The themes of project exploration

The projects were elaborated with the aim of supplying guidelines of method and criteria of intervention that would give a first set of answers to the questions that had come up in the previous phases. They have an essentially "exploratory" character and seek to outline the general and essential contents of a unified project, which proposes to define an overall view in which the renewal of the station as a place of "new centrality" and the enhancement of its urban setting are elements of a single strategy.

Clearly the research does not aim to suggest operative solutions directly but to highlight some possible approaches to intervention through the project exploration conducted in the case-studies.

In developing the project proposals, with regard to the relation between the station and the urban context, particular attention has been devoted to the following aspects:

· the potential for urban transformation and enhancement of the railway areas and of the areas ranged along the boundaries of the goods yards;
· prospects for overcoming the infrastructural barrier created by the railway and its morphological and functional reorganisation, by inserting new links that traverse the belt of railway lines and by urban enhancement projects along the boundaries of the railway area on both sides;
· the potential for the station and the surrounding urban context to take on a role as a "new urban centrality" by re-organising its services for railway users and the introduction of new facilities for the city.

Choosing the cases-studies

The following cities were chosen for case studies to develop the project criteria:
· Ravenna,
· Rimini,
· Imola,
· Reggio Emilia

The choice was made on the basis of specific criteria that guaranteed, at least to a certain extent, the possibility of generalising and extending the project orientations that emerged from the specific situations and problems to the other cities examined in the first phase of the research. These criteria are bound up with the size of the cities; to the prospects and needs for interconnections and interchanges; with the opportunities and outlook for urban improvement and development in the railway areas or along the boundaries of station; with the existence of purposeful planning.

Project criteria adopted

The various case-studies were based on a project approach that was intended to furnish orientations and criteria of intervention that could be generalised and applied to the other towns of the Region analysed in the first phase of the research.
This led to the adoption of the following principles:
- in compliance with the guidelines in the PRIT (Integrated Regional Transport Plan), the project adopts the hypothesis of a strong development of rail transport;
- drawing on the planning instruments, it accepts the prospect of a simple technological adaptation of the existing trunks lines and nodes; in other words it does not consider the possibility of putting the lines underground, moving the belt of lines or relocating the station;
- drawing on current trends at the regional level, the project accepted the idea of relocating the goods stations and, in prospect, a more general reduction of the railway areas around the stations;
- with regard to the use of railway areas - which often offer large margins of convertibility - and of the adjoining areas along the boundaries of the railway station, the project draws on the planning instruments and existing plans of intervention, adopting a hypothesis of method that envisages their closer integration with the urban context, without, however, advancing specific proposals for re-use and conversion.

Components of the project

The proposals developed for the various case-studies are all intended to provide project indications and orientations concerning some essential components of a possible standard project. The components identified for this purpose are the following:
· the travellers' building;
· the boundaries of the railway area, on the "city side" and the "back";
· crossings of the tracks;
· adaptation of the platforms and the rail decks;
· accessibility and transport interchanges;