NEWS

Cesena’s Regeneration Journey: Citizens, Students, and Data Shape the Future of Vigne-Railway Area

The autumn air in Cesena hums with renewal. In the quiet Vigne-Railway area, a new story of urban regeneration is taking shape.

It began with Ethnograph, the newly appointed partner helping the city craft a digital platform to tell the regeneration story. Since September, the Cesena team has been working closely with them to understand how best to communicate the project’s purpose — not just through technology, but through shared meaning. And by mid-November, a participatory table will bring citizens around the same screen to co-design both the platform and the Digital Twin — a digital reflection of their neighborhood that will grow richer through their feedback.

Meanwhile, mobility in Cesena is quietly transforming. The Park & Ride pilot, launched in May, is becoming part of daily life. Flyers fluttered through Piazza Aldo Moro as part of the WeGenerate Mobility Week, drawing more commuters to the service. “At first, few used it,” the team admitted, “but now we’re seeing it work. People are getting on board.”

Green shoots of collaboration are also sprouting in the Vigne outdoor spaces. In September, residents gathered for a Greening Workshop with the University of Bologna and the local facilitator AIDORU. The room filled with sketches, laughter, and hope as citizens shared what they wanted for their neighborhood: more shade, more beauty, more life.

Now, students are taking those dreams into their design studios, preparing to turn them into tangible transformations — small-scale projects that could be built with the very people who imagined them.

And beneath it all, the city’s Digital Twin is gaining depth. Experts have just finished a second round of data collection, incorporating new energy certificates and refining the model that digitally mirrors the Vigne-Railway area. In November, residents will once again have their say — this time exploring how technology can help them shape their own urban future.

Cesena’s story is about learning that regeneration is not just construction — it’s conversation. With each workshop, data point, and shared idea, the Vigne-Railway district edges closer to becoming what it was always meant to be: a living, breathing part of the city’s evolving heart.