A delegation of students of the Buonarroti Institute, accompanied by Dr. Fabrizio Bianchi, head of the IFC-CNR Epidemiology Research Unit in Pisa, with the coordinator of the Environmental Education Center of Valdarno Inferiore, Dr. Bibiana Losapio, participated yesterday, June 26 at the public session of the City Council in San Miniato.
The councillors and public administrators of the Municipality of San Miniato listened to the presentations about the activities undertaken during the Life + Gioconda project – Young citizens count in decisions on environment and health – and the students’ proposals for living in a healthy and supportive environment.
The proposals were elaborated at the end of a participatory democracy process, where the students worked on their perceptions of risks and on the data measured monitoring air and noise, conducted outside and inside their schools, comparing the results.
The guys, alongside recommendations for public administrators, talk about their willingness to engage in improving the local environment and community health. Among the many contributions suggested to the public administrators, there are: the demand for rethinking the traffic plan around the school areas; the setting up of pedestrian islands around the schools at peak time: the search for methods to improve classroom acoustics, and finally the establishment of a Municipal Council for Girls and Boys, a body that could gather representatives of students from the schools of the Lower Valdarno territory, and could institutionalize their participation in the life of the towns in the area.
For further information: Liliana Cori, GIOCONDA project coordinator, 3467543190