Responding to housing disadvantages, offering job opportunities, generating social impact. These are the objectives of Qui Padova, a complex of services and buildings in the southern part of the Veneto city of Padua, spread over a total area of 18,000 square metres.
The project, launched in 2019, was designed to provide the territory with new spaces, creating a dynamic living, working and social context full of opportunities for meeting and cultural exchange. In addition to the offering of rent-controlled apartments, services have been added for the community of residents and other citizens, with areas for coworking, catering services, study rooms, a gym, a management centre, a medical centre, an open-air theatre and an accommodation facility, which offers a hospitality system linked to social tourism.
It is a true multifunctional complex, which offers opportunities for job placement, through the activities of actors from the world of cooperation, which have led to the creation of new jobs for young people, the unemployed and vulnerable categories. The social housing services, which are accessible to young couples with children, students, singles, professionals and separated parents who are struggling to access the free market in real estate, include 92 energy-efficient dwellings, where more than 180 people with a high level of diversity live. The average age is 35 years, with 26 single-family households, about ten elderly people and 24 children and young people in the 0-15 age group. It is a heterogeneous and multi-ethnic community, with tenants from Italy, Romania, Germany, Morocco, Guinea Bissau, Philippines, Syria and Spain.
Qui Padova was created to provide an impetus to sustainable change for the inhabitants, putting in place an ambitious urban regeneration project by creating an open community, which lives proactively within the neighbourhood and the city.The project was promoted by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in collaboration with La Casa onlus, the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo and numerous local partners.
This intervention contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 10 (Reducing inequality within and between nations) and 11 (Making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, durable and sustainable) of the UN 2030 Agenda and reinforces CDP’s historic link with local communities, providing new housing and social opportunities for sustainability and social cohesion.