On building site in early modern Ferrara. Urban transformation of the ducal city in the second half of XVIth century through two archival sources about human behaviour, economical aspects and construction process in architectural production (original) (raw)
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The paper deals with the conservation issues posed by the conspicuous urban heritage which lies abandoned in many Italian historical hilltowns, urban settlements whose importance is being obscured due to their small dimension, the presence of physical thresholds and the economic stagnation that has continued affecting the whole of the "Italian Mezzogiorno in the course of the last decades. Even if regional inequalities and the gap between rich and poor regions is now widening, in Italy as in Europe, because of the economic downturn, some signals of an emerging countertendency are now arising, whereas the desire for a more sustainable way of life and the harshness of economic recession in major urban areas begun pushing towards these fairly remote hilltowns, many urbanites looking for a 'rural' relocation.
2011
With reference to a specific case study, this paper is an attempt to respond to questions concerning progress toward better understanding of the role of urban unit’s mosaic and fringe belt recognition in urban planning and building retrofitting/design. In particular, the paper describes a reading procedure consisting of data requirements to be used as an “interpretative analysis” of the dismissed military area Sani-Casaralta, in the north sector of the city of Bologna. By means of specific comparison between local characters and historic evolution, the paper suggests a design procedure based on the use of new technologies as possible interaction between “intentionality” in urban planning and possible evolution of historical urban forms.
Environmental performances ofthe urban form. The intrinsec sustainability of the ancient cities
The paper deals with the experience of a four-year research at the University of Naples "Federico II" focused on environmental performances of urban space in small towns and villages of Southern Italy. The study proposes a knowledge-oriented methodology aimed at enhancing the value of the urban form in terms of relationships between natural and built environment, empirically demonstrating the existence of a (somehow implicit) ecological design approach of the primary urban patterns that characterizes "urban signatures" in terms of pattern itself, building shape, use of materials, construction technologies. The research wants to point out the value of the original construction process and it aims at highlighting the coherence between city form and the natural environment notably focused on the sustainable use of local resources (vegetation, soil and water) corresponding to ecological cycles and fit on human activities.
Past and present ‘urban voids’ as resources for the future. The case-study of Catania
2002
Since the end of the 1960s, the landscapes of major cities have been more and more characterized by the presence of "urban voids". Today these "voids", which are often heterogeneous in their manifestation, dominate the discussions about the transformation and the future of urban areas. The reclaiming and re-use of derelict sites and "cultural heritage" has the duty to assure for the next generation the knowledge of the cultural values of the past. In this paper we will focus our attention on a re-used "cultural heritage": the Multifunctional Centre of Catania (Sicily, Objective 1 region). Thanks to the Urban Programme this "urban void"- abandoned for decades and deteriorated - was recovered and is now a library and lecture rooms complex of the University of Catania. We will discuss the complex structural actions realized inside this building, which contains the memory of the values and culture of the harbour area of Catania, and its ...
The international research group aims to provide multidisciplinary research and studies on innovative issues within the " City in Change " and its cultural heritage (tangible and intangible). The research methodologies will address theory and application in urban context of inner and outer areas in order to identify new approaches of intervention, based on ecological and sustainable principles. The way of thinking will define new urban models for new urban scenarios in different European contexts. Aims To define an innovative research in European Partnership and multidisciplinary To provide an international debate for knowledge, education and formation on Cities in Change, sharing ecological and sustainable design issues To explore the values of cultural heritage and its transformation To put " fixed points " in preserving, regenerating and developing tangible and intangible cultural heritage Masterplanning process in sensitive urban contexts and urban spaces and places ERC Panels SH3_1 Environment, resources and sustainability SH3_2 Environmental and climate change, societal impact SH3_7 Spatial development, land use, regional planning
Disused areas and urban regeneration. The historic centre of Vicenza, Italy
2017
This work concerns Vicenza, a city located not far from Venice in the north-east corner of Italy, and it specifically refers to an area situated on the outskirts of the city’s urban fabric between the perimeter of its ancient walls and the banks of the Bacchiglione river, in the shadow of the abandoned monastery of St. Biagio. The idea of restoring that physically and socially degraded area of the city of Vicenza has long been the object of discussion on the part of local authorities. Once intimately linked to the city’s historic center, the area gradually lost its functional and social identity becoming first a parking lot and then equipped as a city warehouse. The intent to regenerate the area and the observation that the relationship between the city and its river is constantly refused, or delayed, lead to recognize in the long edge of the area a unique meeting opportunity which allows to repair the water-city association, recuperating rituals and connections from the past. The municipality is presently planning on pursuing a qualitative restoration of the area which will be used for social and cultural enrichment. The final part of the current work outlines some proposals that were developed during the Architectural and Urban Composition 2 course recently offered by the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering of the University of Padua (Italy).
2018
If we consider the theme of abandoned places on the one hand and their rebirth on the other one soon realizes how this issue must necessarily be traced back to the great question of sustainability, which goes beyond the borders of States, uniting all the peoples of the Earth in the difficult path that should lead them to the achievement of shared goals. It is no coincidence that Agenda 2030 set sustainable settlements as one of its seventeen strategic sustainability objectives. With the aim of providing useful food for thought for the debate on the principles and values to be applied in the planning and construction of sustainable settlements, the contribution will then focus on the theme of abandoned sites and the processes of return and re-signification that are manifesting in recent times, with particular reference to the urban context.
Recomposition of public spaces in the medieval city compromised by war damage and speculative development. The working method is based on the belief that analysing the history of the city is fundamental to the study of urban morphology, clarifying the relationship between permanent structures on the one hand and temporary ones on the other. History becomes an indispensable tool with which to discover the underlying reasons for the development of the urban structure, which is an indelible reminder made in the image of the community. The methodology looks at the city as a product of functional systems (political, social, economic), but contemplates the overall urban form as a result of its spatial structure. The urban form is investigated in its physical specificity, which is the only method capable of finding the reasons for the special nature of the urban form in contrast to the social, economic, and political aspect that while certainly important, are insufficient. In fact, restoring not only a material but also a spiritual value to the city today is as indispensable as it ever has been. Consequently, a discussion can be held on the destiny of the city. The Architectural and Urban Composition 2 course at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering of the University of Padua is based on fundamental 1960s studies about typological analysis (especially Aldo Rossi, L’architettura della città, 1966) specifically oriented towards the theme of public spaces and establishing relationships between these and private spaces. The spatial aspects and formal image of the transformations in the city are studied as a premise on which to base the design of the new architecture. One of the areas in Padua studied by the students is Piazza Duomo (Cathedral Square), used as an opportunity to reconfigure the lost unity of a very symbolic and representative place, which acts as a custodian of the history and identity of this city. Piazza Duomo has been affected by rapid post Second World War reconstruction that has resulted in the loss of the organic unity with surrounding parts of the city. The hierarchy and order of the elements that characterize the form of this old place has been compromised by speculation in the second half of the twentieth century. Piazza Duomo is now a squalid parking space but in previous centuries it was a reference point for religious life in the city. It is used as a case study with analysis and proposals for a new urban design.
History for urban regeneration: a new perspective. The PRG ‘08 of the Municipality of Rome
World Heritage and Legacy. Culture, Creativity, Contamination, Atti XVII INTERNATIONAL FORUM Le vie dei Mercanti, Carmine Gambardella (edited by), Gangemi Editor International Publishing. ISBN 978-88-492-3752-8, 2019
The metropolisation processes that, in recent decades, have determined deep territorial transformation, together with the identity features and the intrinsic characteristics of fragility of the contemporary city, recall the need for a unitary, integrated and interscalar public government strategy aimed at urban regeneration. A strategy able to seize the specific nature of places at all scales, as a form of self-representation for local communities and as a means for restoring connections between physical continuity and social integration and between formal specificity and historical-cultural identity. In this framework, the paper focuses on the role of historical-cultural permanence within the processes of urban regeneration, starting from the experience of the Masterplan (PRG ‘08) of the Municipality of Rome, which, in particular, introduces a new perspective, assuming, among its priority options, the role of history for high-quality transformation and recalling, on the one hand, the need for an interpretative description of the historical and cultural structure of the territory in all its expressions and specificities, and, on the other, the need to reaffirm the centrality and transversality of the design dimension for the protection and enhancement of the components of the Historic City. In particular, this perspective is actualized through the description of the urban project of the Anagnina-Romanina Centrality, one of the 18 urban and metropolitan centralities of the PRG ‘08.