Candidate for Mayor Eloisa Marchesoni: “As mayor, I will protect our cherished public spaces from destructive development or loss”
Asgardia is electing its mayors, and today we are continuing our series of interviews with the election participants. We will talk with the different candidates for mayor from different countries around the world. We do not specifically select candidates to be interviewed; any candidate who would like to tell about themselves and their campaign to the entire nation of Asgardia has now this opportunity.
Contact us via email at elections-support@asgardia.space, with the subject line “interview” and your interview can be the next one.
Today we glad to introduce to you Ms.Eloisa Marchesoni — the candidate for Asgardia’s mayor from Milan, Italy.
- Tell us about yourself; who you are; why did you become a resident of Asgardia?
- I am Eloisa Marchesoni, and I am a 20-year-old startupper and disruption enthusiast. I am a second-year student in Milan’s Bocconi University with a major in Economics and Management. I was born in the US and raised around the world. I am the Business Development Manager for Western Europe at a RegTech startup that is just now getting ready to end its ICO. In addition, I am the editor-in-chief for Kairos Organization/Italy and a volunteer and partner for Fondo Ambiente Italiano. Also, I’m early applicant for the Hult International Business School and I’ve been accepted with a “Future Leaders Program” Scholarship for the Master in International Business with Global Rotation Program, thus giving me the opportunity to become an even more international woman. I have felt the inner drive to consider Asgardia to be the future for all of us, the best place to live in. I was one of the first people to acquire an Asgardian citizenship and to meet the CEO of Asgardia, Lena De Winne, in person. I literally ran up her to as soon as she stepped on the stage to speak at a a major event in Milan. We have discussed the progressive Asgardian way of life and we both wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the near future.
- Why have you decided to run for the position of mayor?
- I’m running for mayor for the electoral district of Milan, Italy, so that a generation from now, citizens will be glad we made the decisions we’re going to make in the next years. As mayor, I will protect our cherished public spaces from destructive development or loss. And I will nourish our creative, innovative, diverse culture — supporting the arts and festivals and diversity and our beloved quirkiness — making sure Asgardia stays true to its core values. Here on Earth, our proud progressive tradition has already grown and nurtured invaluable resources over the years, but we can now export that to space and develop these features much faster. We cannot take for granted the fact that the Asgardia of today will be there for the next generation and the generation after that. It is far from automatic. As great as it is, we have some real work to do. We need to continue to be the leading progressive nation, and we need to find solutions to the problems that we have here on Earth, in order not to have to face them again in Asgardia. I never stopped being interested in the events of Milan and the problems of citizens. I am a moderate person and I think I can represent everyone’s needs, listen and find solutions to problems. I think that administering the Asgardians of Milan is not easy, but neither is it impossible or as complicated as current administrators want us to believe. Many problems have become tangled because there is a lack of will, capacity and — above all — practical and common sense.
- What contributions do you hope to make to your local community during your term as mayor?
- As mayor of Asgardia for the electoral district of Milan, I’ll lead a full-court press to use the technological and futuristic strengths of Asgardia to attract sustainable jobs, as well as help local businesses develop and grow. I will bring innovative approaches to economic development that have rejuvenated cities around the country: creating a community-controlled broadband infrastructure that provides affordable high-speed Internet to businesses and consumers alike. We’ll support a culture of innovation by creating a downtown facility for shared work space in the emerging Tech Park. We’ll support good-paying emerging businesses with city-backed financing. And, I will press for more active collaboration with universities and tech research centers. These are steps we can take immediately to attract, and grow sustainable businesses and the good jobs that come with them. As we work to make Asgardia a great place to earn a living, we need to ensure it’s a great place to live for everyone. As your progressive mayor, I will work actively to address income inequality and make housing truly affordable. I will use proven strategies such as inclusionary zoning to require affordable set-asides, and long-term affordability to preserve our public investment for generations to come. And I’ll support the Senior Homes project, so that inspiring elderly neighbors can get back on their feet. We need to assure that Asgardia is a place where people of all income, backgrounds, approaches to life, can live. It’s the right thing to do, and it also protects our diversity and innovative culture. And I will protect our community from unbridled, ugly development that diminishes rather than enhances our great physical spaces. As your progressive mayor, I will work tirelessly to protect public education. As mayor, I’ll attend rallies, too, and from the mayor’s office I will work closely and regularly with the public school system in every way I can, in order to help make Asgardia’s public school system a model of urban success. Last but not least, as your mayor, I want to throw open the doors in the Asgardian hall, literally and figuratively. You’ll see me in hall meetings, and neighborhood gatherings, and riding with police officers, and firefighters, and sanitation workers. This will be a participatory national hall with open doors.
- What problems are Asgardians in your district(city) facing and what would you do to help?
- The problems in Milan are many and arise from the absence of planning and organization: security and degradation go hand-in-hand, and there are major problems in social and cultural policies. In these years, a system has been created, which, due to an ideological vision of the city, has favored laxity, approximation and lack of reaction to the problems reported by the citizens. The logic that guided the leaders has, up until now, only been determined by the program of the parties to which they belong. Every aspect has been left to the approximation with evident fallout on all sectors and inevitable reflections on economy and tourism. Even the great digital transformation that is barely mentioned in Milan and that instead is profoundly changing our lives, impacting on security and mobility, is a proliferation, in the sense that we are not yet equipped to handle this new trend. The great digital transformation must be supported and accompanied in such a way that the citizens are no longer going to the services but rather the services “move” to favor the citizens. Furthermore, environmental impact must not be overlooked. The automotive world is already moving towards reducing the environmental impact of vehicles, we must support and implement the reduction of the environmental impact of housing. We will have fewer and fewer cars and this must lead us to look at mobility differently. I am also reminded of the very strong migratory pressure that is destined to increase a lot in the next ten years, and which we will not be able to continue to refuse but which we will have to accept, albeit with due caution.
- What do you think are the most interesting projects that could be realized in the future by the space nation Asgardia?
- It would be wonderful for Asgardia to focus on the brand of their community, communicating authenticity to their guests. It is necessary to build a vital offer open 24 hours a day, thanks to public-private initiatives. Architecture and buildings should not only be an agglomerate of glass and cement, but contain indoor and outdoor spaces dedicated to the environment, nature and quiet. I would like to see the construction of re-naturalization spaces. We need to preserve the fabric of micro-entrepreneurship and historical stores in our city centers. Manufacturing 4.0 can be based in the city without harming the environment. We need to develop an ecosystem of galleries and museums, especially contemporary art. Collectors from all over the world must see in Asgardia a perfect place to expand their collections, without being afraid of being censored or labeled as “crazy artists”. No Asgardian should fear diversity.
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