Eritrean Mobility and Cultural Heritage. New Frontiers of the Horn of Africa. An overview of the project

Eritrea achieved its independence in 1991 after thirty years of war with Ethiopia. As already mentioned, in 2018 the borders with Ethiopia were re-opened, but currently the commercial border is closed, therefore, an increase of traffic is still to come. At the present time the Eritrean road is mainly used for connecting coastal lowlands and highlands, and for national transfers, but we must keep in mind that the road will be a strategic asset of paramount relevance in the Horn of Africa. The challenges of the EMotion Project are a new mobility preserving the pre-existing historic infrastructure: an extraordinary and vulnerable cultural heritage. It consists of a unique road and railway network crossing natural and cultural landscapes and connecting archaeological, historical-artistic and architectural sites; but above all it is itself the summation of artefacts and monuments to be preserved, protected and enhanced. The main axis considered in this project is the Asmara-Massawa road: 120 km, difference in elevation 2,300 m, single carriageway, with about thirty civil important historical structures. Besides being a road for trade and transport, this strategic axis represents an extraordinary opportunity to design an original and innovative itinerary. The new model of smart mobility and the possible future vision of the project can represent the ideal and real bridge, capable of transferring knowledge, goods, ideas, values and of connecting people, as well as reuniting historically and culturally related places and paths. The new role of infrastructures will be pivotal. The historic system of the colonial period can now become an instrument of valorization and commercial/cultural/touristic development, but it needs to be safe, equipped, easily accessible and managed with sustainable mobility criteria. A key factor therefore is the role of the transport network, which will have to be designed taking into account the current meaning of sustainable mobility, which must consider the development policies of urban and territorial areas, cultural heritage, energy efficiency and environmental quality and its replicability in other contexts. The EMotion project aims to provide a set of integrated solutions for sustainable development, for the valorization and fruition of cultural heritage through the activation of innovative high-profile research lines, thanks also to the contribution of the stakeholders, partners and companies involved.