90
L. Daglio et al.
The recent exhibition at the 16 Venice Biennial Italian Pavilion, ‘Arcipelago Italia’,
curated by Mario Cucinella showcased the issue of the territories which are ‘spatially and temporally distant from the large urban areas’,
1 especially characterised
by a lack of services and infrastructures. Inner areas, fragile territories, abandoned
landscapes, shrinking cities (Oswalt et al. 2006) the diverse definitions present in the
literature and in the media highlight the urgent problem of these areas, which possess
an inestimable cultural heritage both tangible and intangible but no economic wealth.
Albeit not a novel question, it has been harshened by the consequences of the economic crisis as well as the rapid ageing of the population, increasing the differences
and the unbalances between regions of the same country.
A rich literature focuses on this topic presenting an evolution in the approaches and
in the models of possible actions, which can be classified and recognised according to
some selected criteria such as initiative and permanence. Bottom-up rather than topdown projects are featured, involving participatory design as a potential approach,
and strategic or tactical solutions are experimented, including the time variable in
the proposal and realisation of activities, events, new constructions and renovations.
However, all these projects have to deal with the task of reinterpreting the built
environment and of defining the appropriate solutions to intervene on the existing
heritage. In fact, together with the problem of geographical isolation, these ancient
settlements suffer not only from a physical decay due to the lack of maintenance and
the abandonment, but also from a functional obsolescence. Conceived to host the
activities of societies and rural or industrial economies, that do not exist anymore,
the built environment requires an upgrading and renovation to respond to the changed
demands of the potential new inhabitants. Thus, a dialogue with the authorities and
the rules regulating the modes and approaches of renovation of historic heritage are
required, also considering that the introduction of new regulations and constraints to
limit and define these interventions often caused the freezing of the heritage, limiting
the transformation and introducing complex and long-lasting procedures.
In spite of these common features, these areas are extremely different from the
point of view of the geographic, economic, social, cultural and historical background.
In addition, a considerable number were also abandoned due to the occurrence of
natural disasters, now raising the issue of the opportunity for the renovation, in terms
of resources to be employed.
The ongoing debate and recent case studies disclose the increasing application of
participatory processes to develop measures for the redevelopment projects, whilst
solutions involving the top-down creation of a new building or activity, also requiring
a significant investment, are almost disappearing.
The lively emergence of participatory design initiatives is aimed at determining
the new demand (Sennet 2012), developing new strategies with co-design activities
to create and share new meanings and goals and frequently employ tactical urbanism
methodologies (Lydon and Garcia 2011) to anticipate possible scenarios, to raise
awareness and a sense of belonging in the inhabitants.
1 Cf. the exhibition and project site at http://www.arcipelagoitalia.it/en/home (accessed May 5th
2019).
L. Daglio et al.
The recent exhibition at the 16 Venice Biennial Italian Pavilion, ‘Arcipelago Italia’,
curated by Mario Cucinella showcased the issue of the territories which are ‘spatially and temporally distant from the large urban areas’,
1 especially characterised
by a lack of services and infrastructures. Inner areas, fragile territories, abandoned
landscapes, shrinking cities (Oswalt et al. 2006) the diverse definitions present in the
literature and in the media highlight the urgent problem of these areas, which possess
an inestimable cultural heritage both tangible and intangible but no economic wealth.
Albeit not a novel question, it has been harshened by the consequences of the economic crisis as well as the rapid ageing of the population, increasing the differences
and the unbalances between regions of the same country.
A rich literature focuses on this topic presenting an evolution in the approaches and
in the models of possible actions, which can be classified and recognised according to
some selected criteria such as initiative and permanence. Bottom-up rather than topdown projects are featured, involving participatory design as a potential approach,
and strategic or tactical solutions are experimented, including the time variable in
the proposal and realisation of activities, events, new constructions and renovations.
However, all these projects have to deal with the task of reinterpreting the built
environment and of defining the appropriate solutions to intervene on the existing
heritage. In fact, together with the problem of geographical isolation, these ancient
settlements suffer not only from a physical decay due to the lack of maintenance and
the abandonment, but also from a functional obsolescence. Conceived to host the
activities of societies and rural or industrial economies, that do not exist anymore,
the built environment requires an upgrading and renovation to respond to the changed
demands of the potential new inhabitants. Thus, a dialogue with the authorities and
the rules regulating the modes and approaches of renovation of historic heritage are
required, also considering that the introduction of new regulations and constraints to
limit and define these interventions often caused the freezing of the heritage, limiting
the transformation and introducing complex and long-lasting procedures.
In spite of these common features, these areas are extremely different from the
point of view of the geographic, economic, social, cultural and historical background.
In addition, a considerable number were also abandoned due to the occurrence of
natural disasters, now raising the issue of the opportunity for the renovation, in terms
of resources to be employed.
The ongoing debate and recent case studies disclose the increasing application of
participatory processes to develop measures for the redevelopment projects, whilst
solutions involving the top-down creation of a new building or activity, also requiring
a significant investment, are almost disappearing.
The lively emergence of participatory design initiatives is aimed at determining
the new demand (Sennet 2012), developing new strategies with co-design activities
to create and share new meanings and goals and frequently employ tactical urbanism
methodologies (Lydon and Garcia 2011) to anticipate possible scenarios, to raise
awareness and a sense of belonging in the inhabitants.
1 Cf. the exhibition and project site at http://www.arcipelagoitalia.it/en/home (accessed May 5th
2019).