PRUSST ( Programme of Re-evaluation and Urban Development in the Territory) is an innovative project proposed by the ex-Minister of Public Works , through a Ministerial Decree on 8^th October1998 .The main objective of PRUSST was to promote at a national level , a series of strategic projects which involved urban complexes from the point of view of infrastructure , function and buildings . The groups who intended to participate had to put forward a programme re-defining a part of the territory. Within the ambit of the programme a series of interventions were selected that were considered to be of strategic importance in which one third had to be private . .The Ministry activated a selection procedure with all the proposals sent and chose 40 projects , financing them with about 1,500,000 euro , to be used exclusively for planning public works and for technical assistance .

The most innovative elements of the project have been :

• The introduction of a selective procedure that put into competition all the companies involved in the programme. As well as having the minimum requirements , the projects were judged on the basis of their strategic level , their capacity to express the potential of individual environments and their capacity to activate economic and social resources .Above all , a high level of feasibility was required . PRUSST , like all regeneration plans , intended to demonstrate right from the beginning of the programme how economic resources were capable of meeting their expectations . So these high expectations , not only economic , but also political and administrative of the programme became the founding principle of the project - so that the urban future was safe at the same time as being supportive of the economic interests of the companies and of the social needs of the collective.
   

• It is the public-private rapport that has in some ways marked the change from urban programming to that of political-urban. The Administration proposes a model of development that forces all the interested organisations to take up a position . In this way they have the possibility not only of clarifying their intentions but also offers them an influential forum where any conflicts and debates can be discussed openly , in order to arrive at a united programme . The quota of30% private participation has become a successful activator in consensus, as well as being the element which guarantees the realisation of the programme , not only in the public domain but also for the same private companies in as far as they have put the administration in a position to declare their own intentions as well as ask for clarification from individual companies ,in what can really be described as institutional role reversal .The public administrator has almost assumed the role of urban promoter , working towards gathering support for a programme in which the advantages are not immediately obvious .

Characteristics of  the PRUSST Programme promoted by Ancona Commune in relation to territorial and economic context

The PRUSST programme promoted by Ancona Commune is called ‘ Town , Port and Territory’. It was recognised in 1999 with financing from the Ministry . The project was designed by a group of town planners from within the internal services with support from young architects, engineers and external consultants .

The PRUSST project from Ancona Commune involves the entire urban area which stretches around the international port of the town , receiving 139 interventions of which 43 are public and 96 private, for a total investment of 483,539,483.65 euro ,of which ,301,336,074.00 are public and 182,203,409.65 , private.

The location , size and commercial importance of the port of Ancona as one of the main ports on the Adriatic coast as well as being one of the most important ports at an international level and the main terminal for commercial and tourist trade from Greece and East European countries . The influx of traffic (1 million departures in 2000 according to statistics) is of such enormous dimensions as to involve the whole infrastructure of the coast.

The decision to allow PRUSST into the port not only fully enters into the priority interventions indicated by the ministerial proclamation ,but also constitutes a unique opportunity to undertake the task of linking the physical and economic areas of port and town , that has long been ignored.

The port is an extremely complex area as it is primarily a structure which allows the movement of different forms of traffic: maritime , rail and in second place , because within its confines it includes different productive activities and thirdly, tourism.

If we also add to this intricate complex the difficulty of cohesion with the rest of the town and territory then one can understand how the port becomes a crucial point in the vast system of communications that cross the national grid.

PRUSST’S interest in the territorial system co-insides with the metropolitan area of Ancona . The area consists of a real urban nucleus as well settled areas that stretch along the coast up to Falconara Commune and the airport and industrial zones of Baraccola which border on Osimo Commune to the south .The size and density of the town centre transforms this the territorial system into an urban spread which integrates places and functions ,formerly separated, into a unicom ,without any apparent solution or continuity .

To fully understand what this area means within the regional environment we need to say that the system of infrastructures in the Marche imitate the characteristics of a comb along the coast to which have been added a motorway as well as railway line .

Ancona ,thanks to the presence of the port , acts as a hinge in the entire system as all north-south coastal communications converge at this point . Furthermore ,the Vallesina valley is one of the most dynamically productive in the region.

So to this system of ifrasructure we have to add the productivity system which is principally concentrated along two axis and one pole:

• The Vallesina axis which starts at the coast, Falconara and passes through the industrial zones of Jesi arriving eventually in Fabriano without any solutions for continuity.

• The Baraccola axis to the south of Ancona which is less extended and presents a great concentration of activities ,rendering it one of the largest zones of productive and commercial activity in the region.

• Ancona port ,a real productive pole which suffers even more than the others from the lack of infrastructures and logistics within the whole system.

Structure and objectives of the PRUSST Programme as proposed by the Commune of Ancona

Within this vast territorial system PRUSST ,beginning with the port area, evaluates single environments for intervention concentrated in the urban perimeter , which correspond to a homogeneous typology and function where both public and private interventions are directed as well as agreements and accords made according to the programme.

In this way the project acts on the territorial system by intervening with the infrastructure and productivity systems through precise intervention , concentrated on specific environments and functions to allow for an effective control of the entire project .

From this point of view then, the areas of intervention are not simply project places but part of an overall design that could be defined as a cluster where the whole canvas of the infrastructure unites urban sectors differentiated by location, typology and vocation.

Re-evaluating any one of these sectors has had a positive effect on the whole system. Once completed the whole model will obtain:

• A re-evaluated town.

• A port that connects efficiently with the whole territory

• A system of infrastructure that integrates with the regional system.

The objectives and precise consequences of realizing this project:

• The physical integration of port and town .

• Redefinition of primary systems of mobility

• Redefinition of secondary systems of mobility.

• Re-evaluation of the 18^th.century outskirts.

• Re-evaluation of Mandracchio as a strategic link between port and city.

• Re-evaluation of the port area via the intervention of individual companies.

• Re-evaluation of the environment.

• Re-evaluation of the Urban image.

The agreed programme of 1999 was financed in 2000. The last monitoring in 2002 showed that:

• 16.55% (8.63% public and the rest private) resulted completed .

• 16.55% ( 5.76% public and the rest private ) resulted in progress.

This data in itself is significant when interpreted not on the basis of the number of interventions but in the increase of investments:

• 13.49% (10.18% public and the rest private) from the completed works.

• 18.49% in the process ( 11.83% public and the rest private )

• Thus it results that the cost of the completed interventions or the works in progress is equal to 31.97 % of the investment compared to a percentage of resources declared activated, assigned and available on the part of the actual works , equal to 51.47% of the total cost of the interventions.

The programme is thus following through its own previsions , moreover a further series of results has emerged of a strategic nature which has profound effects on the overall planning of the territory . These have served the following :

• To activate a series of public works in terms of infrastructure, already foreseen by PRG and only in part realised by private funding

• To credit such works within a single programme , recognised by the administration of the Commune and by public bodies : Region and State united in financing and realising this project.

• To integrate different services and managerial skills in the administration to produce not just financial balances but also to co-ordinate the works in the territory.

• To renew the management process towards the territory within the Administration, in terms of cohesion with businesses , to heighten the sense of competitiveness within the community.

ENERGY

Geothermic energy uses hot vapour coming out of the ground to produce electricity. This form of power is little used because it can only be used in appropriate terrain.

Such power stations arise in areas of volcanic origin or areas subject to seismic phenomena.

Above the source of heat there is a kind of ‘natural saucepan’ formed by two layers of impermeable rock that enclose a layer of permeable earth . Rain water filters through and is deposited in this area .In this saucepan the rocks heat up the water transforming it into steam.

The steam is brought to the surface through bore holes where it is controlled by appropriate valves .The steam is brought to the power station along vapour ducts.

THE POWER STATION

The power station consists of a machine room and condensers . It is simple to operate.

The steam enters the turbine and rotates the alternator that generates a current .

The steam passes through the condenser and becomes water. The water is then injected into the earth.

USES

The heat from the ground can be exploited in two ways :If the temperature reaches 100°C it is used for electrical energy , while at a temperature of 60°C it produces hot water .