Action-research for the project promoting the ecological transition of the Old Havana City Council, Cuba

Title Next Generation Cuba: good practices for sustainable, resilient and participatory urban development

Location Havana, Cuba

Duration 2025 – 2028 (ongoing)

Leader Comune di Prato,

Partner ANCI Toscana,  ARCI Comitato Regionale Toscano, ARCS, Ordine degli Architetti di Prato, Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de la Habana, Red de Oficinas del Historiador y del Conservador de las Ciudades Patrimoniales de Cuba, Sociedad Civil Patrimonio, Comunidad y Medio Ambiente

Funding Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (AICS)

 

Context 

Since 2016, the Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de la Habana (OHcH) has elaborated a Special Integrated Development Plan (PEDI), which is a planning tool that includes all the fundamental instruments to  guide territorial and urban planning and the overall development of the Havana Historic Centre.

However, the OHcH faces many challenges in fostering sustainability, resilience of the municipal areas and in promoting participatory actions. Addressing these challenges would involve launching a process aimed at strengthening local governance officials and enabling more efficient and effective guidance of the sustainable development of the urban area.

The project “Next Generation Cuba: good practices for sustainable, resilient and participatory urban development” aims to promote a process of transferring skills, capacities and experiences between the City of Prato and the Municipality of Old Havana.

The main activities include pilot actions on sustainable architecture and urban planning, Nature-Based Solutions, urban agriculture, waste management and participatory co-design processes for new urban areas, also promoting the transfer of good practices between Italian and Cuban cities. The target groups include municipal institutions, technical staff, local communities, women and vulnerable groups.

The project, funded by AICS, operates in the OECD-DAC Urban Development and Management and Urban Development sectors and promotes an integrated urban development approach.

 

General Objective

The Circular Innovation and Sustainable Commodities Unit has been involved in the project to apply sustainable solutions to the urban regeneration process of the Old Havana City Council through the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions and urban waste recycling.

Promoting the ecological transition of the Old Havana City Council involves designing and implementing public policies aimed at increasing levels of resilience and sustainability, improving the provision of ecosystem services, reducing the impact of the regeneration process of the historic centre and ensuring citizen participation in the sustainable management of the territory.

 

Our contribution 

The ARCO research group will first support the OHcH in expanding its 2023-2030 Environmental Strategy. To promote the ecological transition of the Old Havana, pilot actions will be implemented together with local partners in areas considered most strategic for urban sustainability. The intervention envisage the application of Nature-Based Solutions for the reforestation of urban spaces or the recovery of biodiversity and the promotion of an urban agriculture programme.

In this context, one pilot project involves the creation of an urban garden for the production of short supply chain horticultural products in the fourth cloister of the Old Convent of Santa Clara (which was formerly used as an orchard by the Poor Clares of the convent).

To facilitate its management, ARCO’s Researchers will organise a specific training course on agroecological management techniques for eco-sustainable vegetable gardens, aimed primarily at women.

At the same time, the research group will work on solid urban waste management in the neighbourhoods of the historic centre of Havana and will incorporate the treatment of wet waste. In this context, the work also aims to launch a pilot project for the separate collection of wet solid waste to support urban agriculture activities using the compost produced.

As part of the exchange of best practices to improve the ability to design and implement public policies aimed at increasing levels of resilience and sustainability, ARCO will present Living Labs, a participatory methodology for social innovation developed as part of Prato Circular City for the ecological transition of the city.

The aim is to promote a mechanism that allows future citizens of New Havana to participate in the decision-making process on urban, social and cultural solutions.

Read more on the Circular Innovation & Sustainable Commodities Unit