Public works and infrastructure for Italy

“Public works and infrastructure for Italy”, another of the Aspen Seminars for Leaders, focused on the need to relaunch the debate on public works and infrastructure programming in Italy. The discussion also centered on whether an actual plan or simply a framework of reference is needed, on how to identify the decision-makers and on how decisions can be kept in line with available resources. The need to build consensus among the many stakeholders – national and regional politicians and administrators, companies, infrastructure and service managers, final users and some sectors of the economy such as tourism and logistics – was underlined. It was pointed out that other necessities include the need to review and amend some regulations and procedures, to identify innovative forms of financing and to mobilize resources to meet special social and territorial needs. An innovative methodology was used during the seminar: participants considered specific case studies that were directly related to the country’s interests and current economic model in an attempt to come up with innovative solutions to real problems.