Formazione e gestione congiunte nel progetto di restauro del paesaggio

The contribution takes its cue from two pilot landscape restoration sites (water meadows) in the Milanese peri-urban agricultural area, to reflect on the problems of management and training of the actors involved during and after the intervention phases. It concerns neglected historical former agrarian sites with a significant environmental and cultural value for the contemporary urban society. After examining the different approaches to landscape restoration from several disciplines (ecology, agronomy, forestry, urban planning and architecture), the paper focus on the application of the architectural restoration principles to landscape restoration. The results of the first pilot site demonstrated the need of daily routine management of the water meadow; so, a training course for ‘campari’ (workers that control the flow of the water in the marcita) was organised during the second pilot site. The course, opened to the public, was attended by a large number of people from different categories such as fragile people, unemployed, as well as professionals (farmers, agronomists, environmental guides and architects). These people all worked together to restore the water meadow. The experience demonstrated a direct increase in the participants’ awareness, while a decrease in the quality of restoration, compared to the work carried out by professional agronomists, architects and farmers at the first site. However, the high perishability of the landscape heritage has led to the launch of a participatory and dynamic management process (between owners, tenants and volunteers), taking into account the needs and interests of the various volunteers available to care daily the water meadow. The University has been builder, mediator and supporter of this process, as well as trainer.