Design and technologies for integration of archeological resources in environmental design. The Strategic Plan of Marsala.

Cultural heritage has a strategic role for the progress of territories and the conservation of local identities. The concept of sustainable development leads to consider the cultural heritage as local resource, rich, first of all, of different social values. From this point of view, the preservation of the cultural heritage is not a cost for the society, but a driving force for the local development. Often the action strategies are fragmentary and do not assure an enhancement that should be economically sustainable and compatible with the peculiarity of the resources, and, more in general, of the territory. The enhancement should be structured as a systemic frame to sustain culture as a resource for the competitiveness. The right models of governance and management are fundamental for the knowledge, the enhancement and, the management of the heritage. A strategic and integrated planning as system to support actions and projects. Working in a perspective of management and integration of the territorial resources, it is essential to reflect on the role of the different actors involved. From the normative point of view, the activities of cultural enhancement can be managed directly or indirectly, involving also the private sector and social enterprises, implying a new concept of cultural good as surplus value for the community that owns it, because the cultural goods are a potential instrument of development for the economic industries and for the promotional activities of the territory. In this way, it is possible to create new organization forms, as network and cultural systems, in which the cooperation of the actors encourages compactness of management, combined investments, sharing of resources and human capital, and involvement for the construction of the local identity. This concept has been developed by the research group “Governance, Design and Valorisation for the Built Environment” of Politecnico di Milano with the PhD Course “Design and technologies for cultural heritage” for the strategic planning of Marsala (Sicily, Italy). An activity funded by the Municipality with regional funds and carried out involving important consultants (Centro Studi PIM, Avventura Urbana, Eures Group and Itinera Lab). The archaeological excellences of Marsala are a potential and catalytic element, and therefore they are considered as an instrument for a local development of the local system, which is structured both for a new urban, social and environmental settlement and for the improvement of the quality of the residential system, with the restoration of the real estate heritage. The Strategic Plan of Marsala has permitted to bring back the complexity of the local context - given by the variety and the articulation of the cultural heritage, the actors and the process of constitution of the local identity and the attribution of value to the resources of the territory - in a “meta-planning” approach structured for requirements, performances and strategies. In this way, paying attention to the needs of the local community and the stakeholders, the archaeological resources have become the lever to manage a “cascading” process of enhancement open to the widest area of the territory of Marsala, with the aim to research synergies and nets of relationships between subjects and resources. The testing of the process of enhancement of the archaeological heritage started with the Strategic Plan, leading to important results: - in the short term, the development of the sites already usable nowadays and a higher awareness of the local community for the preservation of archaeological resources; - in the medium term, the archaeological park of Capo Boeo as element of connection between archaeological goods spread in the territory, and the cultural and environmental events that the city offers; - in the long term, a “strong” candidacy for the recognition of the system “Mothia and Lilibeo and the Phoenician civilization in Italy” as Unesco world heritage site.