Meet me halfway. Genoese infrastructure agenda: between construction and renovation

The post-pandemic socio-economic crisis that has devastated the European Union has required massive investment and strategic and careful planning to address the issues that have always been dormant and have emerged with great prominence. Access to Recovery Fund requires investment in green policies and technological innovation in pursuit of the sustainable development goals promoted by the 2030 Agenda. This paper focuses on the investment aspects of the infrastructure system, asking how far this revolution can be tackled. However, new realisations seem incompatible with the request to reduce the environmental footprint on the territory crossed by the same infrastructures. In fact, it emerges how the current linear economic system needs to be revised in a circular perspective capable of better moderating the consumption of resources and reducing the pressure of the environmental footprint. Genoa has been the centre of the treatment. The collapse of the Morandi bridge has highlighted how Italy’s current infrastructure stock is no longer adequate to meet current transport needs. And it has set the stage for a change in the management model of the infrastructure construction process: commissioning. From the multiyear construction of the Terzo Valico, to the new Breakwater and the sub-port tunnel, to the construction of the Skymetro and the work on the local public transport routes, or the rehabilitation of Sopraelevata and the railway parks, Genoa presents an unusual concentration of activity. In a contracted territory like Genoa, it is essential to avoid considering infrastructure investments as isolated entities. Instead, an integrated approach should be adopted that maximises the overall benefits, including socioeconomic and protection benefits, by exploiting the synergies between the different works. This paper focuses on proper investment planning to understand when a circular approach is to be applied to construction methods and when to the infrastructure to be reconceived.