Interventions in historic urban cores have long been a debated subject throughout the years: how managing the necessary transformations? Is it possible to come up with guidelines at an urban planning level, which take into consideration the values engrained in the past, while at the same time guarantee coherent development in our cities? How arriving to conjugate conservation and transformation/adaptation of the existing city, while respecting the identity of the place? This is a presentation of a research which has been aimed at formulating a management strategy for interventions within the urban centre. The adopted approach takes cognisance of the complex nature of existing fabrics through the knowledge of building elements, evolutionary processes, transformations carried out, to create a strategy capable of withholding the survival of all the present components and their development through time. Taking into consideration the reality behind every singular issue, it is possible to arrive at adequate conclusions as answers to the existing problems, which respect the whole as a sum of its parts. Managing the infinite variables of a complex reality, with flexibility and adaptability, ensures an effective application of normative measures. The aim is to outline the project procedures, through formulated guidelines, for carrying out interventions. The qualitative iter is split in three levels of investigation, which correspond to the three different scales of intervention and subject matters. The “first level” consists of obtaining general knowledge of the site and includes historical documentation and analysis to identify functional characteristics, morphological aspects, material and pathological properties. Thus the information retrieved in this phase with datasheets, reproduced in thematic maps, will result in a central information database or archive, which will be used to establish any necessary controls. The “second level” takes into consideration the problems emerged from the analysis undertaken at the previous level and it focused on the areas which have been identified as mostly damaged and which therefore require immediate attention and intervention. The new analysis, which implement the central information database, are: visual analysis of the exterior state of the building, inspection of the interiors (structural condition, usability of building etc), state of conservation and use of the open spaces. Finally, the “third level” provides information for the compilation of intervention projects on buildings and open spaces. It consists of imposing an analytical iter to the designer, so he can take into consideration the singular characteristics and intrinsic value of the objects and he can opt for coherent choices. In this way, the designer will be able to have an active role in the common objective of preserving the urban fabric and its stratifications, whilst guaranteeing development through time which adapts to what exists on site and any future exigencies. At the same time the central database will be amplified and enriched. Such methodology has been verified through its application in a study case, the island of Ortigia (Siracusa, Italy), which is an interesting urban palimpsest, subject to a series of measures which, from 1968, have addressed a lot of problems.

Managing transformations in historic urban cores between conserving and developing. A case study

GIAMBRUNO, MARIA CRISTINA;SIMONELLI, RAFFAELLA
2012-01-01

Abstract

Interventions in historic urban cores have long been a debated subject throughout the years: how managing the necessary transformations? Is it possible to come up with guidelines at an urban planning level, which take into consideration the values engrained in the past, while at the same time guarantee coherent development in our cities? How arriving to conjugate conservation and transformation/adaptation of the existing city, while respecting the identity of the place? This is a presentation of a research which has been aimed at formulating a management strategy for interventions within the urban centre. The adopted approach takes cognisance of the complex nature of existing fabrics through the knowledge of building elements, evolutionary processes, transformations carried out, to create a strategy capable of withholding the survival of all the present components and their development through time. Taking into consideration the reality behind every singular issue, it is possible to arrive at adequate conclusions as answers to the existing problems, which respect the whole as a sum of its parts. Managing the infinite variables of a complex reality, with flexibility and adaptability, ensures an effective application of normative measures. The aim is to outline the project procedures, through formulated guidelines, for carrying out interventions. The qualitative iter is split in three levels of investigation, which correspond to the three different scales of intervention and subject matters. The “first level” consists of obtaining general knowledge of the site and includes historical documentation and analysis to identify functional characteristics, morphological aspects, material and pathological properties. Thus the information retrieved in this phase with datasheets, reproduced in thematic maps, will result in a central information database or archive, which will be used to establish any necessary controls. The “second level” takes into consideration the problems emerged from the analysis undertaken at the previous level and it focused on the areas which have been identified as mostly damaged and which therefore require immediate attention and intervention. The new analysis, which implement the central information database, are: visual analysis of the exterior state of the building, inspection of the interiors (structural condition, usability of building etc), state of conservation and use of the open spaces. Finally, the “third level” provides information for the compilation of intervention projects on buildings and open spaces. It consists of imposing an analytical iter to the designer, so he can take into consideration the singular characteristics and intrinsic value of the objects and he can opt for coherent choices. In this way, the designer will be able to have an active role in the common objective of preserving the urban fabric and its stratifications, whilst guaranteeing development through time which adapts to what exists on site and any future exigencies. At the same time the central database will be amplified and enriched. Such methodology has been verified through its application in a study case, the island of Ortigia (Siracusa, Italy), which is an interesting urban palimpsest, subject to a series of measures which, from 1968, have addressed a lot of problems.
2012
Atti dell’International Conference on Architectural Research “Cities in transformation. Research and Design”
9782930301563
knowledge; historic centre; management; preservation; development
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11311/690380
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact