Startup Owner: Domenico Pititto
Business Type: EcoDesign/Urban regeneration
Location: Catania
Country: Italy
Additional info: The project aims at valuing the architectural heritage and at increasing the green areas of our cities through the use of waste materials.
About us
The project aims at valuing the architectural heritage and at increasing the green areas of our cities through the use of waste materials. Jebbia is a solution to rethink the urban landscape: it enhances the architectural heritage, increases the green areas of the cities by using waste materials and exploits spaces occupied by decontextualized urban technical elements, concealing and protecting them with a modular and versatile green coverage.
FAQ
The impacts generated by Jebbia are in line with the purposes of the 2030 Agenda, for what concerns the following points:
-Sdg 6 – guarantee the quality of drinking water: in the water tanks covered by Jebbia the thermo-luminous variations will be minimal and will guarantee a natural improvement of the water, greatly reducing the release of micro plastics and the proliferation of harmful microorganisms.
– Sdg 11 – Sustainable cities and communities: the cities of tomorrow are going to be resilient, inclusive, safe and welcoming towards any inhabitant. Thanks to Jebbia, it will be possible to guarantee a greater absorption of CO2, to increase the green and the urban biodiversity and to requalify both technical areas and elements. The product has been designed in order to hide technical units, such as tanks or electric cabins, under green components like native plants, so as to boost the redevelopment of deprived areas and respect the architectural integrity, the artistic and the cultural authenticity of our cities; a commitment which, together with the positive aesthetic impact, brings an important environmental influence for people, plants and animals.
A clear example, scalable to several cities in Southern Europe, may be the one of Valletta, Malta: while the town lives upon tourism, its vast architectural heritage is currently threatened by the presence of many modern decontextualized technical elements;
– Sdg 12 – Responsible consumption and production: in order to ensure a positive impact and to increase the responsible purchase of sustainable products, the Jebbia team is committed to avoid using any harmful materials: our work is oriented toward triggering the circular economy processes that allow the product to have a longer life, through practices of restructuring, reuse and recycling of the necessary materials;
– Sdg 13 – Climate actions: through the path of sustainable production, the use of natural components and the installation of green elements in the city, Jebbia will play its part in the fight against climate change, ensuring an improvement of the overall air quality and a decrease of the city’s temperatures.
Our Mission is, therefore, unique and unequivocal: we aim at making use of the urban spaces already occupied in order to shape a greener, livable and more visually pleasant ecosystem, while contributing to the development of the economic social apparatus of the territory.
The intention is, in particular, to rely on the available data on urban greenery in order to ensure a considerable social impact on the benefit of people and their psychophysical balance. In addition, reducing the presence of elements not in line with the architectural heritage of historic and artistically relevant cities will contribute to increase the urban value and to reduce the negative visual impact of such objects.
Among the beneficiaries, together with the local inhabitants, we thought about animals as well: the prospect of covering the technical areas with the green structure will indeed permit to shape networks of sustainable spaces, such as biological corridors, to be used as refreshment areas on behalf of bees, insects or small birds.
www.jebbia.it
Jebbia aims to clean up the urban fabric from the presence of invasive technical elements: water storage tanks, air conditioners and electrical substations are in fact sources of damage to the architectural and landscape heritage of our cities.
Jebbia was designed to take the form of a versatile module: we thought of it as a piece of a puzzle, which, after being combined with the others, will be ready to constitute the first sustainable “three-dimensional” garden. The modules will therefore be of different sizes and united can assume various regular shapes such as a dome, a cube or other irregular shapes; this solution responds to a great design challenge: to adapt to an enormous variety of elements to be covered and of different architectural and cultural contexts, thus becoming an integral part of the building, of the city, leaving the leading role to architecture, enhancing it.
Moreover, proposed as the cover of an existing structure, the product will not occupy any additional soil; it will encourage the use of existing tanks and various technical elements instead of the purchase of new ones, extending their life and improving energy efficiency, so as to be consistent with the idea of recycle, readaptation and sustainability that transversally orients the services it offers.
Nevertheless, we are conscious about the low level of awareness towards environmental issues, urban regeneration and the impact these technical elements have on the territory, the main challenge is to turn the spotlight on these elements and together with society transform them from a problem to an opportunity for a more beautiful and sustainable territory; that’s why we are working for realizing events on the theme of sustainability with the local associations and bodies, as well as with representatives of the public and corporate sector.
Jebbia caters to a wide audience, encompassing the B2B, B2G and B2C sectors.
For the B2B sector, the target group is that of the professionals: managers of accommodation facilities may be indeed interested in beautifying and making livable the neglected areas of their structure. In addition, installing the Jebbia would communicate their care for sustainability, design and details, attracting consumers sensible about these themes. Within the same sector, dealers of technical systems, nursery gardeners, interior designers and landscape architects may propose Jebbia as a solution of gain and differentiation from the market.
Secondly, Jebbia addresses the Public Administrations: they may be interested in planning the redevelopment of urban areas and buildings, with the aim of relaunching tourism, improving the quality of life,enhancing the territory and reaching national parameters and international sustainability.
At last, Jebbia extends its field of action to the B2C sector: users who want to get nature to come closer to the city, may decide to beautify their home, improve water quality, improve energy efficiency and make a positive impact to the urban community; consequently, the latter becomes an indirect beneficiary of the aesthetic, environmental and economic effects of installing Jebbia.