OSSERVANZA INNOVATION PARK – IMOLA

The complex also includes, in addition to the historic part, a free area of approximately 2.5 hectares placed in the northeast zone, currently available with a significant potential for new construction. This area provides the opportunity to build residential buildings for different users (young people, workers, seniors, etc.) and related accessory spaces. Also some complementary service functions are allowed (studios, neighborhood businesses, artisan workshops), as well as some tertiary and commercial functions. The size of the area, the intriguing evocative character of the site, its privileged location and a comprehensive legal framework that promotes the reuse of all the buildings on the site, allowing a plurality of functions with high social value, as well as some possibilities for expansions and new construction, are the basis of an urban regeneration process that still offers opportunities for development and implementation. The "Osservanza" Compex is a big area in the city of Imola which represents a unique resource for the urban regeneration process of the city itself and of the surrounding areas, according to its size, strategic location relating to the historic center, and also because of the historical, testimonial, and environmental value of the site. It’s a former psychiatric hospital among the most important in Italy, built in the late of the nineteenth century, with an historic core extending over 9.5 hectares and including 32 buildings, the historic pavilions characterized by a C-shape and other structures of different typology and size, all immersed in a large green park with a system of courtyards, tree-lined avenues, and equipped areas. Starting from 2004 the entire perimeter of the complex is under the tutelage of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, owing to the perfectly preserved historical layout. After the dismission of the clinic, the area was opened to the citizens in 2016 as a public park, equipped with the main infrastructures, and some of the existing buildings were renovated (an auditorium and a restaurant); currently, the so-called "Osservanza Innovation Park" is underway, one of the most significant urban regeneration projects for the city, financed by PNRR funds as part of Mission 5, Component 2, Investment 2.2 – Integrated Urban Plans. The plan for the "Osservanza Innovation Park" consists in the restoration of four existing buildings within the complex, intended to host a variety of highly public-interest functions, including the International Music Academy, the offices of the “Nuovo Circondario Imolese” and an Innovation Hub for start-ups and business, as well as an info-point for metropolitan cycle tourism. These building interventions are accompanied by a fifth line of investments related to intangible services, aimed to promote the activities connected to the ongoing regeneration projects and to support the actual development of the Innovation Park. In addition to the PNRR funded works headed by CON.AMI, further stakeholders are developing interesting projects on the area, such as the construction of a university campus led by the University of Bologna, which will include student accommodations, classrooms, and educational services. These transformations are made possible by the site's high potential, closed to the services offered by the historic center and to the University of Bologna departments already located in Imola, and well-equipped with parking and public transport services.