What is VUC
VUC starts from the idea that good projects are based on real local needs and opportunities, but above all on the involvement of local actors, each bringing value to a common cause.
An innovative approach to urban and territorial change
An open cultural and editorial platform
VUC collects and tells about projects and testimonies of concrete cases in which private, community and third sector actors have worked together and to improve places and
community and how they did it.
An innovative approach to urban and territorial change
VUC assists private, public, third sector and community subjects to realize their ideas, transforming them into projects, actions and impact.
An open cultural and editorial platform
To foster culture and action, VUC develops specific formats for meeting events between actors, so that they know each other and join forces to produce change.
The name Shared Urban Value
The name VUC derives from the economic theory of shared value, which at first may seem distant from local development issues. The concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV) was introduced by Michael E. Porter and M. Kramer in the Harward Business Review in 2006. Shared Value is defined as the set of policies and operational practices that increase the competitiveness of
a company and which at the same time improve the economic and social conditions within the communities in which it operates. As for a company it applies to: reconceiving products and markets, redefining productivity in the value chain, improving the development of local communities. A new idea of local social responsibility goes beyond restitution a posteriori but involves a permanent and generative commitment to improve the life of one's community and one's territory. Applied to places, creating shared urban value means mobilizing the commitment and resources of all for development and collective well-being. At different times we are not workers, parents, activists, volunteers - we are not watertight compartments - but we are always and above all citizens in the round and inhabitants of a territory, whose values we share and build together every day.
What are the urban challenges and territories to which VUC applies?
Metropolis, large cities and successful averages:
Urban contexts characterized by dynamism and economic development, social diversity, physical density, presence of strategic functions, places of culture, hospitality and attractiveness for investments, talents, creatives and tourists.
But they can suffer from problems related to:
- high costs of housing, gentrification
- internal social inequalities, new poverties
- urban conflicts and reduced security
- air and noise pollution, traffic
- lack or limited access to greenery
- stress, reduced physical and mental health
Cities and districts in difficulty:
Typically medium, small sized cities or parts of cities that may
affordable residences, community aggregation and capacity
of hidden innovation,
but they can suffer from:
- fewer social and work opportunities, fatigue of economic activities
- mono-functional neighborhoods, dependent on commuting
- impoverishment and desertification
commercial
- large anonymous commercial and industrial areas
- lack of urban maintenance and public space
- reduced supply of quality urban, cultural and school services
- abandoned and degraded buildings, areas and infrastructures
Rural and mountain areas:
Territories of great environmental quality, the backbone of a nation's territorial system but which can
suffer from:
- economic decline
- aging of the population and abandonment
- social exclusion and challenges of new integration
- less offer and accessibility to services
social and cultural
- abandonment of the environment, agriculture and forests, abandoned production areas
