MARGHERA AS A PART OF THE CITY
Marghera as a part of the city Radical-rational scenario
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“Radicalism is needed to better understand the magnitude of the changes underway and the potential and possibilities that they can open. The descriptive effort is transposed to the futureâ€? (Viganò 2012,p.9)
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
EUROPEAN POSTGRADUATE MASTERS IN URBANISM FALL SEMESTER 2013/2014 IUAV VENEZIA DESIGN STUDIO SITUATIONS, SCENARIOS BERNARDO SECCHI PAOLA VIGANÒ
STUDENTS ANDREA ÜBERBACHER MRUDHULA KOSHY ANDREW SI XIAO EVGENIYA BOBKOVA
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PORTO MARGHERA AS IT IS TODAY SCENARIO ZERO HARBOUR DEBATE CRUISE SHIPS DEBATE MIGRATION FROM VENICE SCENARIO ZERO: CONCLUSIONS
6 7 8 10 11 12 14
HYPOTHESIS
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SCENARIO CONSTRUCTION POTENTIALS AND CONFLICTS REALISTIC FUTURE POTENTIAL FOR HABITATION URBANISATION URBAN TISSUE
18 20 28 29 32 34
SPINE DIVERSIFICATION AND SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS RE-USE POSTINDUSTRIAL HERITAGE, EDGES DEPOLLUTION
36 38 39 40
STRATEGIC SPACES MESTRE STATION PORTO MARGHERA STATION TESTPAD: MARGHERA SOUTH
43 44 45 47
PHASING CONCLUSIONS AND REFLECTION
52 54
FIGURES BIBLIOGRAPHY
58 58
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INTRODUCTION Probing the unfathomable future has fascinated experts from times of yore. Scientific experts used deterministic forecasts to stipulate what future would await the coming generations. The unknown future was considered to be within our knowledgeable grip. However, during the past few decades, this way of tackling the future was acknowledged to be simplistic and limiting. The future is uncertain and unknown. Its natural or strategic orientation cannot be predicted using statistics and forecasts. Intuition, on which many designers and planners once based their decisions on, were also seen to not fulfill the kind of normative response that was expected. Breaking the future into minute details would mean being too certain. Being too generic in analysis would mean it is unreliable to base it for further study. There is hence a need for a method; one that is logical but argumentative; one that is hypothetical but normative; one that explores all possible and desirable futures using existing contexts and conditions as the background. The end goal may not be the only one that is possible. But probing deeply through the lens of a particular type of future broadens the understandingof the kind of complexity that is to be dealt with. Scenario construction best fulfils this need. It enables to
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to read the territory, landscape and connected networks as an interwoven system, layers it with the over - arching issues and pluralisms and then attempts to imagine a desirable future. This future may be a rational solution which emerges from what is existing, or it may be a radical transformation of the present condition or it may be radical - rational; where the radicalism is preceded by rational steps. The booklet is structured along the lines of progress of the design studio. Contextualising the post – industrial degeneration in Marghera leads us to envisioning an alternative future for Marghera. This is elaborated by the means of scenarios. The paperbooklet follows by attempting to expand the landscape ecological approach with the help of appropriate guiding models and tools. It concludes by reflecting on how a strategic combination of scenario planning and ecological approach can assist a physical realisation in a long term future.
PORTO MARGHERA AS IT IS TODAY Marghera is geographically positioned between two highly contrasting urban environments, the diffuse city of the Veneto region called the CittaDiffusa and Venice. The urban connotations of this location are explained in a later section of the paper. The strategic position of Marghera on the edge of the lagoon enabled it to develop as one of the biggest industrial platforms in Europe in the 20th century. The widespread crisis of numerous industrial sectors and the shift from the age of manufacturing to that of advanced technology contributed to its decline. The redundancy compounded by the prevailing economic crisis has turned the site into a testimony of its past industrial heritage with abandoned buildings and polluted land. The garden city which was built to house the industrial workers is now populated by immigrants. The city faces social exclusion on various levels. Though the city is globally connected with all the major traffic flows pas-
sing through it, it is locally dis-connected. European regulations have called for re – industrialization which is met with opposition by the local people due to negative effects of proximity to industries. The few industries that survive are exploring alternate, cleaner options for continuing their activities. Many buildings are lying vacant because of want of use. The surrounding land is also polluted. However, since de – pollution is a cost intensive, time consuming process, nothing has been done so far to rectify the damage. Thus, the image of Marghera has not undergone any change in the last three decades. It exists in public perception as the periphery of a city; an insignificant in – between territory with ambiguous spatial characteristics.
Introduction 7
SCENARIO ZERO Territory should be analyzed through the lens of a chosen scenario. But if there are strong tendencies that cannot be disregarded and are going to happen anyway, if no modifying action is done, they can be described as scenario zero. If this scenario is elaborated, it helps to develop all other scenarios in a sense that they also have to react on ongoing tendencies, if they are negative. There are several important tendencies happening now on the territory of Marghera. The ďŹ rst one is related to restructuring of industries, and the strongest actor here is the Port Authority. Another tendency is a transformation of an urban form in the garden city. There are several projects conducted by the Port which will have a very strong inuence in the future. There is a plan of port extension, which includes large-scale constructions of two terminals (for containers in petro-chemical area and for ferries in Fusina) in Porto Marghera and construction of offshore terminal for oil transportation and for containers out of the Lagoon. The offshore terminal inuence will be positive, because most of the logistics for large-scale containerships and for oil transportation will be removed from the Lagoon. Speaking about new, land-based terminals, - new fast connections will be built to connect them with existing infrastructure (road for trucks and railways). The city of Marghera is al-
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ready cut off from the hinterland and from Mestre by highways and by railways; it does not have a real connection with the lagoon because of neglected industrial lands and port activities. Future extensions of the Port will only worsen this situation. Ongoing transformation of the urban form in the garden city involves an emergence of mixed-use activities along via Fratelli Bandiera, extension of the monorail to connect Marghera with Venice, and construction of several shopping malls on the western border of the garden city. We can say that extension of monorail and new small-scale activities are positive for the city, but nevertheless, we do not believe that these tendencies are capable to radically change depressed condition of the city. And appearance of shopping malls leads to a failure of street life and local acivities in the city, so this aspect can be regarded as a strongly negative.
Ongoing projects Source: www.port.venice.it
Scenario zero 9
MARGHERA as a part of the city
HARBOUR DEBATE It is also crucial to say, that in European context the Port of Venice is not competitive at all. It is not even in the ďŹ rst twenty of European ports. Speaking about Italian context, there are harbours (Trieste, Genova) which are much more important, have a potential to expand, and have a highly developed and well-functioning rail and road infrastructure to transport goods. So we can observe a great irrationality in current expansion plans of Port of Venice: without having a real
chance to become competitive on global and even national scale, Port Authority invests a lot of money in implementing the projects which have a strong negative inuence on local, city scale of Marghera. So, we can suggest hypothetically that in a long-term perspective, it is not rational anymore to keep port activities in Marghera.
Harbour in European context Data Source: European commision. Eurostat. Online available at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
CRUISE SHIPS DEBATE When we think about possible drivers of change that could help to make Marghera more attractive, we also have to consider some other ongoing tendencies and debates. One of the existing debates is about cruise ships in the Lagoon. Due to the tourist increase the cruise economy is also increasing, and at the same time cruise trafďŹ c through the Guidecca canal was partially restricted recently. So there is a debate where to build new cruise terminal in the Lagoon. Porto Marghera could provide a very good strategic location for it because of proximity to Venice, and because of minimal ecological impact on the lagoon (no need to dredge new canals).
Nevertheless, in short-term perspective it is impossible to imagine a new container terminal in Porto Marghera, because all the docks are serving now for the port needs. But, considering the fact that sooner or later the Port of Venice would decline, construction of cruise terminal on the territory of the port, would have a strong positive impact on the territory. Cruise terminal would become a driver of change: it would bring around six thousands of new jobs, facilitate improvements in public transport network, and possibly would involve the emergence of new mixed-use and residential neighbourhoods next to it.
Data Source Map Lagoon: Commune Di Venezia, Commissario del Governo Delegato al TrafďŹ co Acqueo nella laguna di Venezia.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
MIGRATION FROM VENICE Another important tendency in the territory is migration of the Venice residents away from Venice. With a certain level of abstraction we can observe a situation typical for many large metropolitan areas. Touristic and extremely expensive center (Venice) becomes an unaffordable place to live, so many of its residents tend to move to suburban areas (in general the Diffuse City, but mainly - first crown of the villages next to Marghera). They almost never choose Marghera, a white spot in a middle of “Venice metropolitan area”, as a place to settle down.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
Transformation of properties in Venice
Buy and rent prices in comparison
Data Source: Nuova Venezia, 10. December 2011
Data Source: www.immbiliare.it/prezzi-mq/Veneto/Venezia.html
Movement to Venice Data Source: VIVERE A VENEZIA MOBILITÀ RESIDENZIALE, Venezia e la „concorrenzialità“ del suo hinterland. SPAZI SOTTRATTI ALLA RE-
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
SCENARIO ZERO: CONCLUSIONS Drawing conclusions from the scenario zero, we think that it is possible to follow the ongoing trends of restructuring territory for mixed-use activities and industries or to propose a radical mind shift in order to change the image of this town in people’s eyes. Starting point of the radical-rational scenario two is the tendency of migration of people away from Venice. Scenario is exploring the possibility to restructure Porto Marghera in an attractive part of the city.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
Source: Adrian Rigby http://www.originalpaintings.com/images/Adrian_Rigby/the_lagoon_at_sunset_new.jpg
Source: Fabio Thian http://blog.imaginevenice.com/about/
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WHAT IF... QUALITATIVE LIVING ENVIRONMENT CAN TRANSFORM A POST-INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE INTO A PART OF THE CITY?
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HYPOTHESIS Marghera is one of the most problematic and unattractive places in a whole Veneto region. It is dangerous, car-oriented, polluted and monofunctional, it is a certain kind of a ghetto as it is physically fenced from the rest of the world by borders which are not easy to transform. We understand that radical scenario is hardly realizable, especially in a context of crisis. But we need to explore new, ‘brave’ horizons in order to deeply understand which potentials can be hidden even in an extremely bad place, and how these potentials, with some strategic actions applied, can transform the place into radically different, attractive environment.
We can imagine, that Marghera could become attractive. It could offer proximity to Venice and to hinterland (if system of fast and slow networks would be restructured), it could offer beautiful waterfronts with a view to Venice (if they would be accessible), it could provide public spaces (there is a lot of neglected and polluted green plots), it could have its own identity (there are many landmarks as traces of industrial past), and, in the end, the new city could emerge and could shape a new center of a Venice metropolitan area.
Hypothesis 17
MARGHERA as a part of the city
SCENARIO CONSTRUCTION It is evident that the tendency of Marghera to remain as it is, is highly probable. The problems are manifold and the stakeholders are many with conflicting interests. In the light of such over – arching complexity and uncertainty, it may be useful to understand the use of scenarios to hypothesise an alternate future for Marghera. Scenarios attempt to equip us to deal with maximum uncertainty. It helps us to ponder over a range of possibilities that might or might not shape the distant future. It enables reflecting on the plausible consequences from different perspectives when faced with a complex, uncertain, unpredictable future. Following that logic, the process of scenario planning is a cognitive process; one which alludes to ‘a logic of
SCENARIO
What if qualitative living environment can transform a post industrial landscape into a part of the city?
appropriateness, that is to the deposits of history, of rules, of tradition, common knowledge of the local contexts, and/or the image of the city rendered by the discipline as a great guiding image’. (Mazza, 1997) It is evident that Marghera is confronted by multifarious incoherent debacles surrounding issues such as fragmentation, crisis, pollution, abandoncy and power imbalance. The existing social, cultural, economic and political pluralisms are in conflict with each other. This makes it difficlut to understand the strategic orientation of the region in the future. It is possible that vegetation might take over the platform and activate a de - pollution process. It is possible that the industrial heritage may assume other
MARGHERA AS A PART OF THE CITY - HABITATION PROCESS PROPOSAL RESULT 01
PROPOSAL RESULT 02
REALISTIC FUTURE
POSSIBLE FUTU
EMiGRATION
NEGATIVE POTENTIALS SPACES & ISSUES
TREND VENICE: MOVEMENT TO MAINLAND
activities HYPOTHESIS
MARGHERA ISSUES: SOCIAL ISSUES POLLUTION ECONOMICAL DECLINE DISCONNECTED TWO MAIN TENDENCIES IN MARGHERA: RESTRUCTURE INDUSTRY / LOGISTICS GROWING MIXED USE AND FACILITIES
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DECONSTRUCTION
STRATEGIC SPACES
STARTING POIN OF INTERVENT
MAP NEGATIVE ISSUES FOR HABITATON
MAP POTENTIALS FO HABITATION
hydrology / edges abandoncy fast and slow network green spaces
CONFLICT MAP
MARGHERA as a part of the city
uses other than energy production. It is possible that the current ensuing discussions on renewable energy sources can activate production of a different kind. It is possible that the economic crisis may negate any attempts to revive the area. How might one approach a synthesised vision accommodating a simultaneous relative negation of the self-same issues and imply a plausible realisation of an alternative future? This situation makes scenarios an appropriate tool for understanding what the future holds for the place.
DESIGN GUIDLINES FOR HABITATION - “SPLIT UP” WHAT IFS: DIVERSIFICATION - SPATIAL CHARACTERISITCS Mestre Station RE
NT TION
OR
What if urban diversification is used to enhance urban quality in a long term perspective?
STRATEGIC SPACES OF INTERVENTIONS
SPINE
REALISTIC FUTURE Maghera South
What if existing network flows were shifted to a resilient slow and fast network system? TESTING
POSSIBLE FUTURE
TESTPAD SCENARIO SCENARIO I SCENARIO II
What if recycling existing buildings, landscape heritage and edges could initiate this process?
What if land remediation is used to enhance urban quality in a long-term perspective, but also to enhance the urban quality during the on-going de-pollution process?
Former Petro chemical
MARGHERA AS A PART OF THE CITY
REFLECTION
RE-USE, POST-INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE, EDGES
DE-POLLUTION
REFLECTION SCENARIO
Porto Marghera Station
TIMEFRAME HABITATION DE-POLLUTION TOOLBOX
DE-POLLUTION PHASING
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POTENTIALS AND CONFLICTS Through the lens of our hypothesis we have started to describe the territory by defining areas with potentialities for future inhabitation and areas which constitute problems and negative issues of Marghera. Several layers of potentials include green spaces, waterfronts (hard and soft water edges), abandoned and semi-used buildings, slow transport connections (public transport lines, for example) and landmarks. Negative issues show main problems of Marghera: fast connections, heavily polluted areas, dangerous activities (power plants, oil refineries), ‘bad’ and smelly places (landfills), port activities.
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ACTIVITIES
Deconstruction 21
MARGHERA as a part of the city
ABANDONCY
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
FAST AND SLOW NETWORKS
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
HYDROLOGY
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
GREEN SPACES
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
NEGATIVE ISSUES Map of negative issues is our interpretation of the primary problems of the territory. It includes heavily polluted areas, smelly and dangerous activities with buffer zones, big boxes, hard port activities, landďŹ lls and fast connections.
Porto Marghera Source:Jane Bobkova
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
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REALISTIC FUTURE In spite of the fact that the territory of Marghera carries many potentialities, there are still much more problems, and it is highly unlikely that they will be solved in the near future. Still, we can suggest that polluted lands will be reclaimed, port will decline, oil refineries will go away (Eni now has twenty year contract, and municipality does not want to have an oil refinery next Venice) and cruise terminal will be constructed on the former port territory. So, from our analysis we have got two results: realistic and possible. Realistic result takes into consideration existing conflicts in the territory – its abstraction is a combined map of potentials and problems. And in possible result the story is drawn until the end. It shows places potential for future inhabitation if current conflicts will be solved.
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POTENTIAL FOR HABITATION In the long term possible scenario, only the potentials have been considered. The long term duration enables to assume that a sufďŹ cient portion of the land will be de - polluted and available for urbanisation. The petroleum industry which had a contract to stay for twenty years might also move away. When considering the competitiveness of the ports in Europe, it is evident that the port in Marghera is not as competitive as the remaining ports in the region. Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp are the biggest ports. Inside Italy, the ports of Genoa and Treviso are far busier than the port of Marghera. Given the possibilities that the port will shift its activities from Marghera and depollution can lead to an attractive future for Marghera, the possibility of sustaining the cruise terminal in Marghera increases. In the long term scenario, the cruise terminal can occupy the space of the port authority and function as a major anchor program in the area providing jobs to the people and a key to new relevant services which the area needs.
Results 29
MARGHERA as a part of the city
CARRYING STRUCTURE: REALISTIC FUTURE The differences in the possibilities of the short term and the long term are illustrated in these two maps. In the scenario “Marghera as a part of the city”, different kinds of green structures could help to transform it into liveable place. Firstly, the vegetation of the de-pollution process has positive influence on the space. By lifting up temporary use, this green could also be experienced instead of fenced off. Secondly, the available space through downgrading some fast lanes could integrate green in the territory. In addition, the slow lane approach of using abandoned railways as bike lanes and walkable space create a network or small-scale spine of green in the new accessible area. Not lastly, the combination of re-connected watercourses in combination with accessible green could help to contribute to the habitation and residential scenario in a longterm perspective. This connection between the hinterland and the new Marghera city will follow the existing watercourses
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
CARRYING STRUCTURE: POSSIBLE FUTURE In the possible future carrying structure will be expanded to te whole industrial platform, as well as to the area of the port. As we suggest that port will not be competitive and will go away, it is possible to consider having a space for a new cruise ships terminal in the docks of former port.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
URBANISATION fThe possible phasing of urbanisation was attempted by using actual examples which may be relevant in the desired contexts. Three phases are illustrated wherein the ďŹ rst phase depicts the realistic phase and the subsequent two phases depicts the long term possibilities.
Phase 0:existing situation
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Phase 1
Phase 2
MARGHERA as a part of the city
Phase 3
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
URBAN TISSUE The map on the right depicts the desired character of the area once it becomes suitable for habitation. Building typologies from relevant examples were studied to understand which would be most suitable depending on the existing context. These are examples from the transformed port areas in Europe, traditional Italian cities. There are also examples from Saverio Muratori studies of Venetian urban form for Mestre competition in 1967, as a try to contextualize the urban tissue and to establish relation with the city of Venice.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
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SPINE: WHAT IF EXISTING TRANSPORT NETWORK FLOWS WERE SHIFTED TO A RESILIENT SLOW AND FAST NETWORK SYSTEM? Due to proximity to the port activities, Marghera is surrounded by transit roads which transport flows of goods to the hinterlands. One of the roads, via Fratelli Bandiera, is fully truck oriented and cuts the garden city off from the waterfront. We know that such kind of fast connection is incompatible with ‘good’, small scale
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urban environment. In the future another fast connection to the south from Marghera will be facilitated, so to improve quality of the town and to make it attractive for new inhabitants it is crucial to remove this border and to provide soft connection between the city and the water.
We suggest that slow and fast flows must be separated in this context, and we proposed that flows of goods which are transported now by trucks and by rail, in the future would be transported only by rails. Shifting the flows would create the opportunity for the city to expand in the direction to the waterfront and to move towards “no car scenario”.
Design principles 37
MARGHERA as a part of the city
DIVERSIFICATION AND SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS: WHAT IF URBAN DIVERSIFICATION IS USED TO ENHANCE URBAN QUALITY IN A LONG TERM PERSPECTIVE? Social balance indicates also the diversiďŹ cation of the housing stock. By offering different kinds of housing typologies, all with excellent public transport access and green qualities (e.g. water-edge, close pocket parks, linear green structures, sport facilities etc.) the attractiveness of Marghera will increase.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
RE-USE POSTINDUSTRIAL HERITAGE, EDGES: WHAT IF RECYCLING OF EXISTING BUILDINGS, LANDSCAPE HERITAGE AND EDGES WOULD INITIATE THIS PROCESS? This question states the importance of understanding the quality of post-industrial heritage. In the means of recycling those existing structures needs to be analysed with respect to their potentials. In addition this question states the visual qualities of most of the waterfronts in Marghera.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
DEPOLLUTION: WHAT IF LAND REMEDIATION IS USED TO ENHANCE THE REGION IN THE LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE, BUT ALSO TO ENHANCE URBAN QUALITY DURING DE-POLLUTION PROCESS?
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MARGHERA as a part of the city Any requalification process has to be accompanied by a process of depollution. A toolbox elaborating depollution strategies such as phytoextraction, phytostabilisation, rhizodegradation, immobilization, constructed wetlands (circulation and cascade models) and excavation enabled to conceive which polluted area required what kind of de - pollution method. This resulted in a map which elaborates the specified method on the sites. Sites which had to be depolluted for immediate use could be cleaned by the method of immobilisation. Those sites which are heavily polluted and where vegetation already took over can be cleaned by phytoremediation. In areas where the method of excavation is used, the polluted soil can be used as land fill to create specific landscape terrains to differentiate fast and sow networks for aesthetics and enhanced user experience.
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Mestre station Schemes of densification in phasing
Porto Marghera station Schemes of densification in phasing
Marghera South Schemes of densification in phasing
Petro-chemical edge Schemes of densification in phasing
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STRATEGIC SPACES Strategic spaces are meaningful for both results of radical-rational scenario. These are the spaces that can be re-invented with the means of restructuring green and blue corridors, shifting ows, reusing abandoned buildings, activating water edges, densiďŹ cation, and depollution of contaminated lands. Areas of Mestre and Portomarghera station are crucial, because their development could also enhance connectivity with Mestre. Area of Marghera South and edge of petro-chemical compound shape together the third strategic space. Marghera South is a most problematic part of the garden city, and if it is reconstructed along with the industrial edge it could become a gateway for the whole industrial peninsula. This area will be described as a pilot project for further reclamation of the whole petro-chemical compound.
Strategic spaces 43
MARGHERA as a part of the city
MESTRE STATION This area in proximity to the Mestre station has many buildings which are partially in decline. It has water edges which can be used to potential and empty spaces which can be re - linked to form a robust green network which can connect to the slow lanes in the garden city. The phasing begins by forming a network of green spaces to change the existing spatial structure and make it more qualitative. This is done so by identifying relevant streets which are converted to slow lanes and empty spaces which become pocket parks. Some appropriation is done by taking away parts of buildings to create
Phase 1
Phase 3
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the network. This is continued also to Mestre to establish a Mestre - Marghera spatial linkage. The re - use of existing buildings takes prominence in the second phase once the spatial quality has been achieved. Meanwhile, the circulation system in the garden city is activated and a main canal is conceived along Via dell Electtricita. The densiďŹ cation with appropriate typologies begins in the next phase; some beneďŹ ting from the water edge; some from the pocket parks and the higher towers beneďŹ tting from the view towards Venice.
Phase 2
MARGHERA as a part of the city
PORTO MARGHERA STATION n spite of being in proximity to a railway station, this area remains under - utilised. The petroleum industry on its right side poses another obstacle to rejuvenating the area. However, its water edges remains a strong potential. The new regional connection RET and the new university campus on the other side of the railways are powerful attractors to this area.
The realistic Phase 1 involves densiďŹ cation in the left side of the area since it is relatively free of conicts. Phase 2 becomes possible in a long term when the petroleum industry has moved away and do not pose a threat to the possibility of urbanisation.
Phase 1
Phase 2
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Water edge condition. Marghera South Source: Andrea Uberbacher
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TESTPAD: MARGHERA SOUTH The core idea of the area is to intervene to bridge the gap between the urbanised area and the derelict area by means of a high lane park from which people can observe the process of de - pollution. Industrial heritage would be used as anchor points around which new densification is oriented. These buildings can be recycled for various facilities such as a parking building near the entry points into the area beyond which fast traffic may be regulated.
Project location
Three water purification systems
Source: maps.google.com
Testpad Marghera South 47
MARGHERA as a part of the city
The ďŹ rst system: Marghera Garden city
The second system: big boxes area
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
The third system: petro-chemical compartment
THREE SYSTEMS We have started with the problem of smell in Marghera South which comes from the station which pumps stagnated water from the sewage system of the garden city and transports it to the lagoon. To solve this problem we have developed two water circulation systems: one for the whole garden city and one for the big boxes area in the south-west of the city. In a ďŹ rst phase water can circulate in existing pipes under the ground, but later it could be brought to the surface in open canals. Third system is intended to reclaim the petro-chemical edge. It includes several technologies, which together, in a timeframe of thirty years could clean polluted land and prepare it for inhabitation. These technologies are immobilisation, forced leaching, cascading and phytoextraction.
Firstly, polluted plot of land should be surrounded by impermeable barriers in order to prevent movement of heavy metals within the soil (immobilisation). Then it is necessary to use special type of plants which are able to absorb heavy metals and then, through the roots, to transport them to trunks and leaves (phytoextraction). When, in thirty years, metals are removed from the soil, plants must be removed and burned – possibly in thermal power plant in Fusina. Finally, it is necessary to deal with precipitations which transport pollutants to the ground water. To do this we can use a method of forced leaching: to pump water out of the ground and transport it by existing pipes to water puriďŹ cation plant in Fusina.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
High-lane park in petro-chemical area
Explanation of the Design Rules for a plot.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
Design Map Pilot Project, Phase: Full Occupation.
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PHASING Sub - dividing the scenario inuences the phasing of interventions. The realistic scenario may be possible during the ďŹ rst 20 years and the radical scenario can materialise in the next 30 years.
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Phasing 53
CONCLUSIONS AND REFLECTION Summary of interventions due to the scenario of habitation To summarize, in our scenario we consider the upscaling and downscaling of specific roads and shift the goods related traffic to existing main roads. We gain to reach a less car and truck related situation in the area. Those structures serve as a backbone to connect the defined strategic spaces of habitation. In result two, we draw the picture of urbanization and densification to the very end and examine the scenario of full urbanization of all water edges, currently not accessible. The design approach includes re-linking the edges, re-connect green spaces and create blue-green corridors, based on a technical framework of circle system of surface water and de-pollution methods for the first occupied edge of the petro-chemical area. In result two, we consider the cruise terminal in order to achieve an economical welfare situation.
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Conclusion 55
MARGHERA as a part of the city
CONCLUSIONS AND REFLECTION Reflection on Methodology and Mode of Scenario Construction A scenario concerns the context of the generation of hypothesis, while the forecast as an explanation concerns their justification; the scenario is hence, from a methodological point of view, structurally different from forecasting, and varies according to the contexts and customs. It is worth ones while making a distinction between the dimension of the process of the scenario (the mode of construction) and the scenario as product (Vettorato, p.14). Looking on the construction of a scenario as a mode of construction or a dimension of progress we can sum up the following: Concerning the mode of construction it can be said, that the background of our scenario is based on issues and trends of the territory and its surrounding. For the form of the discourse, we draw a realistic picture of habitation but also a more rational-radical picture for Marghera, which is in the present complex situation an “unlikely, radical and unusual” vision for Marghera, this approach is more related to the “scenario as abstraction”. We consider a future, which do not rely on the existing tendency of re-industrialisation and logistics, as Porto Marghera does not have significant importance in the European context of ports. Instead,
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in the background of the scenario we define what the central lagoon area is lacking and what Venetians are gaining for, and try to incorporate this excluded land into the system. At the same time we try to enhance the social and environmental circumstances. By drawing a “big vision” for Marghera, we aim for the goal to start a collective discourse of a radical picture and examine what this location could become if there would be something done. We hope to transport a mind shift of the actors, inhabitants and decision maker. Reflection on both Scenarios for Porto Marghera: Facilities and Re-industrialisation in Opposition to habitation When comparing both stated scenarios for Marghera with each other the following main findings can be stated: The scenario of facilities and re-industrialisation concentrate on the implementation of facilities and a soft-reindustrialisation in order to reach economical welfare. Here the starting point is on very local, smallscale level. The starting point of intervention is the area where those tendencies are already on-going. In opposition, the scenario explained in this paper in more detail includes also trends of Venice Island and the municipality and the tourist sector and in-cooperates the cruise ships debate. We understood that the cruise ship termi-
MARGHERA as a part of the city terminal could be a driver of change and help to gain money to depollute. The scenario of “Marghera as a part of the city” is concentrated on urban diversity, as facilities are not yet sufficient to make a place liveable and vibrant in our understanding. In the scenario of habitation we draw a future, which avoids a mono-functional space or another suburb of Venice. We understand the abandoned and polluted land in the central urbanized area of the Venetian Lagoon as urban void or in other words as great unused potential. In our understanding Marghera can play a helpful role for the surrounding areas and its demands. Therefore we implement facilities and functions which the Diffuse City as well as Venice is gaining for. Both scenarios envision Marghera as “healthy land” and therefore try to solve environmental and social issues. This is indispensable for the transformation of Marghera. Both scenarios act strategic and approach phasing in time, as we need to consider the crisis and uncertainties even though when we draw a visionable future for Marghera to open the debate.
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
FIGURES Pictures Source: Author´s owns: Group Marghera Scenario II, EMU, Fall 2013. Students: Mrudhula Koshy, Jane Bobkova, Si Xiao, Andrea Überbacher.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Curtoni, A. (2012): To Avoid the Closure. In: Recycling City, Lifcycles, Embodied Energy, Inclusion: 183-187. ITALY: Giavedoni editiore. Pellegrini, P. (2013, November) Lecture European Postgraduate Master of Urbanism, Lecture conducted from IUAV, Venice, Italy. The Guardian: Who now can stop the slow death of Venice? (2009). Available online at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/mar/01/ venice-population-exodus-tourism [accessed 10 December 2013]. Standish, D. (2013): RESTRICTIONS ON CRUISE SHIPS IN VENICE WILL DAMAGE THE VENETIAN ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT. Available online at: http://dstandish.com/2013/11/08/restrictions-on-venice-cruise-ships-will-damage-the-venetian-economy-and-environment/ [accessed 10 December 2013]. Tjallingii, S. (2006): From Green belt to Green structure. green areas and urban development strategies in European cities. In: Wang, C.Y. et al. (ed.) 2006: Mo-
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MARGHERA as a part of the city
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