BETHLEHEM SMART CITY

“Environmental Monitoring System and Technological Renewal in the city of Bethlehem”:

The institutional mission is underway with all the project partners

A delegation representing the 18 partner organizations of the “Bethlehem SMART City – Environmental Monitoring and Technological Renewal System in the city of Bethlehem” project left for the institutional mission which will take place in Bethlehem from 3 to 6 December and which will see the project participants meet the Mayor of Bethlehem Hanna Hanania, the Consul General of Italy in Jerusalem and which will end with the presentation and discussion conference on the “Smart City towards Smart Heritage” project on 5 December.

The Bethlehem SMART City project will help promote sustainable and resilient urban and territorial development in the Bethlehem area (Palestine). 36 months of work for the 17 partners plus the Province of Pavia, which is the project leader, with the aim of reducing the city’s electricity and energy consumption and increasing the energy efficiency of public utility services in full awareness of environmental values and the cultural and social identities of the territory. The project will therefore aim to promote the development of SMART buildings and neighborhoods in the Municipality of Bethlehem, which are sustainable and innovative from an urban and environmental point of view, creating technological infrastructures that will also favor tourism, capable of representing a valid model for the other municipalities of Palestine. Among the proposed actions is the integration of charging systems for electric mobility (mini cars, bicycles) with the production systems from renewable sources present in the building, actions of cultural exchange and human contact between Bethlehem and the Italian communities, for experiences of education and social development of citizenship and the restoration of the premises of a building intended to house the physical museum of the city. The total cost of the project is 1 million and 750 thousand euros, of which 1 million and 400 thousand euros financed by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).

The partners involved in the project are: Province of Pavia (lead institution), Municipality of Bethlehem, University of Pavia, Metropolitan City of Turin, Municipality of Pavia, Municipality of Parma, Municipality of Padula, ANCI Lombardia, Cilento National Park – Vallo di Diano – Alburni, Joint Services Council for Tourism Development in Bethlehem Governorate JSCTD, VIS – International Volunteering for Development NGO, SISTERR – Territorial System of Pavese for International Cooperation, Municipality of Bruino (as leader of the Co.Co.Pa . – Coordination of Municipalities for Peace (Turin)), Turin Polytechnic – “Galileo Ferraris” Energy Department, Bethlehem University, LINKS Foundation, Ai Engineering S.r.l., Piacenti S.p.A.