Press release

Final press release 2004

Strong attendance by public decision makers and professionals for the seventh edition of EUROPOLIS - Exhibitions of Technologies for a Liveable City

From 4 to 7 February 2004 the Bologna Trade Fair Centre hosted EUROPOLIS 2004. With 521 exhibitors, a product display area of over 55,000 square metres and 43,055 visitors, EUROPOLIS 2004, this year in its seventh edition, once again confirmed its status as the main trade show for architects and planners, public officials and building contractors concerned about urban quality and territorial development.

The seven theme shows of EUROPOLIS, dedicated to Sports and Recreational Facilities, Swimming Pools and Fitness, Public Parks and Gardens and Urban Forestation, Environment, Urban Furnishings, Traffic, Mobility and Infrastructures, Public Utilities and Territorial Marketing , offered a comprehensive sampling of innovative technologies designed to make cities healthier, more accessible, less choked by traffic and pollution, more sports oriented and more competitive on an international level. An extremely rich programme of conferences and workshops –over 60 in the 2004 edition - organised by various bodies, institutions, associations, businesses and private groups which have identified EUROPOLIS as the ideal stage for presenting their own contributions in the field of innovative technologies and products dedicated to metropolitan areas.

Developing systems of e-government to streamline bureaucratic procedures and provide critical services within a reasonable time: this is the ambitious goal of the projects promoted by the region of Emilia Romagna and presented at EUROPOLIS during a conference entitled «The Information Society and Regions of Europe», whose participants also included the Italian Minister for Innovation and Technologies, Lucio Stanca. The efforts of local police will be enhanced by the Rilfedeur project, aimed at creating an information system for tracking phenomena of uncivilised behaviour and urban degradation through three different channels (reports by «neighbourhood patrol» officers with palmtop computers; phone calls from citizens; citizens’ complaints submitted via e-mail or web forms). Panta Rei instead promotes digital communication within and between institutions while Agriservizi aims to set up a single geo-referenced farmers’ database and Evai offers IT solutions to citizens on the move and who can find out about traffic conditions along a given route, access a Web information service to keep updated on the situation in city transport or purchase a bus ticket via sms. Sigmater aims to set up integrated land registry and geographical services for administrative monitoring of the local territory, and, finally, Iaew pursues the objective of integrating the websites of health care facilities to enable on-line monitoring of waiting times for medical and health care services.

Within the framework of the Traffic and Mobility Exhibition , the third Transport and Territory Forum enjoyed special attention and success. This initiative, promoted by the Presidents of the local public transport syndicates of Bologna, Milan, Florence and Rome, saw the participation of such prominent figures as Federico Bona Galvagno (Department for Community Policies, Presidency of the Council of Ministers), Riccardo Conti (Councillor for Roads and Transportation, Region of Tuscany), Alfredo Peri (Councillor for Transport and Mobility, Region of Emilia - Romagna), Philippe Segretain (Transdev Group Chairman), Saverio Gaboardi (Anfia Chairman), Giulio Gargano (Councillor for Transportation and Public Works, Region of Lazio) and Francesco Fortunato (General Manager of ANAV), who addressed the hottest, most topical issues in the mobility sector, such as funding, the institutional and regulatory structure of local public transport and the most innovative tools for enhancing its competitiveness.

The offerings of this year’s Urban Furnishings Exhibition were lent even further relevance by a high-level program of conferences. The Evolution of Design for Play, from static objects to interactive environments (organised by TLF, Wednesday, 4 February) and The New European Directive 2001/95/CE: new commitments and obligations of Local Authorities in setting up playgrounds (organised by Consorzio Giochi per Parchi - Playground Equipment Manufacturers' Consortium - Friday, 6 February) discussed changes inherent to design and current regulations regarding playgrounds. The conference entitled Stainless cities: stainless steel, urban furnishings and communication presented the experiences of the Municipalities of Genoa, Monza and Aviano, representative examples of urban development performed with elegance, attention to the environment, and respect for urban planning. Promoting the use of aluminium not only in usual applications (such as frames and external building shells), but as an essential structural element even in complex constructions, was the aim of Constructal - Designing and Building with Aluminium, a conference promoted by Alupromotion and organised by Edimet with the support of Assomet-CentroAl, Uncsaal and Zenital (5 February 2004).

The presence of leading companies ensured the resounding success of the Sports and Recreational Facilities, Swimming Pool and Fitness Exhibition, the trade fair event most eagerly awaited by public officials, facility managers, designers and architects on the lookout for innovative solutions for the renewal and technological upgrading of sports facilities. A technical and professional update was assured by an interesting conference program, whose highlights included the initiatives organised by Assopiscine on the topic: »Public swimming pools: what management rules should apply? Agreements between State and Regions, regional regulations, UNI standards», an important conference on «Designing a swimming facility: types, standards, functions», organised by the Facilities Division of the Italian Swimming Federation and a meeting promoted by ANIF – EUROWELLNESS on the topic: «The future of Fitness: growing through sport».

Innovative technological solutions for a greener, more ecological city were presented and broadly debated in the Bverde Exhibition, thanks also to a packed programme of technical and scientific meetings which this year focused above all on the subjects of multifunctionality in agriculture and proper management of water resources. Visitors who browsed among the stands, test areas and conference rooms could get a comprehensive overview of the latest offerings in the field of lawn, hedge, plant and tree planting, growing and maintenance. Local authorities and public park managers flocked the Bverde exhibition to seek out new ideas for using plants and lawns both to create gardens and parks and delimit streets and public areas.

Visitors to the Environment Show could instead find broad-ranging solutions for combating pollution: there were many new proposals for waste disposal, energy savings, controlling the quality of air, protecting groundwater sources and reducing harmful emissions in cities. A spotlight was also focused on technologies for the development of fuel cells, through the seminars on »The hydrogen industry in Italy and Europe: hydrogen production, storage, distribution and safety « and the numerous prototypes on display.

The offerings of the Territorial Marketing Exhibition were further enriched by seminars organised by Milan Polytechnic BEST - Department of Science and Technology of Built Environments, which addressed such topics as planning and development of Shopping Centres, management of new forms of leisure (from multiscreen cinemas to fitness centres), evolution and prospects in the sector of buildings for manufacturing districts (From sheds to Industrial Parks), territorial marketing as a tool for promoting urban quality and correlated services as a new frontier for the development of facility management.

The vast range of new products presented at EUROPOLIS, the setting up of areas conducive to an exchange between manufacturers and buyers and the high professional qualifications of visitors reflect a renewed awareness about the issues tied to territorial rehabilitation and development: at EUROPOLIS 2004, cities witnessed the technologies for confronting the challenges of the new millennium.

For information contact:

EUROPOLIS Secretariat:
O.N. ORGANIZZAZIONE NIKE s.r.l
Viale della Mercanzia 127-Bl. 2B Gall.B- 40050 FUNO CENTERGROSS-BO
Tel. 0039 51 66 46 624 - Fax 0039 51 66 46 424
http://www.on-nike.it/EUROPOLIS
Press Office Tel. 0039 51 66 47 482 Fax 0039 51 86 10 93