Participated Strategies for Small Towns Regeneration …
91
This paper has the aim of reporting a recent research experience concerning shared
solutions aimed at enquiring new possible models for the reactivation of Oliena’s
historic centre, in Barbagia. The research, still ongoing, is patronised by the Municipality and the GAL Barbagia; these institutions endorsed the activities and offered
economical and operative support, believing in the participatory methodology as a
means to trigger change in mentality and built environment.
2 Problems and Potentials of the Oliena Region
The characters of the depopulation phenomenon in Oliena are slightly different from
the recurring elements to determine the abandonment. In fact, the small town (approximately 7000 inhabitants) is in the centre of Sardinia, thus far from the developed
touristic coastal areas, in the mountain zone of Supramonte, with a lack of infrastructures for transportation—as mainly all the Mediterranean Island towns—but adjacent
to the province capital of Nuoro. The majority of the population is in fact employed
in the public sector or in the administration, in agriculture and in the breeding industry, and they are not affected by major economic issues either by massive migration
processes to the coast or to other national or international destinations.
However, the historic centre of Oliena is characterised by an ongoing abandonment. Since the seventies and the eighties, inhabitants moved towards the outer
expansion areas, where they built low-density single-family housing settlements that
better responded to contemporary lifestyles. Accordingly, the transformation of the
town centre into a periphery is a consequence of the inadequacy of the historic urban
fabric and of the roads and of the functional obsolescence of the existing buildings. In
addition, the zoning ordinance transformed the town centre into a conservation area
(Zone A), without producing specific guidelines for renovation, thus freezing the old
town and hindering the potential for transformation. Currently, this large heritage,
which extends for more than 27 ha, is undergoing a significant physical decline,
revealed by the increasing number of condemned buildings and ruins (Fig. 1).
The historical documentary value of the ancient centre relies in the morphological,
typological and technological characteristics of the urban fabric, since the presence
of artistic landmarks and monuments is limited.
The ancient settlement, in between the Monte Corrasi and the fertile valley of the
Cedrino River, is organised in closed courtyards belonging to a large family, where
all the main past social and productive activities took place. The so-called Cortes
represent the legacy of a rural society based on family clans, currently disappeared,
intrinsically tied to their region (Fig. 2). This relationship of belonging and identity is
still very strong in the present population, as the belief that the ancient centre cannot
be adapted to contemporary requirements of use without major significant intervention of replacement and reconstruction and is therefore doomed to an inescapable
abandonment.
For this reason, the research team realised that any proposal to trigger the physical transformation of the centre solution should tackle with the transformation of
91
This paper has the aim of reporting a recent research experience concerning shared
solutions aimed at enquiring new possible models for the reactivation of Oliena’s
historic centre, in Barbagia. The research, still ongoing, is patronised by the Municipality and the GAL Barbagia; these institutions endorsed the activities and offered
economical and operative support, believing in the participatory methodology as a
means to trigger change in mentality and built environment.
2 Problems and Potentials of the Oliena Region
The characters of the depopulation phenomenon in Oliena are slightly different from
the recurring elements to determine the abandonment. In fact, the small town (approximately 7000 inhabitants) is in the centre of Sardinia, thus far from the developed
touristic coastal areas, in the mountain zone of Supramonte, with a lack of infrastructures for transportation—as mainly all the Mediterranean Island towns—but adjacent
to the province capital of Nuoro. The majority of the population is in fact employed
in the public sector or in the administration, in agriculture and in the breeding industry, and they are not affected by major economic issues either by massive migration
processes to the coast or to other national or international destinations.
However, the historic centre of Oliena is characterised by an ongoing abandonment. Since the seventies and the eighties, inhabitants moved towards the outer
expansion areas, where they built low-density single-family housing settlements that
better responded to contemporary lifestyles. Accordingly, the transformation of the
town centre into a periphery is a consequence of the inadequacy of the historic urban
fabric and of the roads and of the functional obsolescence of the existing buildings. In
addition, the zoning ordinance transformed the town centre into a conservation area
(Zone A), without producing specific guidelines for renovation, thus freezing the old
town and hindering the potential for transformation. Currently, this large heritage,
which extends for more than 27 ha, is undergoing a significant physical decline,
revealed by the increasing number of condemned buildings and ruins (Fig. 1).
The historical documentary value of the ancient centre relies in the morphological,
typological and technological characteristics of the urban fabric, since the presence
of artistic landmarks and monuments is limited.
The ancient settlement, in between the Monte Corrasi and the fertile valley of the
Cedrino River, is organised in closed courtyards belonging to a large family, where
all the main past social and productive activities took place. The so-called Cortes
represent the legacy of a rural society based on family clans, currently disappeared,
intrinsically tied to their region (Fig. 2). This relationship of belonging and identity is
still very strong in the present population, as the belief that the ancient centre cannot
be adapted to contemporary requirements of use without major significant intervention of replacement and reconstruction and is therefore doomed to an inescapable
abandonment.
For this reason, the research team realised that any proposal to trigger the physical transformation of the centre solution should tackle with the transformation of