc, ENPI, applications for LIFE+ projects, and also working as project manager in FEDER funded projects. Because of my technical professional profile, as a landscape architect and planner, I was in charge of the design and implementation of pilot projects, as a project manager of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. I was also participating in the production of the conceptual frame and technical contents of the aforesaid EU funded projects. I was in charge of project teams, and I can lead in a nice way. I’m a creative and positive person, with a conceptual way of thinking, and I feel comfortable and challenging working in an international environment, adapting methodologies and shared tools to the specific situation, and always aiming to the sum of the parts, to obtain the most proficient and comfortable result for all partners. I’m fond of graphic communication, so I’m especially attentive to the presentations and reports that I make, both for graphic quality and for clarity in the development of the ideas and concept delivery. Keywords, visual thinking, storytelling, practical examples are quite important to maintain the attention of the audience and to transmit the key concepts in a straight and emotional way. I also make videos and video editing and I’m good at communicating through social media (Instagram, Facebook).

Thematic expertise:

Theme / Policy:

Urban Strategic Planning

Summary Thematic expertise:

The urban-rural environment has been my fieldwork and research throughout most of my professional life. I had the chance to work in the design and planning of the metropolitan rivers of the city of Barcelona for more than 7 years, getting to know more and more deeply the issues and specificities of a territory. Periurban rivers are complex systems, for one side they are constrained by the city development, and they need to be released, on the other side they have a chance to be connected to the city and become a powerful green resource for the urban system. landscape planning · strategic planning · landscape design in rural-periurban areas · environmental recovery · blue infrastructures · green infrastructures · periurban agriculture

Theme / Policy:

Environmental Issues

Summary Thematic expertise:

The urban-rural environment has been my fieldwork and research throughout most of my professional life. I had the chance to work in the design and planning of the metropolitan rivers of the city of Barcelona for more than 7 years, getting to know more and more deeply the issues and specificities of a territory. Especially in the periurban environment and rivers, water management issues have to deal with urban necessities, that often affect the natural environment. I worked in several projects of environmental compensation related to water basins, wastewater management, recharge basins. environmental recovery · blue infrastructures · green infrastructures · recharge basins · phytodepuration · wastewater management · periurban agriculture · landscape planning · strategic river plan · landscape design in rural-periurban areas · forestry protection planning · green public spaces

Theme / Policy:

Integrated Urban Renewal

Expertise support to local authorities and other stakeholders in designing & delivering integrated and participatory policies

E.1. Knowledge on participatory methods and tools for co-production and implementation of local polices :

RIZOMA x Hostafrancs (2017) In this project of co-creation with the local entities of Hostafrancs neighborhood in Barcelona, I was responsible for the graphic communication and the video documentation of the actions in the public space. The team for the implementation of the project was formed by a social designer, a sociologist, and me as a graphic communicator and landscape designer. We built a methodology to involve the local entities to actively participate in the project, to propose community actions in the public space with our first boost, to be continued and developed by them in the future. The project was commissioned by the Santos-Montjuïc District of the municipality of Barcelona. This is the link to the video of the 1st phase: https://vimeo.com/232849907 And this is the graphic concept in one of the presentations of the project: https://issuu.com/anitagarcia9/docs/rizoma_x_hostafrancs_prese_6.04.17

E.2. Knowledge on integrated approach for the design, delivering, monitoring and evaluation of urban strategies/policies:

BAIXERAS SCHOOL PLAYGROUND + PLAZA (2013-2018) : participatory process, reclaim of public space, integration of municipal services, follow-up commission. The association of families of Baixeras primary school (AFA) in Barcelona, together with the teachers, began to reclaim a patio/playground for the children. The school had only a rooftop to use as a playground, but it was too little to let all the children go out at once. When some buildings on the side of the school were knocked down, that empty plot became an opportunity to reclaim a new public space for the community, and the chance to use it as a playground during school time. We, a group of parents, were organizing a lot of events around the gated plot, in order to reclaim the space (parties, activities with kids, wall painting) until we could achieve that the Ciutat Vella district would organize a participatory process to design a new space for the plot, designed as a mixed use between a playground for the school and a public space for the community. We made the follow-up of the project, as a following commission together with the school and the technicians of the Ciutat Vella District, and finally last November it was opened. I was in charge of graphic communication and the technical follow up of the architectural project. See the GoogleDrive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ca7xpQv4sBdfZNhGGmXlv22qhpigvvnC?usp=sharing

E.3. Awareness of the main policy and funding schemes for sustainable urban development at EU and national level:

Working more then 7 years in a public office (BMA) (2007-2014) I was capable to take a picture of how public works and strategies can be successful or not, in terms of governance. I was involved in project managed by the local municipalities but finances with EU cohesion funds and FEDER. I consider that an added value and a higher possibility of success of the project lies in an active bottom-up participation, for the project to be cared, well maintained and recognised as a life amelioration for everybody. Speaking about interventions in the frame of the EU Cohesion policies, I would highlight here the one I best know in the environmental workfield: the development of Green Infrastructures, as networks of natural and semi-natural areas, to improve the connection between ecosystems, air quality, space for birds and other animals, and for human recreation, together with NATURA 2000 networks. In the last 6 years I’m also working on-site in the field of urban regeneration and activism for a shared public space. One significant example: The RIZOMA project (2016-2018) (also developed in point E.1), funded by the municipality of Barcelona where I was designing and facilitating a co-creation methodology, in order to empower the entities of each neighborhood, so that they could propose shared activities in the public space.

E.4. Ability to understand specific local situations and adapt tools and content to different local realities:

I would make some examples of projects that I was facilitating, to adapt global tools to local cultures and environments: 1. INSIDEOUT project is a tool that is promoted by a Canadian photographer, J.R., using big b/w photos to reclaim a social necessity for a local community. We as parents of Baixeras school were using this global tool to highlight our local fight for a new patio. We made more that 100 portraits of the community and paste them on a wall next to the school. 2. With GÒ/ acció cultural I’m working with the community and developing cultural actions in public space. We organize actions in the streets of the Gothic quarter in Barcelona (2016-2019), working with the points of friction between the visitors from other countries (tourists) and local inhabitants. 3. The SPEAKERS’ CORNER (2018) is one of the actions that we as GÒ were creating and producing, a temporary space in the Ramblas of Barcelona, that is normally full of tourists. In this project I was developing the idea and the graphic concept and organizing the event in the frame of a bigger project on the Ramblas, led by KM0 – rrrrr. 4. I would also use the RIZOMA project (2016-2018) as a reference for adapting tools of social design to a specific neighborhood of Barcelona. In this case we were a team of 3 facilitating and delivering a methodology for the local entities. Please see all these projects here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12oGRc6SUEltUVW1cLzm-SXYTmNgqZm5A?usp=sharing