Lightning and thunder. The birth of the “One City” inflames the political debate. And divides the center-left. The mayor, Franz Caruso, is ready to challenge the Law (voted on the proposal of his allies of the Democratic Party) while the former parliamentarian and mayor of Rende, Sandro Principe, speaks of an «authoritarian choice».
It is interesting to understand what the position of Rosaria Succurro, president of the Province and of the Calabrese ANCI, is.
President Succurro, how do you fit into the debate on the Single City?
“I am in favor of the Single City and I am pleased that the debate on the subject has been going on for some time and always arouses a lot of interest. It is good that we talk about it, because citizens can develop an informed and mature opinion, also to express themselves in the referendum.”
Do you think there are good starting conditions for the Single City?
«Cosenza, Rende and Castrolibero are already a conurbation, and this is a point that no one doubts anymore. Furthermore, the three Municipalities are complementary at a territorial and cultural level. Rende is characterized by the presence of a large university with its induced economies, its tertiary, commercial and cultural functions. Cosenza stands out for a very representative historic center, thanks to the presence of various places of culture, art and creativity. Castrolibero, in turn, can be considered the residential heart of the Single City. In the context, then, there are important service connections of the desired Single City, both for the outside and for the inside: the A2 motorway axis of the Mediterranean, the 107 Silana-Crotonese state road, the Cosenza-Paola railway line. In short, we are talking about a physically continuous urban agglomeration, characterized by the presence of significant road and railway infrastructures and by a developed system of administrative, social-health and cultural services. It would be a shame not to consider these structural aspects».
So what?
«There are, therefore, the preconditions for the Single City. I would add that since the origins of the conurbation between the three Municipalities, the new residents felt part of a new and unique city, of which they grasped the overall utilities, beyond the territorial borders. What is divided today is how to manage in a satisfactory manner for all the citizens involved this reality, in fact so unitary. Those who hold back, with respect to the Single City, argue that the current legislation, in particular the Consolidated Law on Local Authorities, provides for associative instruments between territorial bodies that can loosen the separateness of the respective institutional and bureaucratic managements: the program agreements, the conventions and gradually more structured, the consortia and unions of municipalities.»
Don’t you think the tools you mentioned are adequate?
“Today they are no longer. There have been some program agreements to manage community and regional funds, but nothing more. The lack of connection between the two famous avenues is emblematic: Mancini in Cosenza and Principe in Rende. Generally, then, there is talk of the union of Municipalities to exorcise the merger. But the institution of the union has been successful in very few cases in the Italian scenario and for very small-sized realities. They all seem to me to be pretexts to avoid the merger. Moreover, the regional bill on the Single City entrusts all citizens of the urban area with the choice of the name of the new Municipality. Therefore, parochialism is swept away on the assumption that it is better to live in a city that is finally unique from an institutional and bureaucratic point of view, beyond its own name”.
What went wrong in the past?
“In these forty years, there would have been many reasons in favor of a unitary planning or management of the territory. And these reasons are increasingly evident today. Transport management is one of the primary needs that push for the administrative unity of the territories of Cosenza, Rende and Castrolibero. Moreover, over the years the opportunities for a unitary urban planning have failed. Instead, various Calabrian municipalities, much less conurbated than Cosenza, Rende and Castrolibero, have taken advantage of the opportunity of an associated structural plan, in order to program a harmonious development. Nothing, then, the three municipalities of the Cosenza area have planned together in favor of commercial, artisan, industrial or agricultural activities in the hilly areas”.
So, in your opinion, has the time for change come?
“Yes. The truth, understandable from a human point of view, but not from an institutional one, is that the merger of the three Municipalities is not considered convenient by the individual local political operators, because there would be only one Council, only one Executive, only one Mayor, a few less seats, but above all, a greater difficulty in being elected with few but certain votes”.
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