Planum - showspace



	the shapes of the territory the urban project networks and infrastructures the environment and the landscape innovative instruments in urban planning

	The shapes of the territory The shape of the Italian territory is changing significantly. The scale is changing because the physical shape of the city is expanding into vaster and vaster territories which are more and more densely used within. The hierarchies are changing as historical places of the traditional centre are being decomposed and fragmented. As a consequence they are being scattered beyond these traditional centres into spaces beyond which above all hybrid spaces are being generated and which comprise production cycles, residential areas, consumption and leisure activity, the way of living and behaviours of those who dwell in this territory, which is forever expanding are changing. Lifestyles and settlement areas are evolving, becoming separate from one another and then reconstituting and thus forming new associations which no longer make it possible to identify the city with only its physical shape. Given then that concentrated, built up landscape areas are adjacent to more scattered loosely populated areas in a most peculiar manner, it is necessary to investigate the new characteristics of these settlement environments, both an expression of similarity and contrast, in terms of innovation and tradition. Our department is particularly interested in this phenomenon and has, for some time now, been committed to the observation and critical interpretation of this contemporary territory in evolution. ITATEN, a national research project produced for the Ministry of Public Works, is a case in point. New interpretation models which centre around the notion of the local settlement environment (Clementi, A., Dematteis, G. & P.C. Palermo, Le forme del territorio, 2 volumes, Laterza, Bai, 1996), the shape/types of change (ed. Ricci, M. Figure della trasformazione, Ed'A, 1996) and types dispersal/scattering phenomenon (Pavia R., Babele. La città della dispersione, Meltemi, 2001) have been investigated. Subsequent research has attempted to apply these new categories of research above all to our Adriatic coastline (see also Pavia R., Marche, Figure e luoghi della trasformazione, Palombi, Roma, 2000) and to the Mediterranean context (Clementi, A. "Città mediterranee," (eds.) Mediterraneo. Città, territorio, Economie, 2 voll., Credito Fondiario, Roma, 1995). Main references -ITATEN, Indagini sulle trasformazioni degli assetti del teritorio nazionale, Convenzione Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici - Università di Chieti, Politecnici di Milano e Torino, co-ordinated by A. Clementi, G. Dematteis, P. C. Palermo (1994-97) -EUROTER, Indagini sulle regioni europee. Il caso della regione adriatica, Convenzione Ministero dei Lavori Pubblici - Università di Chieti, co-ordinated by A. Clementi, G. Barbieri (1995-96) -University research, Area metropolitana Pescara-Chieti, co-ordinated by A. Clementi, R. Mascarucci (1996-97).

	The urban plan In the 1980s Europe developed a strategy for modernizing its cities which was based on complex urban plans and programmes. New processes of planning which comprised experimenting agreements between public and private organizations, co-ordinating the parties involved, the management of the various financial resources and the ability of directing local administrative bodies to govern themselves were concretely responsible for sustaining these complex urban plans and programmes. Since their very inception there have been problems in developing and setting them up and this in turn has demonstrated that there is an associated procedural and interdisciplinary side to them. For these reasons the plan has taken on new directions, not only in terms of the architecture of the city and the identity of the locations/places, but also in terms of administrative, urban, economic and social feasibility; as a consequence the urban plan needs to constantly undergo evaluation. The strategies associated with the urban plan has gained ground in Italy because of the various intervention instruments which are supported by specific financing laws (upgrading and restoration programmes, metropolitan area contracts, Prusst and Urban programmes financed by the European Union). The field of intervention has increased considerably over time from the historical centre of the city to its outskirts; its abandoned and disused areas; environmental upgrading programmes and to new infrastructure systems. Functionality, an appropriate morphology, operational feasibility and a sharing of social concerns is what is essentially required of the plan. The demand for new urban plans is increasing as are new opportunities for professionals in this field of work. The Department has been working for some time in this new area of urban plan development and has been particularly concerned with the following: teaching; research (in particular with research conducted in conjunction with the Ministry for Public Works on Urban Programmes); international, experimental planning workshops (e.g. Pescara Workshop 1995; the Manopello Interport within the province of Chieti; the Rogaska Slatina Plan in Slovenia); consultancy for urban plans (in particular the Master Plans for Durazzo, Loreto Aprutino and Peschici); and finally for local projects upon request of municipalities (e.g. feasibility study for the abandoned central railway station area). Main references - "PIC URBAN Italia" Programme, support programme for the period spanning 2000-06, Ministry for Public Works, Milan Polytechnic, ARPA Consortium -Naples, co-ordinated by Piercarlo Palermo, 200-01. - Lo spazio delle infrastrutture. 5 Progetti per Pescara, Sala editori, Pescara, 1996. - Master Plan di Durazzo, Quaderni Piano Progetto Città, no. 17, 2000.

	Networks and infrastructures The quality, efficiency and competitive nature of territories depends directly on the network systems which are present on it; in particular the settlement, environmental, technological and infrastructure networks. Administrative bodies and authorities responsible for them in Italy have largely neglected them. In the last two decades there has been a noticeable decrease in capital spent on public works while more has been spent on infrastructure and urban-territorial policies. Costs, sectorialzation and only occasional interventions have meant that public works have had less and less an effect on upgrading processes which have taken place in the city and on the territory. The planning of infrastructure works, which was once the main concern of architects and urban planners, now occupies almost a secondary role to qualitative evaluation. Only very recently have those who work in the field come to the realization that the re-organization of the city and the territory cannot be solely entrusted to building works but rather to complex programmes with infrastructure networks organically connected to modernizing the settlement and productive systems of the territory. In this light public and infrastructure works have returned to occupy a central role. Such a role is even more evident if the infrastructures are seen as a network connection that intertwines with exchange links. These links are not to be taken only as logistic points because they can come to exist in new central places where diverse functions (which do not necessarily concern transport, roadways, business or leisure time) are integrated and thus upgrade the total access and concentration conditions of the link. The notion of network provides an interpretative and operational key of great importance, not only for urban and territorial policies, but also for strategic and environmental upgrading. The Department has been actively engaged in research and consultation on the above issues and has proposed innovative procedures as it did for RETURB, a programme of national interest on new government policies which has repercussions even at the administrative level. The Department also conducted extensive research on infrastructures contained in port areas and developed a vast amount of documentation on the specific topic. Territori e spazi delle infrastutture (TransEuropa, Ancona, 1998) by Clementi and Pavia synthesizes the various issues. Main references - RETURB, Grandi reti e trasformazioni urbane in Italia, inter-university research programme. - MURST 40%, national co-ordinator A. Clementi (1995-2000). - Study of Port Plans, CNR national project, co-ordinator Rosario Pavia (1995-1998). - Angelone. C. & R. Pavia Nuova Classificazione dei porti in Abruzzo e prospettive di sviluppo dellla portualità regionale, Giuffrè, Milano, 1999.

	Environment and the landscape New demands are being placed on contemporary urban planning. They are mainly demands concerning the protection of the natural environment which are being made in a forward manner by anti-globalization protestors but which are also endorsed officially by events such as the ONU Conference in Rio de Janiero in 1992. At this conference all countries were involved and the issues discussed wee: the increasing risks due to pollution; urban traffic congestion and the exploitation of natural resources. Europe is understood to be of fundamental importance to humankind's cultural identity: a heritage to protect, upgrade or recreate, in cases where it has been damaged. Given these new demands a different way of looking at urban planning and planning for the territory, environment and landscape is being developed. The demands placed on the environment have therefore been re-interpreted in the following manner: a search for a new relationship between nature, the city and the territory. This new definition has meant that the basic theories of urban planning have changed and that a new interdisciplinary response to the ecosystem has come about. In addition, the demand placed on the landscape implies that a redefinition of the strategies of the master plan and project has to take place so that they are compatible with the overall objectives concerning quality; the environment and settlements on it which are already existent. As a consequence a new type of urban planning is evolving, a type of planning that revolves around the principal of sustainability. This means that the environment of the city and the territory is not compromised, that the consumption of non-recyclable products is limited and that an attempt is made to preserve and maintain the landscape as much as possible. For some time now DART has been seriously committed to the issue of the environment and the landscape, especially because the Abruzzo region is one with very many virgin natural parks and landscapes. It has undertaken research projects and runs professional development courses in conjunction with ministries and local administrations. It is actively involved in the inter-university research project APE (Appennino Parco d'Europa - the Apennines Europe's Park) run by the Ministry for the Environment. It co-ordinates university research at a national level on environmental evaluation models and practices applied to urban planning in collaboration with UNESCO. After having contributed significantly to the first national conference on The Italian Landscape, in conjunction with the Italian Association of Urban Planners, it is co-ordinating research for the Ministero dei Beni Culturali (Ministry for Culture and the Heritage) on landscape plans, a project started up after the stipulation of the European Agreement on the Landscape which took place in Florence. Main references - APE, Inter-university research on the infrastructure and the environment and objectives for upgrading the Apennine belt within the general context of Europe, Ministry for the Environment, Turin Polytechnic; co-ordinators: R. Gambino, A. Clementi, G. Dematteis (2000-01). - 40% MURST research, Models to apply for the strategic environmental evaluation of urban planning; national co-ordiantor: A. Busca. - Research on Methodological studies for the application of the European agreement on the landscape, Ministry for Culture and the Heritage, Italian Association of Urban Planners; co-ordinator: A. Clementi.

	Innovative instruments in urban planning Given the rate at which urban planning is developing and evolving, or better still the legal guidelines associated with the practice, there have been considerable changes which were unheard of up until just a few years ago. The introduction of new instruments such as the Integrated Intervention and Upgrading Programmes as well as the regional laws (in for example the Apuglia, Basilicata, Veneto, Umbria, Tuscany and Emilia Romagna regions) which serve as the new guidelines for the general outline of a structure plan are concrete examples of the practice of urban planning in evolution. This new process is largely dependent on a change in the way in which administrations run and control the layout of the territory. In fact, it is at the very basis of the necessity to make use of flexible instruments in order to re-utilize and innovate entire areas of the already existent territory. The division of the structure plan into two non-consequential phases and the use of integrated intervention programmes bring a determining factor to the forefront, that is the fact that urban planning is no longer subject to definite plans, but rather is determined by consensus agreement. Urban planning now is conducted on the basis of agreement (art. 11 L.241/90) and is subject to negotiation. Urban planning is negotiated like any other public object which is subject to an administrative body and is equal to any other type of administrative power. New processes and instruments of urban planning therefore are parallel and require more and more an acute knowledge of how public administrations operate and how public and private partners in the agreement tend to co-determine the urban layout. This co-determination profoundly changes the scenario and therefore builds a legal key for introducing willingness and negotiation between private enterprise of urban authority/power. Main references - Urbani P., Urbanistica consensuale, Bollati Boringheri, Toorino, 2001. - Mascarucci R., Nuova programmazione e progetti di territorio, Sala editori, Pescara, 2000.