Urbanistica n.148-2011 by Planum II(2011) by Planum. The Journal of Urbanism

URBANISTICA Dunia Mittner

Cina: migrazioni urbane, nuove città China: urban migrations, new towns

Assunta Martone, Marichela Sepe

Il progetto di rivitalizzazione delle rive della Garonna: rigenerazione urbana, economica e sociale The revitalization project on the banks of the Garonne: a case of urban, economic and social regeneration Carmelina Bevilacqua, Massimo Clemente, Gabriella Esposito De Vita, Tara Florence, Patricia Freedman, Saul Golden, Michael Hegarty, Ciaran Mackel, Alona Martinez-Perez, Gerry Millar, Stefania Oppido, Mike Smith, Claudia Trillo

La rigenerazione urbana a Belfast nell’Europa che guarda avanti The urban regeneration in Belfast in Europe that looks ahead Marta Bottero, Claudia Cassatella, Francesca Finotto, Attilia Peano, Angioletta Voghera, Mauro Volpiano

Indicatori per il paesaggio A tool for evaluation Claudia Cassatella, Bianca Maria Seardo

Pianificare paesaggi multifunzionali: dalla scala vasta al progetto Planning multifunctional landscapes: from large-scale to project Chiara Ortolani

I quartieri come leverage points tra urbanistica e trasporti Neighborhoods as leverage points between urban planning and transport planning Anna Richiedei, Maurizio Tira

Monte Netto: un piano territoriale per un rilievo unico nella pianura Monte Netto: a Masterplan for one hill in a plain Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni

Il Piano strutturale di Anversa. Un nuovo linguaggio urbanistico per la città del XXI secolo The Antwerp structure Plan. A new planning language for the twenty-first century city Federico Savini

1996-2011: l’odissea della programmazione negoziata nelle aree ex Falck di Sesto San Giovanni 1996-2011: the odissey of ex areas Falck at Sesto San Giovanni Giovanni Caudo

La città pubblica The public city Rosario Pavia

Eco-città Eco-Cities

Poster ammessi: Marcello Della Valle, New York; Mariangela Martellotta, La città invisibile; Francesco Evangelisti, Angles; Alessandro Pastorelli e Francesca Nesti, La città rinasce nella piazza; Lorenzo Linthout, City; Antonio Salvatore Serra, Consigli dalla città per la città; Anna Luciani, La vita della città; Cecilia Carattoni, Guarda dentro la città; Giuseppe Lettieri, La città; Simone Zurli, Globalità, ecosostenibilità, contraddizioni; Alessandro Dellara, Sogno di una città di pazza ecosostenibilità umana; Elisa Paungger, Una finestra sulla città; Gianpaolo Di Costanzo, Città bifronte; Gianluca De Francisci, Rigenerazione urbana verso città sostenibili; Giacomo Nardelli, Order disorder; Isabella Stama, L’impronta della città del futuro; Gianfranco Toso, La città ordinaria; Oriana Orabona, senza titolo Vincitore: La giuria ha indicato come vincitore del concorso il poster Città bifronte di Gianpaolo Di Costanzo perché ha saputo rendere, con buona grafica e sapiente uso del colore, e con una efficace sintesi comunicativa, la rappresentazione di un intrinseco carattere duale attribuito dall’autore alla città contemporanea.

ISSN 0042-1022

IL RACCONTO DELLA CITTÀ. DISEGNA UN POSTER

INU Edizioni - N. 42 reg. trib. Roma, Sped. in abb. postale. Dl 353/03 (conv. in L. 27/2/04 n. 46) art. 1 c. 1, Poste Terni CPO

Concorso riservato ai giovani

URBANISTICA 148

Istituto Nazionale di Urbanistica LXIII

148 serie storica

Rivista trimestrale ottobre-dicembre 2011 N. 42 reg. trib. Roma a three monthly journal october-december 2011 € 23,00

INU

Sommario URBANISTICA Rivista trimestrale dell'Istituto Nazionale di Urbanistica Numero 148 ottobre-dicembre 2011 Direttore Paolo Avarello (avarello@uniroma3.it) Direttore responsabile Paolo Avarello Comitato scientifico e direttivo nazionale Inu: G. Campos Venuti (presidente onorario), C.A. Barbieri, S. Bitti, R. Bobbio, D. Cecchini, C. Centanni, E. Coppola, G. De Luca, G. Dri, V. Fabietti, M. Fantin, G. Ferina, R. Gerundo, M. Giudice, G. Leoni, R. Lo Giudice, F. Mangoni, F. Marini, V. Mininni, S. Moglie, P. Nobile, F. Oliva, S. Ombuen, F. Pace, F. Pagano, M. Piccinini, C. Polo, P. Properzi, F. Rossi, N. Savarese, F. Sbetti, S. Stanghellini, M. Stramandinoli, M. Talia, G. Trombino, G. Ulrici, S. Viviani, Comune di Roma (O. Campo), Provincia di Ancona (R. Renzi), Regione Toscana (A. Marson) Redazione tecnico-scientifica Paolo Galuzzi (paolo.galuzzi@polimi.it) Roberto Gerundo (gerundo@unisa.it) Mariavaleria Mininni (mv.mininni@poliba.it) Federico Oliva (foa.studio@tiscalinet.it) Manuela Ricci (manuela.ricci@uniroma1.it) Marichela Sepe (marisepe@unina.it) Coordinamento redazionale: Germana Minesi Gerald2010@fastwebnet.it Aldo Persi Corrispondenti regionali del comitato scientifico: Piemonte-Valle d'Aosta: S. Saccomani; Lombardia: I. Rossi; Veneto: R. Baiocco; Alto Adige: P. Morello; Trentino: B. Zanon; Friuli Venezia Giulia: G. Dri; Liguria: G. Lombardini; Emilia-Romagna: S. Tondelli; Toscana: Rignanese L. Pingitore; Marche: G. Rosellini; Umbria: A. Bruni; Lazio: L. Nucci; Abruzzo: R. Radoccia; Campania: E. Coppola; Puglia: C. Torre; Basilicata: P. Pontrandolfi; Calabria: C. Fallanca; Sicilia: T. Cannarozzo; Sardegna: A. Casu Editing e impaginazione Studio Associato GerAld

Anno LXIII La numerazione storica prende avvio dalla registrazione del Tribunale di Torino nel 1949. La serie corrente riprende con il n. 1 registrato presso il Tribunale di Roma nel 1997

Problemi, politiche, ricerche

Editore: INU Edizioni Srl Direzione e amministrazione Inu Edizioni Srl, piazza Farnese 44, 00186 Roma tel. 06/68134341, 06/8195562, fax 06/68214773 inued@inuedizioni.it, inuprom@inuedizioni.it Iscrizione Tribunale di Roma n. 3563/1995 Cciaa di Roma n. 814190 Consiglio d’amministrazione Presidente: Marisa Fantin Consiglieri: Francesca Calace, Donato Di Ludovico, Massimo Giuliani Servizio abbonamenti: Monica Belli, tel. 06/68134341 Segreteria centrale, promozioni editoriali: Cristina Buttinelli, tel. 06/68195562 Registrazione presso il Tribunale della stampa di Roma n. 126 del 7/3/1997. Registrazione serie storica presso il Tribunale della stampa di Torino n. 468 del 5/7/1949, Roc n. 3915/2001 Spedizione in abb. postale 45%, art. 2, comma 220/b, l. 662/96 Fotolito e stampa: Litograf Srl, Frazione Pian di Porto. Loc. Bodoglie, 06059 Todi (Pg), tel. 075/898041

Profili e pratiche

Prezzo di una copia: Italia € 23,00; Estero € 46,00 Abbonamento: Italia € 80,00; Unione europea € 120,00; Extra Ue € 160,00 Pagamento con versamento sul c/c postale n. 16286007 intestato a Inu Edizioni srl, piazza Farnese 44, Roma, o con carte di credito del circuito CartaSI’, Visa, MasterCard © La riproduzione degli articoli è ammessa con obbligo di citazione della fonte Associato all’Unione stampa periodica italiana

Progetto grafico Giovanna Vitale Supervisione Giovanni Anceschi

Errata Corrige Nell’indice del n. 145 il titolo del servizio di Chiara Merlini a p. 18 ‘Tante case, pochi effetti’ per un refuso e diventato ‘Tante case, pochi difetti’. Ce ne scusiamo con l’autrice e con i lettori.

Progetti e realizzazioni

Metodi e strumenti

148 In copertina: Città bifronte, disegno di Gianpaolo Di Costanzo

Finito di stampare il 4 gennaio 2012

Pierluigi Properzi Dunia Mittner Assunta Martone, Marichela Sepe

Claudia Trillo, Gabriella Esposito De Vita Claudia Trillo, Gabriella Esposito De Vita Claudia Trillo Gerry Millar Tara Florence Mike Smith Saul Golden, Patricia Freedman Ciaran Mackel Michael Hegarty Alona Martinez-Perez Gabriella Esposito De Vita Massimo Clemente, Stefania Oppido Carmelina Bevilacqua Attilia Peano, Claudia Cassatella Attilia Peano Claudia Cassatella Marta Bottero, Claudia Cassatella, Francesca Finotto, Angioletta Voghera, Mauro Volpiano Bianca Maria Seardo Claudia Cassatella Bianca Maria Seardo

Chiara Ortolani Anna Richiedei, Maurizio Tira Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni

Mediazione politica vs mediazione disciplinare

Cina: migrazioni urbane, nuove città

Il progetto di rivitalizzazione delle rive della Garonna: rigenerazione urbana, economica e sociale Il progetto Darwin

La rigenerazione urbana a Belfast nell’Europa che guarda avanti Belfast: rigenerare la città per ricostruire l’identità divisa Gli strumenti di pianificazione: il governo coordinato della rigenerazione

28 28 32

Gli strumenti di attuazione e gestione: l’approccio delle 3 P Transforming Belfast Titanic quarter: motore dei privati per costruire il futuro (partendo) dal passato Cathedral quarter Belfast: strategie pubbliche per la rigenerazione La manifestazione fisica del conflitto nel costruito La matrice culturale delle città nordirlandesi e le nuove traiettorie progettuali (Ri) modellare Belfast Esperienze di waterfront regeneration a Belfast: per unire una città divisa Salpando da Belfast verso nuovi orizzonti di ricerca Learning from Belfast

34 37 39 42 46 49 53 56 59 62

Indicatori per il paesaggio Uno strumento per la valutazione La valutazione del paesaggio tramite indicatori, lavori in corso in Europa Indicatori del cambiamento del paesaggio: un’esperienza britannica Un set di indicatori di paesaggio: una sperimentazione per la Regione Piemonte

65 65 68 70 71

Pianificare paesaggi multifunzionali: dalla scala vasta al progetto Natura e paesaggio: coerenze e conflitti nel concetto di multifunzionalità La multifunzionalità nella legge federale per la protezione della natura e la cura del paesaggio

75 75 80

I quartieri come leverage points tra urbanistica e trasporti

Monte Netto: un piano territoriale per un rilievo unico nella pianura

Il Piano strutturale di Anversa. Un nuovo linguaggio urbanistico per la città del XXI secolo Anversa, “were it is possible to live together”. Intervista a Bernardo Secchi e Paola Viganò

Federico Savini

1996-2011: l’odissea della programmazione negoziata nelle aree ex Falck di Sesto San Giovanni

104

Giovanni Caudo

La città pubblica

118

Eco-città

122

Rosario Pavia

Contents Gli autori /Authors Carmelina Bevilacqua Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria cbevilac@unirc.it

Attilia Peano Dipartimento interateneo territorio, Politecnico di Torino attilia.peano@polito.it

Marta Bottero ricercatore in Estimo, Dipartimento Casa Città, Politecnico di Torino marta.bottero@polito.it

Nausica Pezzoni Dipartimento di architettura e pianificazione, Politecnico di Milano nausica.pezzoni@mail.polimi.it

Claudia Cassatella Dipartimento interateneo territorio, Politecnico di Torino claudia.cassatella@polito.it

Anna Richiedei Università degli Studi di Brescia, Facoltà di ingegneria Dicata. anna.richiedei@ing.unibs.it.

Giovanni Caudo Dipartimento di studi urbani, Università degli Studi, Roma Tre caudo@uniroma3.it

Federico Savini Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research Università di Amsterdam federico.savini@uniurb.it

Massimo Clemente Istituto ricerche attività terziarie Irat-Cnr m.clemente@irat.cnr.it

Bianca Maria Seardo Dipartimento interateneo territorio, Politecnico di Torino bianca.seardo@polito.it

Gabriella Esposito De Vita Istituto ricerche attività terziarie Irat-Cnr g.esposito@irat.cnr.it Giulia Fini Dipartimento di architettura e pianificazione, Politecnico di Milano giulia.fini@mail.polimi.it Francesca Finotto Regione Piemonte francesca-7@libero.it

Problems, policies, and research

Mike Smith Titanic Quarter LTD mike.smith@titanicquarter.com

Tara Florence ARD Studio TaraF@ardcm.com Patricia Freedman Belfast City Council p.freedman@belfastcentre.com

Claudia Trillo Università Federico II di Napoli claudia.trillo@unina.it

Saul Golden University of Ulster S.Golden@ulster.ac.uk Michael Hegarty michael@placeni.org

Angioletta Voghera Dipartimento interateneo territorio, angioletta.voghera@polito.it

Dunia Mittner Assunta Martone, Marichela Sepe

Marichela Sepe Irat-Cnr, Dpuu Università di Napoli Federico II, marisepe@unina.it

Maurizio Tira ordinario di tecnica e pianificazione urbanistica, Università degli Studi di Brescia, Facoltà di ingegneria Dicata. maurizio.tira@ing.unibs.it.

Ciaran Mackel ARD Studio/University of Ulster ciaranmackel@aol.com; info@ardcm.com

Pierluigi Properzi

Carmelina Bevilacqua Profiles and practices

Attilia Peano, Claudia Cassatella Attilia Peano Claudia Cassatella Marta Bottero, Claudia Cassatella, Francesca Finotto, Angioletta Voghera, Mauro Volpiano Bianca Maria Seardo Claudia Cassatella

Mauro Volpiano Dipartimento Casa Città, Politecnico di Torino mauro.volpiano@polito.it

Chiara Ortolani

Alona Martinez-Perez University of Ulster a.martinez-perez@ulster.ac.uk Assunta Martone Istituto ricerche attività terziarie Irat-Cnr a.martone@irat.cnr.it

Anna Richiedei, Maurizio Tira Projects and implementation

Gerry Millar Belfast City Council MillarG@BelfastCity.gov.uk

Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni

Dunia Mittner dunia.mittner@unipd.it Stefania Oppido Istituto ricerche attività terziarie Irat-Cnr stefaniaoppido@libero.it Chiara Ortolani collabora con il Laboratorio “Abitare la città” del Centro studi Critevat, Università Roma la Sapienza chiara.ortolani@uniroma1.it Rosario Pavia ordinario in urbanistica Facoltà di architettura di Pescara r.pavia@unich.it

Methods and tools

Political mediation vs disciplinary mediation

China: urban migrations, new towns

The revitalization project on the banks of the Garonne: a case of urban, economic and social regeneration

The urban regeneration in Belfast in Europe that looks ahead Belfast: regenerate the city to rebuild divided identity Coordinating urban regeneration strategies: the planning framework Implementation and management tools: the 3 Ps approach

28 29 32 34

Transforming Belfast Titanic quarter: the private engine to build the future (starting) from the past Cathedral quarter Belfast: public regeneration strategies The physical manifestation of conflict on built form The cultural matrix of cities in northern Ireland and the new trajectori design (Re) shaping Belfast Experiences of waterfront regeneration in Belfast: unifyng a divided city Union and division in cities by the sea: sailing from Belfast to new horizons of research Learning from Belfast

36 39 42 46 49 52 56 59

65 66 68 71

Planning multifunctional landscapes: from large-scale to project Nature and landscape: coherences and conflicts within the concept of multifunctionality

75 76

Neighborhoods as leverage points betweeen urban planning and transport planning

Monte Netto: a Masterplan for one hill in a plain

The Antwerp structure plan. A new planning language for the twenty-first century city Antwerp, ‘were it is possible to live together’. An interview with Bernardo Secchi and Paola Viganò

Federico Savini

1996-2011: the odissey of ex areas Falck at Sesto San Giovanni

105

Giovanni Caudo

The public city

119

Eco-cities

123

Rosario Pavia

Urbanistica n. 148

October-December 2011 Distribution by www.planum.net

Index and english translation of the articles Pierluigi Properzi Dunia Mittner

Methods Projects and tools and implementation

Profiles and practices

Problems, policies and research

Assunta Martone, Marichela Sepe Claudia Trillo, Gabriella Esposito De Vita Claudia Trillo, Gabriella Esposito De Vita Claudia Trillo Gerry Millar Tara Florence Mike Smith Saul Golden, Patricia Freedman Ciaran Mackel Michael Hegarty Alona Martinez-Perez Gabriella Esposito De Vita Massimo Clemente, Stefania Oppido Carmelina Bevilacqua Attilia Peano, Claudia Cassatella Attilia Peano Claudia Cassatella Marta Bottero, Claudia Cassatella, Francesca Finotto, Angioletta Voghera, Mauro Volpiano

Political mediation vs disciplinary mediation China: urban migrations, new towns The revitalization project on the banks of the Garonne: a case of urban, economic and social regeneration The urban regeneration in Belfast in Europe that looks ahead Belfast: regenerate the city to rebuild divided identity Coordinating urban regeneration strategies: the planning framework Implementation and management tools: the 3 Ps approach Transforming Belfast Titanic quarter: the private engine to build the future (starting) from the past Cathedral quarter Belfast: public regeneration strategies The physical manifestation of conflict on built form The cultural matrix of cities in northern Ireland and the new trajectori design (Re) shaping Belfast Experiences of waterfront regeneration in Belfast: unifyng a divided city Union and division in cities by the sea: sailing from Belfast to new horizons of research Learning from Belfast Indicator for the landscape A tool for evaluation Landscape evaluation using indicators, work in progress in Europe Proposal for a set of landscape indicators at the regional scale: an application for the Piedmont Region

Bianca Maria Seardo Claudia Cassatella

Planning multifunctional landscapes: from large-scale to project Nature and landscape: coherences and conflicts within the concept of multifunctionality

Chiara Ortolani

Neighborhoods as leverage points betweeen urban planning and transport planning

Anna Richiedei, Maurizio Tira Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni

Monte Netto: a Masterplan for one hill in a plain The Antwerp structure plan. A new planning language for the twenty-first century city Antwerp, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;were it is possible to live togetherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. An interview with Bernardo Secchi and Paola Vigano

Federico Savini

1996-2011: the odissey of ex areas Falck at Sesto San Giovanni

Giovanni Caudo

The public city

Rosario Pavia

Eco-cities

Focus

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Political mediation vs disciplinary mediation Pierluigi Properzi The italian culture of urbanism planning was developed mainly during the fascist period, when the italian school of urbanism took shape from new faculties of Architecture growing away from the model of hygienist engineers of the european tradition. A strong disciplinary statute considered in such a way especially by the society in which operated and to which was fully recognized a role of disciplinary mediation. The metamorphosis of urban dynamics and its traditional forms (city centre-suburbs) that happened and produced posturban morphologies that modified the structure of the city and italian landscapes, corresponds to the fragmentation (segmentation) of the social model of post war re-edification with all its related weaknesses. These new forms of settlements don’t find appropriate interpreters neither in the disciplinary statute nor in the class of urban planners, either for an original and stubborn ‘introversion’ in the exclusive landed character of urban facts or for the progressive subordination of the original ‘planning’ character to the ‘regulating’ nature of plan that is landed and guaranteed itself. Jurists have explained this regulating character of plan, establishing the so-called urbanism low just based on the planning-form and on a rational-comprehensive functional system interrupting in the limits of this tight structure, any our possible disciplinary evolution. Urban planner had to abdicate to their own ‘planning’ character regarding to either the ‘economists’ solution or that of ‘jurists’. In the years of centre-left government (1963-92) an alliance of fact was achieved between two weak concepts, based on a ‘progressive’ interpretation, but often translated purely in quantitative terms of ponte low standards. A disciplinary weakness, that gave up to be involved in searching and in elabora- ting new patterns, taking in maintain, with this ‘ideological’ agreement, its own mediation role to left politics that shift the battle, just at this stage, on social demands and on rights enlargement (divorce law, abortion law, family law, public health, labour law) leaving behind its early policy. But it is also a weakness of that political part that is unable to express this great potential on a urbanistic reformism level keeping any conceptual renewal attempt, even suggested on many different fronts, apart from that attacks land revenue. From this one can infer that urban studies-urbanism takes on mainly the role of a compression tool on land revenue, giving up all researches on the urban structure (as in the rossiniana vulgate based on the Muratoriana research) and its purposes confined in technics teaching of engineering Faculty. Urbanism studies has got involved into this event, so much that often one can talk about zone planning scandals in situations in which there’s not much about urba-

nism when it was only a case of bri- bes regarding only to political decisions where urbanistic choices (purposesproject) are minor issues. In the meantime that minimum culture coverage guaranteed before by urbanistic founding fathers, then was satisfied by our local ‘ArchiStars’ that overexploit very easily much more cubic metres of concrete and journalistic appeal than Piano does, who still requires anyway elaborate forms in sharing and distribution of costs and land revenue. A remarkable rendering based on a concept blinking at ecology and at skyscrapers virility is surely easier than of a plan that is hard to do and to make it understand and that however involves advanced forms of public knowledge that foment a conflict with progressive and guarantor aspects. On end we can underline three main crucial points about this discipline and we suggest some solutions to ignited a debate. Crucial points Permanence of outdated disciplinary purposes. Combating situation rent as main aim of urban planning is a residual urbanism planning subdued to an ‘opponent’ politics. Discipline for its part understand no more people’s wishes which merge no more into a shared social system but they follow consumerist and individualistic models far away from disciplinary statute. Perhaps it deals with pursuing not only policies of change but also a policy of stabilization, that is stability of costumes, stability of places reasoning out on giving a meaning and therefore a value that is connected to policies of stabilization not corresponding necessarily to policies of conservation. Available means are less and less coherent with purposes. Predominance of urban-landed features compared to those of ‘territorial government planning’. It stands to reason that the city can’t be defined anymore in its traditional frameworks governed by a traditional plan but just these empty structures of meaning (historical centre, suburbs, industrial compound, etc.) are yet again only the object of the same plan, on the other hand the mutually influence of urban district with environment and landscape are yet the object of different sectoral urban planning. Sectoral planning doesn’t govern the country that must be reorganized in posturban structures in which act essentially landed revenue. Dependence of plan developments on strict institutional partitions. New developments of built-up areas redefining the Italian landscape in metropolitan dimensions (widespread, ever-growing, endless city) regardless of administrative boundaries are on the other hand lacking of governmental tools. Land planning is not clearly defined by structural project (of new dispositions and landscapes) but by pointing out those supposed ‘structural invariants’ essentially corresponding to special planning restrictions, are seen as a passive opposite form plays often and unjustly the role of planning. Lacking of a development social model. In a middle-term context the development Urbanistica www.planum.net

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of institutional model understood as a new architecture subject to authorities and political powers will be strongly influenced by the establishment of new development social models having now their own remarkable features in those three traditional macro-areas of the country. All this pass for a necessary discipline reconfiguration: training, practice and administration on a great plan of country modernization. Suggestions to ignited a debate. We can work on three levels: that one about alliances building up a network among main actors of territorial government, that one about cultural plan involving a redefi- nition of some focal points in searching: urban agricultural landscapes, urban knowledge, urban development features, urban stabilization, urban densification, urban segmentation, etc., and finally that about social mediation essentially paid by discipline, that’s the point of major concern. Giving back new credibility to disciplinary mediation has its rise in a consideration that is not limited to institutional engineering, this last one however free falling too, or even worse that is trying to conceive a plan. We cannot stop only to imitate those good european files as a model that come from not landed ‘urbanistic’ cultures and from strong traditions of contractual public policies. So, we can start again from a sound ‘republican’ tradition based on three pillars: austerity, equity, planning, a laic tradition without so much unnecessary prescriptive rules that act publicly in choices, in their reasons and controls. And above able to interact with a urban plan and those architects wondering what remains about the city. (see on P. Ciorra, Senza l’architettura, S. Boeri, L’Anticittà) Disciplinary innovation areas. Thekno- wledge acquired on territory planning (statutes, documents, cognitive frames) go on emerging and establishing in its features and elements, but especially go on achieving its own independence towards planning and trying to clear up ‘ever-justifiable’ ambiguities of ‘internal’ analysis in planning project. In view of a constant renewal trend, but essentially moderate, of ordinary town planning, public administration ‘projectuality’ (of local administration) increases most of all on new themes: a mix of resi- denceservice sector-business, to which adds social housing, movability and public transport, public areas and green belts often declined together. Compensatory and equitably methods gain strength even in lack of a relevant law as a real answer in equitable distribution of plan and limitation of revenue due to advantageous positions. All these different notions contributing to territory government need places where knowledge and experience interplays and gain together that neither education and research places (such as Universities) nor special authorities (such as departments of traditional zone planning) can guarantee but they can follow the example of french agences d’urbanisme and can play a leading role in advancing those planning methods used to design new post-urban settlement of italian mega-regions. It deals with remarkable factors of disciplinary reform

that in lacking of a reference social model on a hand tries to designing one through several attempts and on the other hand finds it hard to leave behind tools and purposes of previous steps. So a reformist experimenter and nostalgic state planner-government controller often can cohabit in one and the same person with fair trouble in suggesting a leading role of disciplinary mediation.

Urbanistica www.planum.net

Urbanistica n. 148

October-December 2011 Distribution by www.planum.net

Index and english translation of the articles Pierluigi Properzi Dunia Mittner

China: urban migrations, new towns The revitalization project on the banks of the Garonne: a case of urban, economic and social regeneration The urban regeneration in Belfast in Europe that looks ahead Belfast: regenerate the city to rebuild divided identity Coordinating urban regeneration strategies: the planning framework Implementation and management tools: the 3 Ps approach Transforming Belfast Titanic quarter: the private engine to build the future (starting) from the past Cathedral quarter Belfast: public regeneration strategies The physical manifestation of conflict on built form The cultural matrix of cities in northern Ireland and the new trajectori design (Re) shaping Belfast Experiences of waterfront regeneration in Belfast: unifyng a divided city Union and division in cities by the sea: sailing from Belfast to new horizons of research Learning from Belfast Indicator for the landscape A tool for evaluation Landscape evaluation using indicators, work in progress in Europe Proposal for a set of landscape indicators at the regional scale: an application for the Piedmont Region

Bianca Maria Seardo Claudia Cassatella

Planning multifunctional landscapes: from large-scale to project Nature and landscape: coherences and conflicts within the concept of multifunctionality

Chiara Ortolani

Neighborhoods as leverage points betweeen urban planning and transport planning

Projects and implementation

Anna Richiedei, Maurizio Tira Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni

Methods and tools

Profiles and practices

Problems, policies and research

Assunta Martone, Marichela Sepe

Political mediation vs disciplinary mediation

Giovanni Caudo

Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni

Federico Savini

Rosario Pavia

The public city Eco-cities

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The public city Giovanni Caudo The country that proclaimed itself united as Italy on february 17, 1861 was in many senses a multi-faceted and in some cases even contradictory concoction of peoples and cultural and social attitudes. The cities built over many centuries with their monuments and gardens represented one of the most unifying elements and provided a model for other european countries that looked at italian cities as a unicum, a treasure not just to Italy but to entire humankind. The garden of Europe was how Italy was known at the time it was approaching its unification. Its population was 22 million, 26 million if we consider its present borders. In 1861, Rome and Venice, Naples, Milan, Turin and Palermo were the only cities with over 100,000 residents, three in the north, two in the centre and two in the south. In 1871 the situation had already changed. The public action promoting the unification of Italy is most notably remembered for its economic but also engineering effort to provide the country with roads, a railway network and the Alpine tunnels. The histories of Italy unification reflect the minor role the public action played, instead, in the development of cities. While the construction of infrastructure was free of contradictions and its financial impact was accepted as a necessary and shared sacrifice in view of the modernity it would bring, cities had an altogether different fate. In this context, public intervention in the housing question, a primary social issue after the unification due to the phenomenon of urbanization generated by industrial development, appears even more relevant. Looking back at 150 years of Italian history, we can say that the housing policy shaped public action in the construction of the city. During the 150 years since the unification of Italy, there have been three fundamental moments when public institutions were, more or less directly, committed to deal with the ‘housing issue’. The first of these was at the beginning of the 20th century, when the Luzzati law established social and low-income housing as mainly funded, at least until 1919, by municipal resources. At the end of the first world war a housing crisis emerged as the result of several elements, mainly the urbanization of huge masses of workers and the slowing down of building production due to private investors’ lack of interest in an economic sector that was still seen as hardly safe and profitable. The State intervened with rent control measures to slow down the raise of rents and with several decrees that contributed to the Testo unico law in 1919. Tax breaks were provided to the builders who promoted new housing projects and extended until 1928 as well as made available for all kinds of private housing plans. The second phase coincided with the twenty year-long

fascist regime that established state-sponsored housing plans. The State intervened directly by forming ad hoc institutes (Incis was one of these) that managed the construction of housing for the so-called middle-class: mainly public servants. During the same period the Istituti case popolari (Icp, Institutes for social housing) acquired a more substantial role in the construction of housing for the lower classes. In 1931 there were 59 institutes operating in 94 provinces, while in 1936 there are as many as 78. But a look at investments reveals that the government had a preference for state-sponsored housing. Indeed, that was the period when the difference between investments for social and state-sponsored housing became more evident. Between 1936 and 1940, about 921 million liras were invested, 42% for the construction of social housing and 58% for the construction of state-sponsored housing. The third phase was after the second world war: the period now remembered for the two seven-year Ina casa plans (the so-called Fanfani plan) and, later on, for the public intervention made possible by law 167 in 1962. Partly financed by contributions levied on both workers’ pay checks and employers as well as by the State, the Ina casa plan was so successful that between 1951 and 1954 it produced almost 3% of all new rooms, a percentage of public construction never achieved since. Instead, law 167 of 1962 gave the Municipalities the right to acquire areas to be used for the following three types of housing: sovvenzionata (subsidized, low-income housing); agevolata (assisted, mainly produced by housing cooperatives) and convenzionata (under ‘convention’ agreements, built by real estate companies and subject to a maximum, of buying price or rent, imposed by the Municipality through the convention) for the construction of social and low-income housing programs financed by the Gescal levy established in 1963. It was in the cities, in their suburbs, that the housing issue became a social issue. It started in Turin with the strike of July 3, 1969, in largo Traiano. The strike, against high rent rates, evictions and the cost of living, was marred by incidents and clashes with the police. Although that period is mainly remembered for student demonstrations, the most successful strike was held on november 19, 1969 as a general unitary strike for the housing issue. During those years, the workers’ fights, and the pressure the major industrial concerns put on the government, secured their right to a house, and with it their right to the city. As we know, those fights were successful. The approval of the housing law n° 865 of 22 October 1971 marked the beginning of a powerful public intervention. The public intervention developed in those years left some problematic consequences, such as the high crime rate and dereliction the housing districts it built are now wellknown for. Let’s review, instead, what it left in terms of building stock: today in Italy about 850,000 families live in houses built by public plans. State intervention in the construction of social and low-income housing began in the early 20th century and ended at the beginning of the Urbanistica www.planum.net

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21st. The state’s gradual disengagement from the ‘housing issue’ was decreed by the reduction of funds, cut in half between 2002 and 2004, transferred from state to regions for public housing plans. Today Italy allocates 0.1% of its Gdp for housing-supporting initiatives, the lowest percentage in the EU countries, where the average is 0.72%, with France spending 1.9%, Sweden 0.7% and Spain 0.73%. It is just another way of reading the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification: the end of state intervention in what was in many senses the main, if not the only, way to build the public city in united Italy.

Eco-cities Rosario Pavia Ecology has now forced its way into architecture and construction. Ecological settlements are multiplying, in Europe and around the globe, from Solar city in Linz, to the zero emissions BedZed district in London, to the neighbourhood of Hammarby in Stockholm, Bo01 in Malmö, Vauban di Freiburg, Nordhavn in Copenhagen and the italian examples of Casanova in Bol- zano and San Rocco in Faenza. Numerous interventions are promoted by cities participating in the Transition towns movement, which is pragmatically and optimistically preparing for a future without oil. Representing an ecological sensibility has become a ‘must’ for the architects of the star system: all great projects are now intended to be eco-sustainable, sometimes with sobriety and scale, as in the work of Renzo Piano, though more often than not through exhibition and spectacle, typical of recent work by Norman Foster. We can examine, as one example, his Crystal island for Moscow: a completely artificial space designed for up to 30,000 people living in an enclosed, self-sufficient city of glass, detached from its context. The technology employed to ensure ecological sustainability becomes the moral and political justification for the intervention, placing economic, social and landscape sustainability in the backseat. This line of intervention is more easily welcomed in countries with centralised governments: Foster has been invited to work in Russia, China, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. The latter is currently home to the construction of Masdar, a zero-emissions and zero-waste city. This city for 50,000 people is financed by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, strongly interested in experimenting with new technologies for the production of renewable energy. After oil, we must prepare for the future. Masdar is proposed as an ideal model. Even its square plan refers to a newly founded city. It cost will be enormous. The city walls will protect it against desert winds, but also against the prob-able ghettos populated by immigrant workers building Abu Dhabi’s wonders. China is also searching for its role in this field. The 2008 Beijing Biennial was used to present the city of Caofeidian, to be built alongside the port in Tangshan. This completely energy self-sufficient city was designed by ArchA, run by Pier Paolo Mag- giora. Also in China, Dongtan Eco-city, near Shanghai, designed by Arup engineering, intends to challenge Masdar for the position of the world’s most eco-sustainable city. Undoubtedly, the most important commissions in this sector are being developed by large engineering companies. Som (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill) was commissioned with the transformation of Treasure island, the artificial island located at the base of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco bay, into a sustainable model city of California’s environmental policies. The Masterplan for Urbanistica www.planum.net

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the island, characterised by a grid of streets set at a 35° angle to optimise solar exposure and ventilation, clearly reveals the functionalist approach traditionally favoured by the group. Of the most recent proposals of eco-sustainable cities, innovative research in urban morphology can be found instead in the proposal by Mvrdv for the korean city of Gwanggyo, designed for 70,000 inhabitants, the master plan by the Danish group Big (Bjarke Ingels group) for Zira island in the Caspian sea and the design hypotheses advanced by another Danish group, Effekt, for the island of Gadeokdo in South Korea. Many eco-city proposals resemble gated communities for a social élite and complex machines of technological experimentation, rather than general operative models. They are paradoxical eco-cities, precisely due to the un-sustainability of their costs, their vast consumption of energy (even if renewable) and their blatant sub-ordination to the requests of the real estate market which pushes for the creation of new urban terrains through enormous movements of earth, exemplified by Cafeidian, for the most part constructed on artificial islands created in the middle of the sea. Also of interest for their confrontation with urban planning instruments, the rigidity of their ownership, the plurality of interests at hand, the complexity of their decision-making processes and the difficult though necessary sharing of programmes with local citizens, are the experiences of Giuseppe Campos Venuti, who has experimented across Italy with an ecological approach to urbanism applied to numerous plans, the most successful of which may be that for Reggio Emilia. The most ecological city in the United States of America is Portland, Oregon, for the most part the result of the work of Gil Kelley, the director of the city’s urban planning office. Over the course of thirty years, and through a patient and inclusive political programme comprised of public works, projects developed for the long-term, public private partnerships and recourse to management companies, together with debates and initiatives designed to foster the shared pursuit of objectives, Portland has radically transformed its very structure. Portland is an exception within the American scenario: its model is structured around rail-based public transport, urban re-densification, offering attractions for young people, thanks to the quality of its urban environment and the effectiveness of its incentives, its parks and agricultural areas connected with ecological corridors and bicycle paths, the efficient collection of waste re-utilised for the production of energy. The results are evident, though only after a lengthy process that is still underway. The confrontation with real problems and the conditions of crisis being faced by large cities is determinant for understanding how ecology can translate into actions of urban planning. Curitiba, in southern Brazil, is a city of 2.5 million inhabitants that has become, over the course of 30 years, the most ecological city in the country thanks to the enlightened, inventive and continuous efforts of its mayor, the architect Jaime Lerner, who was capable of promoting a series of exemplary and strate-

gic projects, in partnership with local citizens. Using a plurality of programmes (from vast pedestrian areas to basic infrastructures to efficient public transport, not a costly subway system but biofuel driven buses travelling in dedicated and specially designed lanes, to the drainage of water and protection against flooding, the recycling of waste, an increase in the amount of public parks and urban gardens and bicycle paths) the city managed to gradually improve its environmental conditions and the quality of life for its inhabitants. The success of these programmes was made possible by specific and original initiatives of public support in education, culture, employment, micro-credit and social housing. In an opposing context, the city of Detroit, once the most industrialised city in the Usa, is now the subject of actions of urban transformation that touch upon the most profound ecological issues. The economic decline of the city produced significant demographic contractions; Detroit is now home to some 850,000 inhabitants (half its population in 1950), with the consequent abandonment of residential lots (respectively 33,500 and 91,000). The decay of buildings and the presence of vast untended areas increasingly tend to define the scenario in the peripheries of Detroit. The model of suburban expansion is no longer sustainable. The local government is no longer capable of supporting its costs. The solution identified by Detroit’s mayor, Dave Bing, assisted by Toni Griffin, professor or urban planning at the Harvard Graduate school of design, is a strategic plan for development focused on the contraction of the city, the demolition of buildings in the peripheries that can no longer be used, building densification along a select number of urban axes, the revitalization of central areas now used for tertiary functions by adding new residential and cultural programmes, the rehabilitation of intermediate districts, coupled with fiscal and economic incentives for attracting new categories of entrepreneurs and residents (young people, artists and creatives). The solution is assuming the form of a strategic plan based on the participation of local citizens and economic operators. As part of the model of development, natural elements (the river, whose depuration has begun, and urban lands, reconverted into agricultural terrains and parks) are presented as environmental infrastructures atop which to build a new urban form. The challenge is difficult, yet the premises for an innovative programme of intervention are all present. Perhaps the most significant example in Europe in terms of its political and cultural intensity was the consultation for the development of Le Grand Pari(s), promoted directly by french president Nicolas Sarkozy, as a means of reconsidering the structure of metropolitan Paris at the vast scale and in the long-term. It is the first time in Europe that politics appears to have developed an awareness that the metropolitan dimension and the environmental question are not only central themes for the development of a country, but that they must be confronted based on a global vision and programmed over time. For the first time since the great Urbanistica www.planum.net

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projects of Modernism, there is an attempt to interpret and give form to the future. The consultation was witness to the participation of ten interdisciplinary design groups. All of their contributions considered the scenarios and commitments defined under the Kyoto Protocol. The most relevant contributions include those made by the team led by Richard Rogers, which returned to and developed the principles expressed in his City for a small planet from 1997; that of Grumbach which focused its project on the Seine, using it as an environmental infrastructure that connects Le Havre with Paris; the group coordinated by Bernardo Secchi and Paola ViganĂ˛ that proposed a break with the still dominant radially-centric nineteenth century model of Paris, using an open and permeable urban system, a ville poreuse that creates space for biodiversity, water and nature.

Urbanistica www.planum.net

Urbanistica n. 148

October-December 2011 Distribution by www.planum.net

Index and english translation of the articles Pierluigi Properzi

Dunia Mittner Assunta Martone, Marichela Sepe

Methods Projects and tools and implementation

Profiles and practices

Problems, policies and research

Political mediation vs disciplinary mediation

Bianca Maria Seardo Claudia Cassatella

Planning multifunctional landscapes: from large-scale to project Nature and landscape: coherences and conflicts within the concept of multifunctionality

Chiara Ortolani

Neighborhoods as leverage points betweeen urban planning and transport planning

Anna Richiedei, Maurizio Tira Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni

Federico Savini

1996-2011: the odissey of ex areas Falck at Sesto San Giovanni

Giovanni Caudo

The public city

Rosario Pavia

Eco-cities

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China: urban migrations, new towns Dunia Mittner The essay’s purpose is to verify if an important activity of new towns’ promotion and construction responds to the intense phenomena of social, urban and territorial transformation occurring in today’s China. Some of the most well known projects under construction, such as ‘One city and nine towns’ around Shanghai, seem to state the necessity to control the always growing dimension of the urban phenomenon. In the time when many texts underline the existence of a continuous urban condition, the relation between national expanding economies and centralized management of the transition’s phases towards the new social and productive order stands out. The assertion of a situation of growing urban continuity emerges, crossed in a varied way by flows of goods, people and informations. New towns, criteria New towns’ foundation can be relevant in relation to several reasons, from the investigation of the national policies lead by a big nation, during the Twentieth century engaged in the control of the consistency, number and life’s condition of the population, to the questionings about the synthetic essence of the contemporary city compared with the historical one. It can be useful, in other terms, to ask in which conditions the geopolitical and economical will to proceed towards programs of foundation develops. In order to identify a phenomenical base to this research’s field, it is necessary to openly take on the necessary and sufficient criteria allowing us to recognize which are the initiatives of foundation in progress. The necessary criteria to the definition of a new town are mainly five: the existence of an overall project, the geographical and dimensional relations with the existing settlements, the internal articulation of the functional components, a minimum threshold of settled population and the actual construction (partial, at least) of the new towns. The first criterion, linked to considering materials favoring the overall urban dimension, is directly related to the second, requiring the clear prevalence of the new settlement in relation to the existing urban structures. In the case of Zhengdong new district, the relations with the existing metropolis (Zhengzhou), from the point of view of both the site and the dimensions, make the project appear as the addition of a big urban part rather than a new settlement. The towns around Shanghai are generally built from one or more old and small villages, fortified squares (Feng- jing), fishermen’s villages (Gaoqiao), market towns (Luodian), traditional water towns, such as Zhujiajiao, taking on the role of points of reference of the several towns’ nuclei. The third criterion is relative to the presence of all the main functions which, mixing together, make a city such:

functions relative to work, to permanent residence, recreation and social life. Some towns take on the main character of industrial towns, as in the case of Gaoqiao new town and Lingang new harbor city, or of scientific and technological research centers, as in the case of Songjiang new city. The fourth criterion is related to a minimum threshold of settled population, identified with ten thousand inhabitants: a dimension which is referred to the project and not to the variations happened after the construction. The fifth criterion is turned to favor the projects which are realized, this takes to reject many cases, due to the still young age of the chinese story. Reasons and stories In China, new towns’ construction is mainly related to three types of reasons: industrial modernization, contrast of the unlimited urban growth, and constitution of poles for the research and innovation. In Shanghai, the need for industrial innovation and the attempt to face the intense urban and geographical development go on at the same time. During the fifties and sixties some industrial communities, with a dimension between 50.000 and 200.000 inhabitants, following the soviet model are built. In 1959 Shanghai starts to plan and build industrial districts and satellites cities close to its fringes, within a decentralization’s policy aimed at developing new towns in the near districts. The 1959 Masterplan can be considered as a direct precedent of the 1980 and 1990 plans. In 1999, the Shanghai’s Masterplan (19992020) is changed in relation to goals of further opening of the city towards a ‘modern international socialist city’, aimed at the integration between city and country within a polycentric regional structure. The general and clear goal is very ambitious, and wants Shanghai to go back to the status of international metropolis played at the beginning of Twentieth century. In the same year the development plan named One city, nine towns (1999-2020), devised by the Muni- cipality as a pilot project of the strategy ‘1-9-6-6’, a hierarchical system made of a central city oriented towards the services’ sector, nine new ‘key towns’ decentralized as administrative centers, one for each district-county (50.000-150.000 inhabitants) and 600 central villages (2.000 inhabitants approximately), is started. Contrary to what is often thought the One city is not Shanghai, but a new city thought as an extension of Songjiang, one of the seven satellites foreseen by the 1986 Plan. The idea is to build before 2020, beside the main city, nine new ‘core towns’, aimed at arranging 5,4 millions inhabitants (Songjiang new city, Luchaogang new city e Jinshan city) and six new towns bordering to municipal industrial properties (Chengqiao, Baoshan, Jiading, Qingpu, Minhang, Nanqiao). Differently from what happens in Shanghai, in Beijing the story of the new towns’ construction is related to the creation of scientific and technological research poles. The Beijing regional director Scheme, drawn up at the beginning of the Eighties, foresees the creation of thirteen satellite cities located at a distance between twenty and seventy kilometers Urbanistica www.planum.net

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from the city’s centre, mainly addressed towards the development of science and technology and the attraction of foreign investments. The 1992 Masterplan foresees to locate within these settlements before 2010 more than one and a half million inhabitants over an overall built surface of two hundreds and forty square kilometers. Besides the most well known to western world cities, Beijing and Shanghai, to which the role of synthesis of a vast and not very well known country is entrusted, other stories of pilot-towns related to experimentation and innovation in different sectors, such as industry (Chongquing), international business (Guangzhou), work’s contracts (Quingdao), financial reform (Shenyang), and four free cities, Shantou in the Guangdong province, Shenzen, Xiamen in the Fujian province and Yi-Zhuang stand out. Arguments Many projects of chinese new towns send back to arguments of an ecological-environmental type, where the definition of prototypes for new urban environments paying attention to sustainability plays a first level role. Dongtan eco-city stands itself as an ecological town for 500,000 inhabitants, at the centre of one of the more rapidly growing areas of the world. The stated target is to become the first autosustainable territory-city in the world from an environmental point of view, but also social and economical. The second eco-city designed by Arup in China, Tangye new town, stands itself to transform its waste into fuel, to get energy from the sun and to give back water to the ground through natural systems of drainage and irrigation, besides the formation of a net of green corridors connecting the main public buildings, in order to boost biodiversity and ciclo-pedestrian movements. A second argument has something to share with the towns built following different western ‘styles’, and it s related particularly to the new towns around Shanghai. In order to make the new towns competitive with the cosmopolitan qualities of the central city, the idea is that they should play a symbolic function: the international architectural style of the urban centre will have to be extended to the suburbs with spatial and architectural qualities of western type and following international standards. In 2001, when the One city, nine towns development plan is adopted as part of the tenth five-year plan (2001-05), architects and urban planners coming from western countries are invited to take part to a certain number of international competitions, with the requirement to give visual shape to the identity and spatial quality of their countries of origin.

The revitalization project on the banks of the Garonne: a case of urban, economic and social regeneration Assunta Martone, Marichela Sepe The complex process of creative transformation which is interesting Bordeaux during the past 16 years involves urban interventions and financial resources aimed at redefining the identity of places, long linked only to wine production, and revitalizing the city’s economy, to place it among the top twenty cities in France. Grand Bordeaux is expected to become a sustainable city by 2030, with a population growth of 15,000 inhabitants compared to 2011 and new jobs in construction, tourism and creative industries. The city of Bordeaux is capital of the Gironde département and the Aquitaine region. Its economy is traditionally linked to the wine industry and wine tourism. The river port of Bordeaux, 50 kilometers from the sea, in the 1940s had a commercial function that today has been diverted to Le Verdon. The warehouses have been dismantled to create a series of public spaces on the waterfront and enhance the view of historical buildings, and the port has become a cruise harbour in keeping with the city’s leanings towards tourist development. The first concrete step in the regeneration strategy of Bordeaux follows two key actions, namely the implementation of the mobility project, especially the tram network, and the requalification of public spaces, especially in relation to the quais jardinés. The process started in 1995 when Alain Juppé, who was elected Mayor of Bordeaux and later President of the Bordelese Urban Community which administers the metropolitan area, promoted a new urban project and a tram network to support the integrated urban change. In 1996, the Urban Pilot Project (PPU), Bordeaux les deux rives, funded by the European Commission through ERDF programme, translated the restoration project into strategies for development and revitalization of the area along the river. The program was implemented between 1997 and 2001 under the coordination of the public-private company Bordeaux Métropole Aménagement, of which the Urban Community of Bordeaux is the main public shareholder. In this regard, 22 actions were organized for the construction of the integrated urban regeneration, economic and social development, and cultural revitalization. The actions consisted in interventions on the tangible and intangible heritage and included the following: the upgrading of the system of open spaces; reunification of the historical and contemporary city with the river; the lighting plan; the restoration of monuments and historic facades; and interventions on the built heritage. The program also provided for the construction of facilities and houses for a new residential centre located in the Bastide, a large area of public facilities, and areas for Urbanistica www.planum.net

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sports and leisure. With regard to mobility, new hubs and links were identified in order to rearrange flows of pedestrians, bicycles, and cars, and an extensive tram system was designed. Along its route interventions of open space design and placement of contemporary works art were planned, as well as interchanges with ecological networks. An interdisciplinary team of architects and landscapers took care of the tram system design so that its 44 km extension significantly modified the perception of public spaces. As regards the open space projects, an important point of reference is the Charte des Paysages de Bordeaux, approved in 2000, which reinterprets the tradition of Bordeaux or recreates a different one, in line with the identity of the places, around the thematic axis of the left bank, totally redesigned by Corajoud after reclamation of the industrial areas. ZAC des Chartrons implemented the redevelopment of the abandoned industrial area and enabled the creation of a new neighbourhood consisting of homes and businesses, with a ripple effect across the whole area between downtown Bordeaux and the Historic Submarine Naval Base north of the city. In 2001 the Schéma directeur de l’aire métropolitaine bordelaise was approved for the period 2010-2020. The Schéma Directeur with SCoT value (schéma de cohérence territoriale) defines strategic planning and sustainable development in an area covering 91 municipalities and 820.000 inhabitants by 2020 with objectives: limit urban sprawl by concentrating development in the heart of city centres and peripheral areas; enhance and manage the natural structure of the landscape surrounding the city; define and structure the major economic centers of development in the city, promoting urban redevelopment and densification along the axes of heavy transport. In 2001 Bordeaux obtained EU funding for the CIP (Community Initiative Programme) Urban 2 ‘Unic- ités’ for the period 2001-2007. This program maintains a cross-sectoral and integrated approach to the territory with the priority to both create a global project that allows sustainable development of all the neighbourhoods around the river and its banks, and emergence of a real centre of agglomeration. The territory interested by Urban2-Unicités, located on both sides of the Garonne, includes three municipalities, Bordeaux, Cenon and Floirac. This was characterized - also for the presence of physical barriers (rivers, railways, motorways) - by problems of demographic, economic decline, high unemployment and poor social situations. For 2007-2013, Aquitaine has set up a Regional Operational ERDF Program to increase competitiveness through innovation, promote the economy of the knowledge society and develop ICT, as well as enhance the environmental heritage. Bordeaux participated with the program ‘Support to the sustainable development of neighbourhoods’, to develop a plan for the northern area of the city and the right bank. Among the projects under development, ‘Bacalan-Bastide’ is of par-

ticular interest for the region which includes five priority areas (Bacalan, Benauge, Chartrons North, Grand Park and Lake) and has a high area potential. The development program of Bordeaux from 2009 to 2030 was planned through the Charte durable pour une métropole 2009-2030, establishing a series of commitments to promote eco-construction, which include: attention of all new construction to its context; search for the most appropriate specific density; use of local materials for construction and native vegetation for open spaces; study of the terrain and climate conditions for the use of renewable energy sources; attention to create both functional and social mixed-use neighbourhoods. The strategy aims at increasing the attractiveness and competitiveness of a major urban centre while preserving the identity of living places, to combine the ‘centrality’ (scale of agglomeration) and ‘proximity’ (the life of the district), ‘openness’ and ‘cohesion’. The success of the entire process of transformation taking place since 1995 led Bordeaux in 2007 to propose its historical centre (Port of the Moon) as a Unesco World Heritage Site and in 2010 to receive The European City of the Year Award from the Academy of Urbanism. Socio-economic revitalization The goal for Grand Bordeaux is that in 2030 the city will have 15.000 inhabitants more, with 20.000 passengers arriving or departing at high speed from the Gare SaintJean and 200.000 passengers by public transport. The PPU Bordeaux les deux rives was funded with three million euros by the ERDF, and the substantial community investment has formed an important basis to undertake all the actions of the city’s transformation. The resources which are needed to carry out this complex process are public and private and a public-private company Bordeaux Métropole Aménagement managed the various interventions. The allocation of funding to the project implementers was organized by the Municipality with parameters: depending on income for resident owners, rental agreement with tenants for owners with grants, and tax subsidies for owners of buildings. The contribution for Urban Pic 2 Unicités 2001-2007 offered by the European Community was 9,66 million for the development of the Bordeaux/ Cenon/Floirac area. Other contributions were offered by local and national government and the private sector for more than 16 million for a total of 26 million. Six years later, almost 110 projects have been completed and 260 jobs created. The program supported both the structuring of transactions and the pilot actions mainly aimed at people in difficulty, and among several programs designed there is supporting the school and reopening the youth hostel. According to economic data, between 1997 and 2007, 11.200 jobs were created in Bordeaux (+14%) and 135.000 new jobs were created in Aquitaine (+23%). Bordeaux received additional funding from the European Community under the Aquitaine 2007-2013 regional program of 392 million euros for the Urbanistica www.planum.net

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Bacalan-Bastide area. The attractive environment that is being created in Bordeaux is leading to the setting-up of creative and cross-organization projects which can bring out the creative nature in the Bordelais. As regards, Bordeaux is projected to become a major tourist destination, not only linked to wine, and tourism data estimates over 2.5 million tourists per year, becoming a short-stay destination. Along with cultural and creative tourism, business tourism is growing strongly thanks to the quality of health centres and infrastructures (new convention centre, new hangars, and technology parks and an event of global interest will be held in 2015, i.e. the World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, ‘ITS 2015’, expected to bring about 8000 participants to Bordeaux. Participation The Bordeaux regeneration project involves people in each stages and levels, in fact the city is equipped with a series of guidelines and tools for integrated management of the regeneration, produced through a process of negotiation and consultation with the various actors involved (politicians, experts, businesses, residents, retailers, committees and associations). Reconfiguration of the system of open spaces has been designed to be in harmony with the place identity, so were set up different methods of participation, trying to engage the population through a code of behaviour that combines shared guidelines with quality projects to interpret the symbolic elements and urban culture of Bordeaux. Every space is enhanced or changed in use, inserting from time to time elements of communication to make clear sense of the operation; the course of the project was accompanied by open workshops conducted by a working group composed of representatives of the actors involved; several events and symbolic actions (e.g. lighting of the stone bridge) which aimed to communicate the current project and to further involve residents. Many organizations aimed at creating multi-level and creative districts overlap with the project of urban transformation. These include the Darwin Project with its objectives of collaborative and sustainable entrepreneurship, with the support of the Presqu’île company which holds regular consultation with the district, the population and the associations concerned. Also the construction of the Charte pour une métropole durable 2009-2030 leads in the direction of participation. Its goals include respect for the symbolic value of the site and its buildings, as well as customs, the living environment and privacy of the residents.

extensive tram network aimed at changing perceptions of places has greatly increased the attractiveness of these spaces. It was not so focused on building mega structures but a series of innovative infrastructures and medium-sized urban interventions aimed at connecting the different cultures and lands of both sides and to raise the quality of life. During this long regeneration process people (residents and stakeholders) was involved in different manners so as to reach a shared vision and support. Economic development has linked to wine production for a broader international tourism, the restoration of the neo-classical facades, create new jobs in the construction and catering industries. The use of suitable policies, the right mix of public and private funds, a clear goal of transformation, the strong focus on culture and place identity, the population involvement planned in detail have begun to produce good effects. Furthermore, the 10 Principles for Sustainable Urban Waterfront Development - adopted during the 2008 Liverpool Waterfront Expo - were followed. A positive assessment of Bordeaux is based on: principles of sustainable development of the region, Charte pour une métropole durable 2009-2030, which aims at making any new construction sustainable in relation to the material and immaterial context, listing as a World Heritage site obtained from Unesco and recognition from the Academy of Urbanism. Furthermore, the interventions involve not only the area of Bordeaux but also that of Aquitaine, contributing to the economic redevelopment of the rest of the region. Design implementation, however, is very complex and the projects are ambitious. It will be necessary to maintain an overall view of the development of the city with a scheme that takes into account the different ongoing operations: not only those related to mobility, but also the transversal projects and the new districts such as the Darwin project, as well as the implementation of the Charte pour une métro- pole durable 2009-2030 and the Codes with Bordeaux métropole d’avenir activities. Thus the objective of competition and innovation will not obscure the identity of the places - from where the regeneration started - and the real boundaries of the metropolitan area. Finally, the project will also be careful to implement participation in several steps and ensure that this occurs following the execution times of the interventions. Tight execution deadlines are difficult to reconcile with the definitely longer times needed for consultation.

Conclusions During the process of urban change there were important issues for the Grand Bordeaux, whose conversion of the port and the entire area around the two banks of the Garonne took place thanks to a unique plan and a strong desire for place identity renewal. The regeneration of the areas around the docks on the left bank, with the lighting plan and the renovation of facades and the Urbanistica www.planum.net

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Belfast: regenerate the city to rebuild divided identity Claudia Trillo, Gabriella Esposito De Vita ‘Urban regeneration in Belfast: Europe that looks ahead’ is a project led by an international team and aimed to identify, through a critical reflection on urban transformations in Belfast between insiders and outsiders, possible approaches to sustainable urban regeneration in contested places, also applicable to other european contexts. It includes contributions from international experts, that have worked together on the Belfast transformation experiences, thus representing a systematic reflections on the role of urban design and planning in Belfast and promoting the dissemination of those experiences. In fifteen years Belfast has completely changed, being able to exploit abandoned resources, like the riverfront, to retrieve contaminated and brownfield sites, identifying new activities and new markets, reinterpreting the public-private partnership, promoting participation. The city has ancient origins but started growing since the Plantation of Ulster by the English King- dom, during the 17th century. Ulster became the Irish region with the most significant Protestant community, in conflict with the majority of rural and Catholic native people. In 1801 the Act of Union established the role of Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and the Irish Parliament was dissolved: in this era we can find the origin of the ethno-religious tensions. In the last century the nationalist instances resulted in tensions between pro-independence groups (Ira) and loyal paramilitary or unionist groups. Hostilities were officially closed in 1921 with the division of the Irish island in two different countries: the independent republic of Ireland and the northern Ireland region as part of the UK. At the end of the ‘60s the so-called troubles started a new era of conflicts, a sort of civil war between paramilitary loyal forces connected to the British army and Ira. Belfast was divided, creating the ‘no-go zones’ and armoring the city center with a ‘ring of steel’. Even today, the areas in which the two communities share common borders are called ‘interface areas’, characterized by the presence of physical barriers (walls, fences, barriers in general), often in a state of neglect and decline. As administrative region, northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom. The need to manage a dramatic conflict and a complex peace process led to a division of powers which does not facilitate a systemic approach to urban planning. The regional Plan for northern Ireland in 1964 triggered a massive suburbanization process, especially due to the the protestant middle class, encouraged to move away from the city centre because of the scenario of violence and decay. Besides, in the ’60s the construction of new highways encouraged urban growth towards the Northern side of the city. With the start of the peace process in the late ’90s, plan-

ning activities found new vitality with the commitments of the institutions towards the redevelopment of public housing (Northern Ireland housing executive), the regeneration of the port, the waterfront of the Lagan and the city center. Public-private partnership has accelerated the process of physical and social regeneration of cities through the Urban development corporation (Udc). The two major regeneration projects oriented to building ‘neutral zones’ and removing barriers between communities are the redevelopment of the Lagan waterfront and the redevelopment of the city centre. Over the last fifteen years there have been significant investments and projects. The following collection of essays offers an analysis of the transformations completed or in progress in Belfast, through the theme of the effectiveness of implementation. ‘Coordinating urban regeneration strategies: the planning framework’ describes the strategic and planning framework within which specific actions have been coordinated by a systemic approach. In “The implementation and management tools: the 3 P approach” Gerry Millar explains the role of a reliable legal framework in order to implement strategies for the synergic cooperation between private and the public. The materialization of the conflict is unfortunately still present, as confirmed by Ciaran Mackel, leader of the Ard studio and members of the ministerial committee of experts Mab. Tara Florence frames organically the main changes activated in Belfast, through a brief historical overview and Mike Smith, chief executive of the development company Titanic Ltd, illustrates the challenge of giving meaning to an enormous size area without relying on public support. Saul Freedman and Patricia Golden, members of the development office of the Belfast City Council, underline the importance of the steering role from the public sector. Michael Hegarthy, by the privileged observatory Place, a northern Irish professional association which brings together architects, landscape architects, planners and urban planners, compares urban development in northern Ireland with some paradigmatic models of ideal city. Alona Martinez-Perez, lecturer in urban design at the University of Ulster, tackles the issue of how to pursue high morphological quality in re-building the identity of Belfast. Gabriella Esposito De Vita and Massimo Clemente with Stefania Oppido resume the threads of a research project supported by the National research council of Italy (Cnr) and developed in collaboration with the University of Ulster, offering remarks that open new perspectives in the comparison between northern Irish and italian contexts. Finally, Carmelina Bevilacqua, discussant of two conferences held on Belfast in Venice and Naples, suggests that the case of Belfast offers valuable insights to the italian context.

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Coordinating urban regeneration strategies: the planning framework Claudia Trillo The relevant urban transformations of Belfast are framed in a comprehensive overall strategy. Current projects are incorporated in a metropolitan and regional strategy, in which individual actions reflect the implementation of a long-term vision. However, the planning system in northern Ireland is still very much influenced by the severe limitations to local authorities powers introduced at the time of the troubles. If the rest of the UK planning system can be seen as both a technocratic and democratic exercise, in northern Ireland the technocratic aspect is the prevailing one. The northern Irish government has begun a radical process of reform and modernization of the planning system, which is part of the broader process of administration and political governance reform. The Reform of public administration, undertaken in 2007, aims to pursue a genuine devolution of powers, also by reorganizing the current districts system and transferring to them responsibility in fields such as planning, rural development, asset management, urban regeneration, housing, local economic development and tourism (www. doeni.gov.uk). Meanwhile, the role of local activities in decision-making processes for the government of the territory is rather weak, and this makes particularly difficult for the City of Belfast to perform a strong role in guiding ongoing transformations. Currently, the planning metropolitan framework is represented by the Belfast metropolitan area Plan 2015 (Bmap), drawn in november 2004. The main objective of this plan is to reverse the economic and demographic decline began in the ’70s in the urban area, thus recalling the strategies developed in the Regional development strategy (Rds document). The regional strategy, which launched the slogan ‘Sha- ping our future’, aims to define a shared vision for the region and to build an agenda that will lead to its achievement, through a process of consultations with the communities involved. (http://www.drdni.gov.uk/index/regional_planning.htm). Key actions of the regional strategy are: creating prosperous rural area, preserving the environment, builing new housing in northern Ireland, improving public transport and reducing car dependency as well as encouraging the compact urban development and promoting a functional mixité in order to overcomes the separation of land uses. For implementing the strategies shared in the Regional development strategy, the Bmap aims to contain urban sprawl and to promote the regeneration and redevelopment within the existing city, focusing on the revitalization of the sense of community. However, it is surprising the scarce attention paid to the ‘peacelines’, physical barriers, in the analysis and consequently in the

actions designed by the plan. Policies oriented to overcome the physical divisions within the city are considered mainly in the context of social policies. There are different kinds of barriers that separate parts of the city: walls, fences, gates, cul-de-sacs. The main urban break is certainly the Westlink, a high-speed road that has literally cut off from the center conflicting enclave such as the district of Shankill or the Falls. Along the axis of the Westlink the urban landscape shows suburban features and disconnections in the pedestrian paths that hinder the use of public spaces. Buffer zones, created in order to strengthen the division between communities in conflict, were made through the inclusion of mono-functional areas in semi-peripheral areas. Until now, the city of Belfast has been shown to be able to manage very complex urban transformations with pragmatism and efficiency; the challenge is now to complete the process of re-connection in the suburban fringe, with the same attitude to change shown over the past fifteen years.

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Implementation and management tools: the 3 P approach Gerry Millar The contribute deals with the 3 P approach (policy, practice, partnership) in the case study of Belfast underling the roles of public sector in urban regeneration processes. The first public contribution is the provision of infrastructure as even Adam Smith in the Wealth of nations, the premier to capitalisation writer of the role of the state in providing roads, bridges, harbours, docks, etc. Belfast City Council is not yet a big player in this because of limited functions and budgets but it is currently now looking at three new funding mechanisms for a major rapid transit system and it is involved in the removal of risk such as contamination on key sites. However the biggest role of the public administration has been in reducing institutional friction between the various agencies to allow things to happen in the city. Policy involves a city master plan that sees Belfast as a regional driver. The city centre which drives the economy of Belfast and the need for a good looking, interesting shop window of a city centre that offers the retail, cultural and other experiences of a major european city that makes it worthwhile for investors to come to Belfast. Policies adopted in Belfast are informed by best practice form around the world eg. smart growth in the United States, Eurocities network, Brownfield Europe regeneration literature and so on. Practice is important for public administration, in terms of gaining credibility for a small organisation. It is necessary to deliver quality projects and show their add value to ensure partners such as national and regional government listen and private sector. It is also important to ensure full support to the community sector, through community engagement and planning activities, that it may play a role in processes of urban development. Partnership is a way of life given the fragmented nature of governance in Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council works hard to be seen as the partner of choice. While planning is important, a key lesson we have taken from Barcelona is that projects change cities, not plans, and we are keen to ensure delivery. Significant contribution in urban regeneration is provided by design. Belfast City Council collaborates with the local Riba and contributes to a city design centre Place, which among other things promotes the issue of good design. The public administration directly delivers projects, tries and pushes for good architecture or conservation and where its support is required from partners again it will use whatever influence to push the issue of design. The Waterfront hall was a ÂŁ 30 milion pound investment in the early 1990â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that provided the initial confidence to attract private investment to Laganside, a regeneration plan based on recovering the river and its frontage. It was delivered by the Laganside corporation on which Belfast City Council was a major partner and delivered ÂŁ

1 billion pound investment and turned around a derelict waterfront. The Gasworks is a good example of risk removal where the Council remediated a 12 hectare heavily contaminated former gasworks on the edge of the city centre creating a new business park of mixed use development. The city centre shop window idea is important with a need for major retail. The Council supported Dutch developer Mdc over other competitors to develop their Victoria square. Its support was in large, partly due to the sympathetic design which was not the usual big retail box and again we added a little of the original Victoriana with the Jaffe fountain. The Council also chased retail for edge of town development and got the first Ikea in Ireland ahead of Dublin. The role of public administration in this was brokering a fast turnaround from planning and roads service and tying Ikea into a local employment agreement.

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Transforming Belfast Tara Florence Belfast has been recently heralded as an interesting case study by italian urban renewal conferences, with a cross fertilisation of Belfast and italian architects, academics and urbanists. The city has always been a conflicted area, with fissures along that have impacted the urban development. These cracks include the class divisions of a plantation town in the 17th century, the political and economic uprisings struggling to throw off British colonialism and the period known as the ‘troubles’. There was not a single event or government programme from which the tide changed in Belfast, but rather some collaborative form of deliberate actions and serendipity as by means of explanation. The majority of the built fabric was the result of the historical thriving industrial city from the 1850’s to early 1900’s, characterized by an expansion in population and a commensurate growth in working class housing. In the 1960’s the Matthew plan established a development stop-line for the city along with proposals for a number of new towns and growth centres, supported by both a transportation plan and the city’s first development plan. A comprehensive housing redevelopment programme was initiated to address to poor housing conditions and to encourage the transfer of people to the new towns and growth centres. During the 1970s and 1980s Belfast lost a third of its population. The city centre was cordoned off for security and surveillance with check points and gates in what became known as the ring of steel. As many of the government departments situated their offices within the city centre, for security from the Ira bombing campaign, it had the effect of a city core which operated within business opening hours but was a no-man’s land after dark. Since the introduction of direct rule by the Westminster government in 1972, and following the regional Stormont government being prorogued, all Departments in northern Ireland have been structured on the basis of safe bureaucratic practice. The first government initiative was the Making Belfast work (Mbw) in 1988, focused more on job creation and social infrastructures. The Belfast regeneration offices (Bro) were developed which as a part of the Department for social development (Dsd), for the implementation of a regeneration strategy aimed at addressing the most deprived wards around the city. The five Belfast area partnerships were created to provide a targeted urban regeneration strategy at a local community level as was deemed essential given the diversity of issues between communities. In 1971 the Housing executive was established in response to strong accusations of discrimination towards Catholics. Following the failure of the high density housing development Divis Flats in the 1980’s, the city’s dedensification was accelerated as the Executive stamped a suburban solution in areas where a more imaginative,

bolder typology and programme might have intensified the social and residential richness. 1989 saw the formation of the Laganside corporation, as non-departmental public body charged with the task of regenerating 140 hectare area of inner city land, expanded to 200 hectares in 1996 to include the historic Cathedral quarter. The lessons learned in Laganside has led to improved public and private regeneration models. Retail led regeneration projects have by far been the most successful to date within the west and south quadrants of the city core. The transformation from the city with a curfew whose core was once walled off with security check points to an open all hours and walkable Belfast whose people now celebrate in the streets with arts and music festivals is astonishing.

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Titanic quarter: the private engine to build the future (starting) from the past Mike Smith Titanic quarter is one of Europe’s largest urban waterfront regeneration schemes, transforming a 185 acre site on the banks of Belfast’s river Lagan into a new mixed use maritime quarter with a mile of water frontage. The development consists of residential accommodation, office space, hotels, academic activities and leisure, retail and heritage space. A co-promotion between Titanic quarter Ltd and Belfast harbour, it is anticipated that over 20,000 people will work or live in the £ 7 bilion pounds plus Titanic quarter development upon completion. The site is centred upon former shipbuilding land from which vessels such as the Rms Titanic, Olympic and SS Canberra were launched. It will become a major social and business meeting place with galleries, theatres, parklands and water sports all easily connected to Belfast’s thriving city centre and the George Best Belfast city airport. Titanic quarter will soon play host to one of northern Ireland’s flagship tourist attractions, with ‘Titanic Belfast’ set to open in april 2012 to commemorate the construction of the world’s most famous ship and Belfast’s illustrious shipbuilding heritage. Opening 100 years to the month from Rms Titanic’s maiden voyage in the north Atlantic ocean, the £ 97 milion pounds Titanic Belfast is expected to attract over 400,000 visitors per year, 165,000 of whom will be new visitors to Belfast. The five-storey building will be shaped as a five-pointed star, reflecting the flag of the iconic White Star Line, and covers a three-acre site in sight of the slipway where construction work on the Titanic began. The facility’s interior will include a range of themed exhibition galleries that will tell the story of Titanic and the wider story of northern Ireland’s industrial, shipbuilding and maritime history. A Heritage Trail will bring visitors from the city centre, past the Nomadic, which brought first class passengers aboard the Titanic and her sister ship Olympic, and onto the Thompson Pump house and dock where the Titanic was fitted out. There will also be banqueting, retail and restaurant facilities, conference suites and a community resource centre. Long, somewhat Mannerist, a three-storey office block in sandstone and brick was built in stages between late 1800s and 1919. The building was the hub of the Harland and Wolff empire which at its peak had over 50,000 employees in the UK, 30,000 in Belfast. Now owned by Titanic quarter Ltd, it plays a major role in the regeneration of the 185-acre Titanic quarter development site. The Paint hall, in Titanic quarter of Belfast, where the component parts of ships were once painted in climate controlled conditions, is a massive build-space – a fully functioning film studio. In 2009 a first foray into northern Ireland from the Hollywood powerhouse with the arrive of the Universal pictures for the set of the medieval comedy Your Highness. The Paint hall is currently home to the new Hbo original se-

ries Game of thrones, based on George R.R. Martin’s best-selling novels. Belfast’s newest Premier inn will open at Titanic quarter in november 2010, where there are plans for a further four hotels including a five star boutique hotel based in part of the famous former Harland and Wolff headquarters building, which includes the drawing offices. Titanic quarter’s first major public artwork, entitled ‘Kit’, was unveiled during the Belfast festival at Queen’s in october 2009. It is a dramatic sitespecific light sculpture which is 13.5 meters tall and cast in bronze, depicting recognisable Titanic elements on an outer frame with the overall sculpture suggesting toy kits and Airfix models. Development across the wider Titanic quarter is ongoing, with construction completed at the new Public record office of northern Ireland and the first phase of the Titanic quarter financial services centre at the Gateway office. Building is well under way at the Belfast Metropolitan college campus, which is due to open in august 2011. Residents have started taking up occupancy in the Abercorn residential complex (Arc), which, upon completion in december 2010, will consist of almost 500 one, two and three-bedroom properties, including penthouse apartments as well as almost 30,000 sq ft of retailing.

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Cathedral quarter Belfast: public regeneration strategies Saul Golden, Patricia Freedman Belfast’s Cathedral quarter represents a microcosm of the city’s 400 year commercial and cultural history as it rose to become a regional mercantile centre and then endured decades of decline in the 20th century. Begun in 1997, Cathedral quarter’s vision for the future is to build on the areas’ culture-led regeneration. While other parts of the city pursued retail-led models, Cathedral quarter was established as a centre for culture and the creative arts (Laganside 2007) and aims to be Belfast’s “focal point and leading destination for culture, enterprise and learning” (Cgsg 2011, 6). Public and private investment started with the official designation of Cathedral quarter under the privately-led Laganside corporation (1997-2007). It entered a new phase in 2008, led by local and government stakeholders who comprise the Cathedral quarter Steering group (Cqsg). This article presents an overview of Cqsg’s recently issued Cathedral quarter Five-year strategic vision and development Plan for 2011-15 with the background of important historical influences for the present as well as Cqsg’s priorities for future. While Cathedral quarter is relatively young in Belfast’s history, the area is home to the city’s original 17th century centre. The Quarter is part of the Cathedral conservation area (PlanningNI 2011), established in 1990 with approximately 20 historic buildings and historic streetscapes that reflect Belfast’s mercantile and financial zenith of the late 19th century high-Victorian period into the early 20th century. Up until World war II, the area was an active industrial district serving the docks along the river Lagan. In 1941, a Luftwaffe bombing raid destroyed entire city blocks at the north and south ends of the quarter. Afterwards, Cathedral quarter continued to suffer decades of socioeconomic decline due to ongoing postindustrial neglect and physical dilapidation. These problems were compounded from 1968 onward by northern Ireland’s own thirty-year political and sectarian conflict, known as the ‘troubles’. In the late 1980s, UK government initiatives set-up to tackle urban decline reached Belfast through the establishment of the Laganside corporation, one of twelve privately-led Urban development corporations (Udcs) established with limited statutory powers in different UK cities. The Udc model was adopted from US examples for regenerating large-scale abandoned urban industrial areas, by combining private development with retail and cultural events-led approaches that adapted existing industrial buildings with new architecture and urban design. Once established in 1989, the Laganside corporation was given control over a 141 hectare area along a mile and a half of Belfast’s river Lagan (Doeni 1987). Early

projects hailed as successes by the mid 1990s led to an additional 60 hectares added to Laganside between the river and the city centre. In 1998 with its own statutory regeneration remit for a “dynamic and distinctive, mixed use, historical and cultural quarter” (Cqsg 2011, 58). Since it was deemed too high-risk for private investment (Inherit 2007, 38) and was not cleared for the kind of tower-block social housing estates that can be found nearby, its historic buildings and street patterns remained largely undisturbed, albeit in a state of decay. The Cathedral conservation area offered some protection once property-development returned in earnest following the official cessation of the troubles with the 1998 Belfast peace agreement. After 2007, Cqsg was setup to take regeneration forward. Working with local government and long established as well as newer stakeholder participants, Cqsg prepared its new five-year strategy around a ‘heritage-led’ approach and four overarching priorities: “arts and creative industries, a mixed-use economy, high levels of public participation and a supportive [civic] infrastructure for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport” (Cqsg 2011). Cqsg’s heritage focus expects new growth to adapt existing buildings and urban spaces, where possible, in a way that respects the area’s historic and contemporary character with an appropriate sense of place and time (Lynch 1972). This core principle of creating urban places for people through sensitive growth and preservation was first put forward fifty years ago by activists like Kevin Lynch (1961) and Jane Jacobs (1961) in Boston and New York. These ideas have since grown into the ‘place-making’ or ‘place-shaping’ movements that are central to current urban development thinking around the world. For Belfast’s Cathedral quarter, this means capitalising on its unique narrow streets as meeting places where casual uses invite chance encounters and overheard conversations. The new vision supports the activities of the Cathedral quarter’s many local community and community-arts organisations throughout these spaces. Events like the annual Cathedral quarter arts festival, Festival of fools and others throughout the year bring activity and vitality, focusing on creative arts and cultural events as catalysts for both local participation and welcoming visitors and new businesses from outside Belfast. The Cathedral quarter is also building important close ties with public and private organisations outside its boundaries, including institutions like the University of Ulster. Looking ahead, Cathedral quarter’s success will depend on a continued symbiosis between the public realm, public activity and new privately created buildings and spaces. Integrating more quality of life will foster the area’s sustained growth and its all-important sense of place.

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The physical manifestation of conflict on built form Ciaran Mackel In many ways, the conflict in the north of Ireland and the perceived threat, or fear, of violence over a period of almost thirty years, established a language of architecture. The urban violence in transforming the public sphere of urban social life accelerated the post industrial wasteland. It is beginning to conceive and express a new urbanity in terms of use and occupation of public spaces and streets. The new architecture strives for an expression of material quality and form that has evolved from the use of glass as the symbolic representation of openness and transparency that was the first iteration of new building towards the end of the conflict. There is now also beginning a release from the modernist orthodoxy that form follows function: a challenge that form might just be form and, without form, that surface might be representational of something else? The issue of permanence in building or a belief in a more secure environment in which to build framed a shift in the language of buildings and architecture. Belfast, like other cities, has a legacy of walls and representations of immutable barriers that evoke an irrevocable past. The re-born city must address the symbolic form and material narrative to transform the public sphere of urban social life: it must challenge the spatial construct of the interface. Pre 1969 Belfast allowed a weft and warp of connectedness for citizens wishing to traverse the city. It was possible to travel across the city: it was possible to know the whole city as a place of the kind that celebrated poet Gerald Dawe has described though, for many, not necessarily enjoy the opportunity of employment that the industrial city afforded. The city was unwelcoming to many of its citizens as many neighbourhoods were then as unchartered, insular and exclusivist as those mapped and studied following the violence of 1969 and since the aftermath of interface walls and established ‘no-go’ areas changed the map of the city. The city once had an open grain and easy weave of streets that straddled the neighbourhood divides. During the ‘troubles’ (1966-96) there were people who never left their own neighbourhood to venture the few miles to the city centre. The entrance into the city core was fraught with the tension of entering through a security ‘ring of steel’ with the various body searches and checks that entailed. The paths of connectedness and separation were and still are very clear. Few things map out the human drama, distinctiveness and brutality of the northern Ireland conflict more clearly than territoriality. The failure to agree the use of contested space finds expression in the language of identity, the physical environment and in routine activity patterns of daily life. The coloured maps of the city charting the perceived and

actual green and orange neighbourhoods, initially identified by security personnel, have been often replicated to demonstrate the divisions in Belfast. In northern Ireland the state apparatus “from policing, incarceration, social welfare, and urban planning to public housing, conceived of governance in terms of counterinsurgency”. Brendan Murtagh in the Politics of territory: policy and segregation in northern Ireland notes how the Belfast Development office was established to implement urban policy and over time dominated strategic policy-making, key decision-taking and the delivery of major development programmes negotiated with selected interests and highly attractive financial incentives. The voids in the city and the built architecture are crucial components of the emerging and changing urban experience of the city. Space as an ingredient of urban design is the creative construct that shapes our experience of architecture and permits participative communication and exchange. During the conflict the energy needed for imaginative and inspired creative activity may well have been syphoned by the immigration of talented and skilled designers and architects who could not find work at home in the eighties and early nineties or by the feelings of despondency engendered by the reluctance of investors to build in the city and by the apparent affliction, suffered by many, that we have to wait until something is tried and tested elsewhere, or that the axiom, ‘that will do us rightly’ is a principle of urbanism. That referral to a ‘somewhere else’ ... is the enemy of autonomous quality”. Much of the building in the seventies and eighties was social housing and little public building. The new social housing provision was a low-rise solution to the problems of both large areas of poor quality housing (generally in inner city areas) and our (still) impoverished understanding of limited models of housing typologies of either two-up, two-down or slab and tower blocks. ‘There is no good reason why Belfast ... should imitate or parody accommodation models provided by the south east of England; but it does’. Many of the houses built in that new build housing stock replacement programme provide pleasant homes and were built to high technical standards in the brick built aesthetic of the city but many are surrounded by walls and built as defensible spaces which provide little permeability or connection with neighbouring clusters of housing. Large areas of urban clearance still remain as blight in the inner city landscape. There was a feeling of despondency in the building sector throughout the nineteen seventies and eighties. Fear from the commercial bombing campaign and from planning blight and the general lack of spending power resulted in little economic investment by the private sector and those who did invest and build were cautious in their tolerance of architectural licence. Architects responded by a reserved approach and a limited palette in the expression of material quality and developed an expertise in detailing seemingly shaped by a security agenda. Many buildings reflected the walls and secuUrbanistica www.planum.net

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rity barriers. Public houses were built with no windows affording an external view and twin walls and fences surrounded edge and isolated buildings. Should we have expected a more rigorous approach to the detailing of material junctions and to the proportions of buildings and components? Should the lack of a major public works building programme have provided a fertile ground for entrepreneurial and creative architects wishing to respond to the particularities of place and culture in their regional city? The ceasefires of 1994 did provide an impetus for a renewed interest in the built fabric of our cities and towns and the new atmosphere encouraged many who had left these shores to return and to offer their new skills and enthusiasm to prospective investors. The excesses of the late 1990s developments of private apartment blocks (at times financially assisted by public investment), some of which were thought would build shared space, now seem vacant vacuous follies for an affluent class that might no longer exist. A culture of public space has suffered at the expense of an engineered belief in privacy and security. Might such developments now be acquired for social and affordable housing and places of public recreation? Jones and Brett in their book, toward an architecture: ulster, remind us of Adolf Loos’ instruction to ‘pay attention to the forms in which the locals build. For they are the fruits of wisdom.’ (From Rules for those building in the mountains). Some respected architects and designers who remained here seeking to learn from our own place and wishing to hone their craft have now developed a matured sensitivity to place-making and to appropriate form-making in both the rural place and in the tight weave of the urban grain of Belfast. Architects, and others, in an increasingly engaged discussion on the city are keen to develop praxis in planning and in architecture rather than respond to policies of planning that have, in some instances, been advanced to expand the influence of powerful interests of capital in the shaping of the city. It is increasingly clear that the traditional working classinner city communities are not sharing the dividend of a rejuvenating city and the planned, built and now empty buffer zones on the edges of many interface areas are now ripe for redevelopment. The concept of the city as a living entity rather than an accepted historic pattern of ownership, association and use might free the agenda for debate and discussion. In many instances the principal instigators of urban design, in the contemporary city, are shopping, entertainment and tourism and the control of key decisions on urban design has passed ‘to advertising agents, corporate marketing departments, consumer focus groups and demographic profilers’. Architects are well placed to understand the forces and mechanisms that shape the city and are equipped with the skills to articulate a vision for the future. Many are passionate about the city and its people: love its darkness and light; love the lip of hills that hold us cradled in the mouth of flowing waters, and love the direct speech of fellow citi-

zens. They also desire a more socially inclusive policy agenda and seek the intellectual, emotional and physical space within which to make architecture.

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The cultural matrix of cities in northern Ireland and the new trajectory design Michael Hegarty In northern Ireland there are a wide variety of Government departments, public agencies, private companies and Ngo’s that have roles in creating built environment. Until recently agencies acted in isolation to deliver only their own component of cities (housing, roads, urban regeneration and planning) besides a reactive planning system is not under the administration of Belfast City Council. But in the last few decades of conflict a very direct relationship between local communities and their elected representatives has developed. Over the centuries the greatest human minds have created models of ideal cities and many of these have impacted in northern Ireland. The Healthy city is first explored by Plato in Republic: he depicts two cities, one healthy and one with ‘a fever’ (the so-called luxurious city). The citizens of the luxurious city ‘have surrendered themselves to the endless acquisition of money and have overstepped the limit of their necessities’. The main character Socrates says that war originates in communities living beyond the natural limits of necessity. The healthy or true city is sustainable, limiting its consumption to actual needs, while the luxurious city is not and is in a perpetual quest for more. While Leonardo da Vinci was living in Milan, much of Italy and the rest of Europe was struck by plague. Leonardo felt the high number of deaths was partially due to the dirty condition, densely populated cities where germs spread rapidly. He designed an ideal city based on two levels, the top for the foot traffic and the bottom for carts and animals, with wide streets, underground waterways carried garbage away and a paddlewheel system could clean the streets. A century after Leonardo’s model, work began on Derry, the first planned city in Ireland conceived as a new town for London in 1613. The central square (the diamond) within a walled city with four gates was considered primarily to be a good design for defence. The main streets were wide and the buildings make visual reference to the renaissance. However the preexisting landscape topography defines the city as much as the imposed plan. In 1898 Ebenezer Howard founded the Garden city movement, cities intended to be planned, self-contained, communities surrounded by greenbelts, with carefully balanced areas of residences, industry, and agriculture. Small estates in Belfast and Derry were inspired by this model. Le Corbusier devised numerous ideal cities and like Leonardo segregated the pedestrian circulation paths from the roadways but his ideas were less influential than his drawings. The systemised deck access housing constructed at Divis in Belfast and Rossville Flats, Derry were quick cheap attempts at slum clearance and housing provision by the 1960’s Government. These systems soon proved to be a social disaster as elsewhere in Europe. Over the years

in north Ireland cities were built on whatever land could be purchased, retaining the field pattern and the twists in the landscape, translated into the urban form as a memory. This kind of growing, organic, self-repairing city fits into a view of architecture and urban design where intuitive decisions are valued as much as grand visions, where the specific place is more important than the general location. This view has been given intellectual rigor and structure by theorists like Christopher Alexander. Post conflict northern Ireland society has changed, inducing to repair and renew the cities. Global factors inhibit regeneration and local specific barriers to change include: approximately 30 Peace line walls still divide fourteen districts in Belfast and one in Derry, the most visible remainders of a conflict legacy; roads such as the M3 flyover and the Westlink separate the largely uninhabited city centre of Belfast from surrounding neighbourhoods; a public transport strategy is dependent on roads due to long-term underinvestment in railways. There are positive factors however in Belfast and Derry: the built heritage has remarkably been substantially preserved despite bombing campaigns, slum clearance and roads projects. Belfast is surrounded by mountains that create a special microclimate and it has over forty public parks. Since 2001 Dsd (Department for social development) and Belfast City Council have developed a number of cultural quarters, like the Cathedral quarter. Place has engaged with the developer to promote community participation. In parallel Planning is being reconfigured to frontload consultation and will soon be brought under the control of the municipal authority. The Gaeltacht quarter around the Falls road in west Belfast promotes and encourages the use of the Irish language. Dsd have developed a regeneration strategy for the adjoining area, Andersonstown gateway. Place is working with west Belfast partnership board and Dsd Belfast regeneration office to help redevelop the contentious former police barracks site for a community led regeneration project. Alex Attwood, NI Minister for social development said: “This will regenerate an area that witnessed the worst affects of inter-community conflict. It will be a venue to showcase the wider regeneration of west Belfast and a building that will set a new stan-dard in terms of innovation and design”. Place has launched a new project called ‘Out of Place’ to make city centres fun, interesting and vibrant places. Sammy Wilson, NI Minister for finance opened ‘Out of Place’ and said “The intention of this project is to bring life to parts of the city or other towns in northern Ireland, in areas that may be struggling to find tenants to fill all the shops ... it has a serious purpose in preventing a downward spi- ral of decline in once-thriving commercial areas”.

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(Re) shaping Belfast Alona Martinez-Perez After over thirty years of ‘troubles’, the legacy of division and segregation in the city of Belfast left two catholicprotestants communities divided. The Good friday agreement in 1998 was the beginning of the period of stability and peace for the people of northern Ireland. However the traces and aftermath of three decades of conflict do not just leave a separation in the urban fabric of the city but also a fragmented society and the challenge with a sense of urgency in urban regeneration and architecture for the shaping of a new city. Like other cities in Europe divided by political reasons or conflict, Belfast like Berlin had kilometres of peacelines or walls that were built over a period of time. Can architecture and regeneration repair the urban fabric of a city with empty spaces, gap sites and peace lines? Is that the role of the urban planner or the architect, or is that the role of the citizen and the community? How can we do this repair while respecting the past, or has the past got to be removed from the city fabric for re-shaping the divided city? Does the loss of memory, or has memory got to be carefully maintained in looking at the future? These questions could be somehow not just into the context of Belfast, but any other european city that has suffered three decades of division, and political trouble. Architecture and urban planning can offer some insights while looking at the forces that have shaped the city over the years but the answers to all these questions can not just be part of an architectural and planning discourse: the issues are far too complex to simplify, and the approaches and complexities of the task of shaping Belfast the way we see it today are too onerous. Furthermore maybe the question lies on planners and architects in re-shaping the city for a common shared future and not just dealing the urban fabric. In his essay the Abstract city the catalan architect and urban planner Manuel Solà-Morales i Rubió argues in the context of the city that “Berlin is made up of distances. What counts in this city more than the repetition and continuity of the buildings is the repetition and continuity of the gaps. It is the abstract pattern of empty spaces in their linked forms that needs to be perceived as the image of the city”. This is not dissimilar to the context of Belfast the buffer zones or empty spaces left as a result of the divide and the conflict, conform the city fabric that we know today, furthermore emphasized by the peace lines or walls that divide and separated the city and are still part of the legacy of the past. When we look at the last fifteen years the peace process was a key catalyst for change in Belfast, activating not just political recovery but activating a whole range of recovery projects and initiatives. But a lot of work was carried out in the 1980’s and early 1990 to regenerate the city. Fourteen years have pas-

sed by since the peace process, and as urban designers and architects we still have to contemplate not just the shaping of the city, but the re-shaping the future city in an inclusive manner. Great projects have come off the ground in the recent past, ranging from the Gasworks and Titanic quarter, the Laganside corporation work, the Cathedral quarter in the city centre, and Gaeltacht quarter amongst others but it is essential a strategy which looks at the overall city. Low density suburban models were predominant during the ‘troubles’ as people escaped the city to the outer suburbs to leave behind the problems in the city. The 1964 regional Plan for northern Ireland encouraged the growth of existing towns in the periphery of the city, whist the improvement of transport infrastructure with the construction of new motorways in the 1960’s. The Westlink motorway in the city centre fractures the city in two and is a further cut to the urban fabric. The predominant suburban model and car-ownership has a direct relationship with urban sprawl which makes the city grow more following an american model rather than a compact european model. If we are looking at the future of Belfast like in Berlin somehow is necessary a dialogue between the parts that divide the city and this also put a question into the neutral centre. Furthermore Sola-Morales establishes that “the possibilities of these urban elements could be pushed to the limit, but with a clearly distinguished syntax that would, through formal congestion, convey the image of the centre of a people’s city”. I think that is very important as the centre offers a civic platform for all citizens, and for all the people of Belfast to have a collective space that would not have any territorial divisions of urban space, but also has the civic nature of any other european capital. But those voids, and empty spaces and walls can also see a way to see the future in the urban fabric is also important to establish as urbanists how we can deal with them. Sola-Morales offers some ideas about this point “without nostalgia or escapism, but with the interest afforded by a city whose forma urbis is shaped, to a greater extent than any other, by the abstraction of its empty spaces and which the density of those voids is the richest theme of urban composition”. It is important in any city, but in the case of the complexities that a city like Belfast proposed that as Sola-Morales suggests we work on ‘the skin of cities’ composed “of constructions, textures and contrasts, of street and empty spaces, of gardens and walls, of contours and voids”. In this case we are dealing with an urbanity “that is different from the idea of ‘urban structure’ on which so much planning is based, or the notion of ‘urban system’ which is applicable above all to the interdependence of activities and positions, or from the ‘functional areas’ used for the classification and allocation of spaces”. That is why we do not just look at shaping Belfast but re-shaping the city so we can as Sola-Morales emphasizes to operate in the ‘skin of the city’ is to “be constantly attending the way things are, and to questions about which things need adding, Urbanistica www.planum.net

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removing or modifying, or how better to rearrange them. There is no way of finding out other than to plunge into the strategy of things, of urban things”. Any successful intervention or strategy needs a holistic view that can involve not just the questions I set out at the beginning of this essay but also the way as urbanists looking at not just shaping the past city, but re-shaping the city of the next decades for a shared future looking at the la- yers that conform the different parts (quarters, neighbourhoods) that conform the bigger entity of the city. In Belfast like in Berlin, dutch architect Rem Koolhaas explains the potential for the wall into architecture “The Berlin wall as architecture was for me the first spectacular revelation in architecture of how absence can be stronger than presence. For me, it is not necessarily connected to loss in a metaphysical sense, but more connected to an issue of efficiency, where I think that the great thing about Berlin is that it showed for me how (and this is my own campaign against architecture) entirely ‘missing’ urban presences or entirely erased architectural entities nevertheless generate what can be called an urban condition”. This analogy that he refers for Berlin is rather a beautiful one and could be easily be applied to Belfast where absence, missing urban presences, voids in the city can become aspects that offer a potential or re-shaping the city. But if we are looking ahead is also important to look at the immediate past, and at the work that has beencarried out. It is clear that the peace process has not just been a catalyst for change and recovery but also a great case for success for the city. And what is remarkable is that a lot of this was already being made in the midst of the violent conflict. Two of the main projects were the Laganside redevelopment and revitalising the city centre amongst other initiatives. The work of the Laganside corporation, and Urban development corporation (Udc) which operated as a public-private partnership that managed and implemented the regeneration of all the sites along the river Lagan opening up the city to the waterfront, is not only important just in terms of regenerating the urban fabric but acting like a body which brought partnership between different departments and agencies and the key actors and local players. As architects the history of Belfast is not made of the lessons that show a successful example of urban design and regeneration, but also the will of a democratic society and a city looking at the future with confidence.

Experiences of waterfront regeneration in Belfast: unifying a divided city Gabriella Esposito De Vita The multicultural society escapes classification and interpretation, breaking equilibria between the complexity of the multicultural demand and the inadequacy of the urban planning response. This could produce or exacerbate conflicts, marginality and decay. Tensions and conflicts between different social and cultural components in the contemporary city are changing the way in which people live and shape public spaces and the organization and forms of the urban pattern. This contribution focuses on Belfast, which has been struggling for years with problems related to inter-religious sectarian conflicts. As urban planners, we have focused on the spatial and morphological interpretation of the phenomenon. Belfast had been a thriving port, a strategic market town, the leader in the production of linens and home to one of the most prestigious shipyards in the world, the Harland and Wolff shipyard, that built and launched the Titanic in the same area currently interested by the largest project of real estate development in the city, the Titanic quarter. The complex network of economic, cultural, religious and social conditions, that have characterized the loyalist or nationalist communities, triggered for centuries socio-political issues, reflected by urban transformation processes oriented to segregation. Population growth in the first half of 1900, together with the disposal of industrial and economic crisis, contributed to stress deprivation phenomena and the processes of expulsion and auto-segregation at the neighbourhood scale, paving the way for the explosion of the troubles of the 1969. The conflict produced visible traces in spite of the intense urban development produced by the beginning of the peace process. Fenced industrial areas, militarized police stations and infrastructure made by the public initiative as buffer areas to mitigate the conflict, even accentuate the physical separation and deter the pedestrian use of the routes. The redevelopment projects we discuss here are concentrated along the riverside and correspond to the brownfield areas from the former industrial age. Belfast is a place of dualities: conflict vs. peace process, deprivation in the working class neighbourhoods vs. development of the neutral areas, empty spaces vs. conversion projects, community planning vs. zoning, as well as politicized neighbourhoods vs. neutral city centre. The northern Irish main city is now hanging from both problems and opportunities arising from the peace process; it is now discovering its potential and is now being discovered by others in the tourist market. Belfast is renewing image and functions, by implementing strategic redevelopment projects: financial resources are now converging on key-areas along the urban riverside. At the same time community planning and engagement have been developed in order to manage conflicts in the deprived areas Urbanistica www.planum.net

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of the city crown. The main projects on the waterfront are: the Laganside area, the Gasworks and the Titanic quarter. The first one has been the Laganside corporation project, involving Lanyon place with the Waterfront hall and Donegall quay with the pedestrian bridge and the real estate development of the inner area. Social and economic regeneration of an initial 140 hectare area of inner city land, straddling both banks of the river Lagan. This boundary has since been extended to 200 hectares to include the historic Cathedral quarter which lies close to the city centre. The second step has been the Cathedral quarter with the new signature building of the University of Ulster and the front street refurbishment of the existing buildings. “Following years of neglect and decline Belfast’s waterfront has been transformed, becoming a focus for business, leisure and cultural activities and a place of opportunity for all” Laganside corporation (1989-2007). With this project the waterfront has become an integral part of the city centre. The second project has been developed in the former area of the Gasworks. Managed by the council, this 12 hectare site is home to a diverse range of organisations and modern businesses. It also offers public access to the Lagan towpath for walkers and cyclists. The site retains some of the original Gas- works bricks buildings and also has a number of public art pieces. One of Europe’s largest waterfront regeneration developments regards the areas on the banks of Belfast’s river Lagan, Titanic quarter is transforming 75 hectares of former ship-yard lands into a new focal point for Belfast. The first two phases of project cover a quarter of the entire site and will include around 2,500 residential units, over 50,000 square metres of workspace, 10,000 sqm of leisure facilities, two hotels, a tourism project to mark the birthplace of the Titanic, over 7,000 sqm of retail space and a further education college.

Union and division in cities by the sea: sailing from Belfast to new horizons of research Massimo Clemente, Stefania Oppido Union and division characterize cities, by expressing urban history, collective memory, semantic richness through different languages and forms. Urban spaces and functions are defined by the union of homogeneous material or immaterial parts: architecture, people, relationships. But the city is also made up of divisions that underline differences, highlighting diversities and homogeneity. The balance between union and division ensures dialectic between the parts and their identity interact in the synthesis of urban forms and functions. However, the division can degenerate into separation, social and spatial segregation and break up the city. In some contemporary cities, the urban form reveals traces left by an history of division and segregation, because different groups cultural, religious, political, have not been able (or willing) to transform the co-existence in cohabitation. The conflicts have generated urban configurations appearing as a physical transposition of divisions between people, where buildings and urban places have been modeled in relation to the complex political, social and cultural issues of segregation. In peacetime, the urban regeneration processes are faced with the re-design of these separated areas through rehabilitation of existing buildings and project of new spaces, in order to repair and reconnect not only urban parts but, often, a fragmented community. Architects and planners can make their own contribution through projects that are able to transform urban spaces inherited from the separation, translating exclusion, segregation and division in inclusion, aggregation and union. Adequate urban regeneration strategies for a culturally plural and socially integrated city need to favor forms of inter-culturalism, facilitating mediation, interaction and integration between differences. In this perspective, cities on water are an interesting field for experimentation because they always faced with diversity, interculturalism, meeting of people and cultures. River and coastal cities have historically been gateways, arrival and departure points of shipping, histories, cultures and religions. These cities represent emblematic case studies for realize ‘inclusive’ community, based on coexistence and integration. Maritime routes have always been bridges between nations and cultures, and maritime trade has not only connected the markets, but also men, societies and cultures. In river and coastal cities with an history of conflict, the border area between land and water can reaffirm its vocation of mediation and opening towards the sea and the other parts of the city, returning to be a place of relationships. In this perspective, the city of Belfast is an emblematic Urbanistica www.planum.net

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case study particularly in relation to the role assumed by the waterfront along the river Lagan in the process of ‘mending’ parts of town. The three decades of the troubles deeply divided the city, resulting from changes in the urban security reasons. The conflict generated significant impact on physical and functional organization of the city, characterized by fragmentation of the urban land design, physical implementation of the division between catholics and protestants. From the start of the peace process, the city has embarked on a path of urban regeneration identifying in the river path, which skirts the village, the physical element that can reconnect parts of the city in a systemic logic, through the renewal of disused areas, the development of productive activities, the rehabilitation of urban voids. Belfast may be considered a best practice and it is confirmed by the many reflections that the case study was able to inspire in recent years, this is proved by this publication and prefigures new scenarios of study in which the dialogue between the cities of the sea becomes maritime encounter between cultures and urban, innovative tool for achieving lasting peace and constructive.

Learning from Belfast Carmelina Bevilacqua The case of Belfast, with specific attention to the keyrole played by the private sector in the major urban regeneration projects, first of all those related to the Titanic quarter, allows to make some interesting reflections on the potential status of urban regeneration as innovative disciplinary apparatus in current urban planning theory. Moreover, it supports a new conceptualization of processes of production of contemporary urban design, by shifting from a regulatory-based culture of the public action, i.e. command-control oriented, towards an innovative approach more capable to emphasize the quality of urban design. The transferability of good practices is a very challenging matter, because it threatens the complexity of the learning processes, typical of the context in which the so-called best practices have been applied. What is transferable becomes the root node of how to use benchmarking methodologies, knowing that the legal basis, the culture of the urban project, the trust that the public is able to establish with the private sector, the presence of some structural invariants are factors that can make ‘transferability’ a mere academic exercise, unless investigated on their ability to affect the applicability of good practices analyzed. While the urban regeneration policies were originally put forward to fight the decline of the cities, nowadays cities themselves are no longer virtuous basins of public investment, but places where the economic crisis strikes devastating effects, both in the quality of life and the composition of production of wealth for self sustainable scenarios of economic welfare. Not surprisingly, the simple urban renewal is not enough to curb these effects, the word ‘regeneration’ comes up because of need to involve all sectors from manufacturing to supply those services which regenerates the urban community, a community made up of entrepreneurs, public actors, families, people involved in the regeneration project for the abatement of the factors of conflict that placed the city out of economic and financial attractiveness circuits, circuits fielded by globalization. The city transforms by own: the urban limits less defined are a new market, the market of knowledge, where knowledge workers operate through negotiations and agreements for an image of the city more attractive as a whole, but increasingly urban fragmented inside. The urban contemporary project (urban design thereby) becomes the interpretive synthesis of the demand for urban transformation articulated within a general framework of strategic and structural coherence. This is what comes out in the analysis of case of Belfast: urban design as a formal expression of overcoming social conflicts. Similarly, you can learn the systemic connotation of urban design ‘implemented’ in Belfast in some key words ‘transferable’ as a conceptual conUrbanistica www.planum.net

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struction of the transformation of urban public spaces, the existing recovery, relations-connections, landscape, mixitĂŠ, investment management, managing change in the demand, sustainability management public-private partnership.

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Urbanistica n. 148

October-December 2011 Distribution by www.planum.net

Index and english translation of the articles Pierluigi Properzi Dunia Mittner

Problems, policies and research

Marta Bottero, Claudia Cassatella, Francesca Finotto, Angioletta Voghera, Mauro Volpiano Bianca Maria Seardo Claudia Cassatella Chiara Ortolani

The revitalization project on the banks of the Garonne: a case of urban, economic and social regeneration The urban regeneration in Belfast in Europe that looks ahead Belfast: regenerate the city to rebuild divided identity Coordinating urban regeneration strategies: the planning framework Implementation and management tools: the 3 Ps approach Transforming Belfast Titanic quarter: the private engine to build the future (starting) from the past Cathedral quarter Belfast: public regeneration strategies The physical manifestation of conflict on built form The cultural matrix of cities in northern Ireland and the new trajectori design (Re) shaping Belfast Experiences of waterfront regeneration in Belfast: unifyng a divided city Union and division in cities by the sea: sailing from Belfast to new horizons of research Learning from Belfast

Indicator for the landscape A tool for evaluation Landscape evaluation using indicators, work in progress in Europe Proposal for a set of landscape indicators at the regional scale: an application for the Piedmont Region Planning multifunctional landscapes: from large-scale to project Nature and landscape: coherences and conflicts within the concept of multifunctionality Neighborhoods as leverage points betweeen urban planning and transport planning Monte Netto: a Masterplan for one hill in a plain

Projects and implementation

Anna Richiedei, Maurizio Tira

China: urban migrations, new towns

Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni

Federico Savini

1996-2011: the odissey of ex areas Falck at Sesto San Giovanni

Methods and tools

Profiles and practices

Attilia Peano, Claudia Cassatella Attilia Peano Claudia Cassatella

Political mediation vs disciplinary mediation

Giovanni Caudo

The public city

Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni

Rosario Pavia

The Antwerp structure plan. A new planning language for the twenty-first century city Antwerp, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;were it is possible to live togetherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. An interview with Bernardo Secchi and Paola Vigano

Eco-cities

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A tool for evaluation

Landscape evaluation using indicators, work in progress in Europe

Attilia Peano

Claudia Cassatella

The evaluation of the landscape is a field of ever-expanding activities: policies and plans for the landscape, the culture of evaluation in public administration. Both have received considerable impulse driven from Europe: the European landscape convention, the Strategic environmental assessment directive, but also the common evaluation of policies related to the structural funds (in particular those related to agriculture) are all in the direction of a greater demand for evaluative activities, within which both indicators are needed on the status and dynamics of landscape and on the implementation and effectiveness of policies, plans and programmes relating to him or which may have effects on it. The theme is therefore in full development. To provide a tool for guidance, the urban and regional studies interdepartment (Diter, through its European centre of documentation on planning of parks and landscape, CedPpn) has carried out a research, Landscape indicators (published by Springer, 2011): from an extensive international review on the subject, is a classification of types of indicators providing for each of them a framework on the conditions and limits of use, a series of fact sheets and, where possible, examples. Finally, the composition is exemplified by two sets of indicators, at the regional scale and local scale, analysing their applicability to a specific territory. For the purposes of this research, the landscape was analysed according to these categories: ecological profile, cultural historical profile, land use, visual and social perception, economic aspects. The indicators chosen for each profile have been the subject of basic cataloguing information; a second tab, deeper, was applied to a selected set of indicators in relation to a specific case: the region of Piedmont. This table takes into account the practical applicability of the indicator with respect to territory and to the information available (databases, without excluding the implementation of ad hoc data collections), and its parameters of information management (significance, reliability, etc.). The selection of indicators depends not only from the objectives of the evaluation and the intrinsic characteristics of each indicator, but also from the overall composition of the set and the evaluative model. Research has made reference to the Dipsir model, selecting a dozen indicators representative of each profile and all categories, deemed suitable for the situation (in the belief that an ‘abstract’ by a concrete context is incorrect). Two sets were made, one for regional scale (e.g., for use by a landscape observatory, or in relation to a landscape plan) and another for the local scale, that of municipal plans. Research highlights that much work remains to be done, both to imagine new indicators, apply them and verify them over time.

In the last decade, some international researches attempted a compilation of landscape indicators used in different european countries. Comparative and methodological studies have been done in Italy too. Within the environmental evaluation frameworks, the landscape is a problematic, robs it of quantifiable and generalizable values. In practice there are two attitudes: reducing the complexity of the landscape to a single aspect, such as landscape ecology, or using synthetic judgements expressed by experts, such as ‘quality of the landscape’, obviously subjective, difficult to justify and monitor. The derivation of landscape indicators from environmental explains some of the conceptual weaknesses easily found. In fact, most of the indicators listed are ‘agro-environmental’, aimed at evaluating the changes of rural landscape, separate with respect to the urban environment. This conception is unacceptable if it intends to assess all the landscape, according to the latest concept, enshrined in the European landscape convention. Moreover, in each country the issue is affected by the traditions of landscape studies, some more related to natural sciences and ecology, others closer to the humanistic tradition. The non-transferability of landscape indicators is a consequence. Meanwhile, however, the long lists of indicators proposed by the literature and on the web can be used unwise, as if you could choose at will. From the existing researches some considerations relating to the setting of the set of indicators, landscape aspects concerned, methods of measurement, the reference scale, degree of implementation can be drawn. According to the purpose of the evaluation are indicators to ‘structure, management, function, value’, ‘reconnaissance, evaluation, orientation’. Others prefer to use a division based on the functions of the landscape and the values attached to them: ecological function, social function, economic function; natural, cultural, and perceptive value. Many sets are mixed. The project Countryside quality counts focuses on ‘indicators of change’. In general, indicators to characterize the state of the landscape appear much more developed, and aspects relating to land use, which have the advantage that it can be analyzed using cartographic data bases, are preferred. Not much research makes the scale at which the indicators can be used. Yet, it is clear that it is extremely important, so as to affect the kind of observable elements. As regards the quantitative or qualitative nature of measurement, there is a wide variety of approaches. There is no doubt, however, that the determination of thresholds is often a problem, especially for intangible aspects and symbolic values. Determining thresholds not necessarily can be made by the researcher, and Urbanistica www.planum.net

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may be interpreted by the decision maker. An important unsolved problem in the landscape evaluation activities is the passage from specialized disciplinary approaches, each of which proposes a series of indicators, to a synthesis, a single index, to be inserted into arrays in which the landscape is one of the components. There are at least two roads. The first is the choice of an indicator considered more significant than others. The second is the search for a method to compose the values of a selected number of indicators, through one of the possible evaluation techniques. One last consideration regarding the general application of the indicators found in literature: in many cases, when this is not theoretical formulations and proposals, the application was made only once. This is definitely a great limitation for the opportunity to assess the effectiveness and responsiveness to change. At present there are few experiences in monitoring and evaluation of the landscape that may be considered complete. Only ten years have passed from the sea directive (2001/42/EC): in very few cases you can analyze the complete monitoring process. Developing indicators for in itinere and ex post phases constitutes a prospect research still open. If the measurement of landscape values and of the acceptability of changes depends on the political and social sensitivity, due to the qualitative nature of landscape indicators, then explicit policy objectives appear to be fundamental. In this they differ from other environmental indicators and are somewhat similar to social indicators (Bertrand et al. 2008). Establish objectives, establish thresholds and indicators to measure the direction of change also means that we can consider the same indicators as guidelines to address the protection, management and planning of the landscape.

Proposal for a set of landscape indicators at the regional scale: an application for the Piedmont Region Marta Bottero, Claudia Cassatella, Francesca Finotto, Angioletta Voghera, Mauro Volpiano Several landscape indicators have been proposed in the scientific literature and in the real experiences pertaining the Strategic environmental assessment (Sea) procedure; however, further work seems to be necessary for developing a proper method for selecting the indicators which fit the analysis of the specific problem under investigation. Several indicators have been explored in the Landscape indicator research, which consider the following profiles of landscape interpretation: – landscape ecology; – historical-cultural heritage; – visual and social perception; – land use; – economic aspects of landscape. On the basis of the analysis of the available indicators for the different profiles, the research proposed a set of specific indicators for the assessment and monitoring of the situation of the Piedmont Region. The selection of the indicators has been driven by the following elements: – typology of application and final users of the evaluation tool; – characteristics of the territory; – social values that can be attrib- uted to the territory (i.g., assignment of weights to the different aspects of landscape); – requirements of the indicators; – availability of data and information. Mention has to be made to the fact that the proposed set of indicators consists of a limited number of elements to make them easier to use and apply. Secondly, the set was created to guarantee coverage of the Dpsir categories and also the interpretation of all five profiles in the study. Furthermore, in the choice of the indicators, great importance was given to the relationship with the characteristics of the territory in question. For example, the indicator related to the viewpoints reflects the importance of panoramic values in the Alpine regions and hill country; the indicator relevant to employment in the agricultural sector is associated with the rural character of considerable parts of the territory. The indicators were also proposed in consideration of the goals established by the Piedmont regional authority in the field of policies for territorial government, such as the valorisation of cultural assets and the tourists system or restricting land consumption. The structure of these sets of indicators meet requirements for the assessment and monitoring of plans, both on a territorial and town planning scale, as establi-hed in Sea procedures. Finally, the existence of some operational limits, first and foremost the availability of data, also influenced the proposal. In this field, for example, note the survey of panoramic views setup for the regional landscape Plan. With reference to the set for the regional scale, the considered indicators are represented as follows: – according to the ecological profile, as this is the most consolidated field of analysis, two Urbanistica www.planum.net

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specific indicators have been proposed, namely evenness and biological territorial capacity, which represent the indicators that have been used in the Sea procedure for the regional landscape Plan; – in the analysis of the historical-cultural profile we favoured indicators that allow for the preservation of the historical and cultural assets and the promotion of actions for further knowledge of historical- cultural heritage; – for the assessment and monitoring of the regional landscape for the perceptive profile, indicators relevant to the obstruction of panoramic views and fame were chosen; – from a land use point of view, the set proposes indicators relevant to land use consumption, degraded landscapes and landscape protection; – finally, the assessment of the economic aspects of the landscape is based on the observation of tourist flows and phenomena associated with employment in the agricultural sector and tourist trade, while more specific indicators (such as, local real estate market or recreational benefits) are indicated only at the local scale. In order to verify the applicability of the set of indicators proposed on a regional scale for the analysis of the Piedmont landscape, a specific in-depth study of each indicator was developed. This in-depth study, in collaboration with the Piedmont computer system consortium (Csi Piemonte), examined the operational conditions required for the application of the indicators proposed in order to test the real possibilities of use. The work done lays the foundations for a methodological proposal for landscape indicator systems. In fact, the themes dealt with and referred to in the summary table have made it possible to allow for real problems associated with the use of territorial indicators, doing away with common methods of approach to the theme of landscape indicators, which often result in lists that have not been duly verified in operating conditions.

Nature and landscape: coherences and conflicts within the concept of multifunctionality Claudia Cassatella Landscape multifunctionality has become an important planning issue. Its approach is being particularly developed in practice (and rhetoric...) of territorial and environmental networks, from biodiversity conservation to enhancement of historical landscapes. Beyond this, the issue of multifunctionality has come gradually to assume the role of a guiding-principle of different territorial policies: in particular, in agriculture and forestry, the principle of ‘multifunctional management’ of natural resources means to put in light ecosystem services that are not immediately converted into money, but that benefit humans. For landscape planning, based on a more synthetic vision, multifunctionality is a strategic objective, giving operativity to the theoretical definition of landscape as a complex system of relationships between natural and anthropic system, spread by the European landscape convention. At this point, the main issue for planning is that, even highlighting conflicts between value systems, the multiplicity of objectives does not always allow an easy design synthesis. The case of Hanover-Kronsberg, supported by the Federal agency for nature conservation exemplifies a virtuous process of planning of multifunctional landscapes, providing evidence to support many issues: the redesign of a periurban area, affected by settlement pressures and by intensive monoculture, is characterized by the desire to approach the different problems in a complementary way, not hiding behind each other’s conflicting rhetoric, but rather pointing out these kinds of problems and admitting to what extent it is necessary to adopt compromise: how to develop environmentally friendly farming, profitable, at the same time? How to reconcile the presence of habitats and species by encouraging, at the same time, attendance by residents? Issues of perceptive and scenic landscape redevelopment enters into a relationship with biological, economic and planning problems. The following essays are part of this line of research of the Phd in Environment and territory of the Politecnico di Torino. A study period at the University of Hanover has allowed Bianca Seardo to learn more about the german approach and the method of planning, design and monitoring in the case of Hanover-Kronsberg. In particular, the relationship between nature and landscape policies has been the focus of the research activities of the european Centre for natural parks planning (Ced-Ppn) of the Politecnico di Torino.

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The implementation of a multifunctional-landscape project: the emblematic case of Hanover-Kronsberg What is essentially a multifunctional landscape at a local level? From the case of Hanover-Kronsberg we can bring out more specific answers. The landscape and territorial issues at Kronsberg are those recurring in many peri-urban landscapes in Europe (Rode 2005): intensive monoculture, urbanization, abandoned areas now interesting for energy production alternative sources, all this often at the expense of the preservation of traditional rural landscapes, visual diversity and tourist attractiveness. Nevertheless, the Kronsberg is still one of the highest environmental valuable areas sorrounding Hanover. The Kronsberg (about 1,000 hectares) is maybe the area undergoing the biggest urban transformations at the metropolitan level: in the mid-90s, 15,000 inhabitants are espected and an area of 50 hectares is devoted to the creation of spaces for the Expo 2000, while a part of the site cannot be transformed due to its landscape and natural value. The concerns of citizen groups and academics for the use of land and loss of quality environments bring out a number of claims about the future site: maintaining the agricultural use, making open spaces suitable for recreation, preventing the impairment of habitats: long the council fails to transform the site, until a ‘Test and development project’ funded by the Federal agency for nature conservation gives the opportunity to define a multifunctional development of the area. The project objectives are: the preservation of species and habitats and biodiversity; the development of the recreational potential; the maintenance of agricultural activity in the periurban area. The aim is to replace the monocultural landscape at the Kronsberg, introducing a number of diverse environments for biodiversity, recreation, tourism and profitable agriculture. To understand in what way the landscape was designed in relation to multifunctional aims, one has to investigate how the main project components have been designed to meet different needs at once. One of the main elements of the project are new wooded strips (more than 60 hectares) located alternately to crops. In order for these to develop a high ecological value, they are designed like ‘spots’, consisting of dense cores of beech and ecotonal bands of variegated shrubs. From an aesthetic point of view, the regularity of wooded patches in the landscape is valued as an attractive feature, as clearings in the forest. But these interventions can create inconsistencies in the results: for the identification and reduction of inconsistencies, the pilot project is supported by a process of monitoring of the development of different landscape functions affected by the project: biodiversity, agriculture, scenery. Referring ti the woodland component, a series of interviews conducted for the purpose of monitoring confirmed that the formal outcomes reforestation are appreciated by visitors, but plant ecologists hi- ghlighted the negative trade-off with the objective of biodiversity

conservation, due to their overly formal design of the wooded spots: this regularity does not allow for the spatial diffusion of beeches, as well as regular mowing of clearings makes genetic exchanges difficult, ‘breaking, in fact, the potential ecological networks between the various islands of the forest’; while recreation within forest will not be possible for some years to facilitate the growth of trees. Moreover, a side effect has been the impetus to the market of wood, in continuity with the historical vocation of the Kronsberg. By the German local multifunctional landscape project, some general conclusions can be drawn. First, the identification of the target landscape functions to be developed allows us to formulate more accu- rate and realistic actions addressed to each of them. In terms of predictions, it is also necessary to identify synergistic effects can be obtained acting on multiple target functions, in order to enhance multiple effects. Moreover, it is necessary to provide in detail aspects that will favor a land-scape function or the other: for example, in the case of a forest plant, it may be useful to wonder whether to give priority to a flori- stic composition that favors the presence of rare species, but perhaps of little aesthetic value, instead of beautiful foliage trees of high scenic attractiveness, keeping in mind that encouraging biodiversity does not automatically implies the creation of appreciable landscapes. Conditions favouring landscape multifunctionality in German landscape planning system The case of Hanover-Kronsberg proves interesting comments if we consider the and planning tools that constitute the framework of the Kronsberg project at a large-scale. Seen from this point of view, the case of Kronsberg forces to wonder if multifunctional landscapes re- quire ad hoc plans or whether they can be developed through good coordination between sectoral plans and programs (forest, agricultural, water, protected areas, recreation, open space, traffic). In the case of Hanover, at a large-scale level, multifunctionality is not addressed by any specific plan, rather it emerges from the system of plans and programs not relating specifically to landscape: which are the complementarities between large-scale forecasts and local multifunctional project at the Kron- sberg? The area Kronsberg is only a portion of the metropolitan greenbelt of the Hannover region, affectedd by a metropolitan program for sustainable agriculture, the program for outdoor recreation, the network of natural and landscape protection areas: multiple claims, not infrequently conflicting, but all shaping landscape quality. What makes such disparate scenarios converging toward a multifunctional horizon? The Programme for agriculture of the metropolitan region of Hannover offers a multifunctional development of the peri-urban setting to face the regional crisis of the agricultural sector: functions of rural landscape such as micro-climate regulation, soil protection and water quality, conservation and Urbanistica www.planum.net

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maintenance of some biotopes local value, landscape diversity of high aesthetic value, identity and educational value empaired by intensive agriculture have to be enhanced. Multifunctionality at the landscape scale is realized then through the diversification of activities of each individual farm. The role of Kronsberg local project is to shape these general addresses to the site’s specific features, in particular to the natural ones: specification of plant species to use (old and local cultivars) and identification of historically present habitats. Even at the metropolitan level planning of open spaces for recreational activities of citizens is entrusted by a specific instrument, the Naherholungskonzept, suggesting a system management for the 58 ‘green islands’ in the region of Hannover, the Kronsberg being one of them. Multifunctionality is pursued by considering every kind of open space as a potential recreational one: parks and gardens of course, but also buffer zones around protected areas, margins of cultivated, grazing meadows, riverbanks, abandoned mining areas, all landscapes are taken into account for recreation. At this point possible frictions with existing activities have to be regulated: roads of access to forest or agricultural property must be made viable and also by visitors, recreational activities have to be di- scouraged or stimulated within and around protected areas. The local multifunctional landscape project at the Kronsberg has to face interactions between grazing and recreation on the same areas: pasture, in addition to being an economic resource in itself, must be done in favorable ways to maintain the arid pastures ecosystem and valuable open scenery for visitors. Referring to nature and landscape protection, the local project reflects those identified at a statewide and regional level, however suggesting the differentiation of protection measures addressed to different landscape values: the Nature protection zones, Natural monuments and their buffer zones, Landscape protection areas. Finally, two sets of findings are opened. First, landscape multifunctionality is essentially guaranteed by the presence of plans not specifically addressed to landscape, but rather adopting a landscape approach, focussing on vital relationships between territorial dynamics and functions, rather then single issues (Paolinelli 2011). In this framework, the local project has a double role of collecting, comparing and synthesizing large-scale forecasts, while connecting them to site-specific situations. Finally, the adoption of the concept of multifunctionality allows to overcome the illusion of being able to control the landscape acting directly on its appearance, putting in light the fundamental connection between exterior (landscape) character and (territorial?) dynamics and uses.

Neighborhoods as leverage points between urban planning and transport planning Chiara Ortolani Now all governments have acknowledged the existence and gravity of what are called ‘the twin problems of oil’: global warming and peak oil production. Both of which threaten the environment and the economy of our planet. The transformations necessary to create a strong and sudden change can be encouraged both by government policies, both by local actions that by changes in lifestyle of the citizens. The importance of local actions is that governments have the opportunity to act on the building, transport, urban planning but also on information and citizen involvement. Some european cities now offer a complex approach that takes into account all areas of interest. Instead in other cities, also italian, particular attention is paid to saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions from buildings. These actions, although very valid, however, does not affect the transport sector. This is, in Italy, the main responsible for CO2 emissions, as indicated by a study published by Enea, and it is the sector that consumes more energy, as shown by the statistics contained in the Iea report Energy balance from which they extracted the data published on the Post carbon cities. The european agency for the Environment has also estimated that cars represent the largest single source of emissions in the transport sector, accounting for about half the total. These data relate to emissions, for the most part, affect the urban environment. Infact, today, more than half the world population lives in cities and in 2030, according to some studies, the urban population will exceed 60%. The number of people living in cities is not as important as the way of life chosen for them. The modern city was formed considering the private car as a key element and this has led to major changes in the urban policies and in the lifestyles of the people and the city began to expand into monofunctional areas. Because of this link between the modern forma urbis and the use of the car is necessary to think in complex ways to the theme of transport and the design of public space. And it is also important, as well as the urban and metropolitan scale, the size of the neighborhood because it is this scale that there is a profound ineffectiveness of the transport model based on the car. Numerous studies have shown that, in the large italian cities, the 30% of journeys made by car cover distances of less than 3 km and the 44% are shorter than 5 km. These short distances, corresponding to the extension of two or three neighboring districts, could be easily traveled by bicycle. What is striking is the significant discrepancy between the means used and the distance traveled. Once the road was public space par excellence, but in today’s planning has been separated from the context and defined ‘road space’ and after it is been deprived of Urbanistica www.planum.net

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its original social function. To restore this function in the road is therefore necessary to make choices that go in the direction of multimodality but especially that put in the middle the needs and possibilities of people. To act on issues related to the mobility of the district therefore has not the objective of the fluidity of motorized traffic, act on individual, social, ecological and energy unresolved dimensions. In this perspective, the districts may represent of the leverage points, ‘areas within a complex system, where a small perturbation can be passed with major changes within the whole system’, to make choices that interest both the theme of the transport planning that the design of public space. The Plan of the development of transport in Freiburg, the project for the neighborhood Mirafiori in Turin, some interventions developed to Mestre or the Vauban district of Freiburg are interventions that highlight the importance of the small size and the importance of the unified planning of transport and public space at the district dimension.

Monte Netto: a Masterplan for one hill in a plain Anna Richiedei, Maurizio Tira This Plan exploits the environment of one of the few hills in the Po Plain. The area of monte Netto is famous for its agricultural and wine-producting activities, for its geomorphological features and for its red oak wood. The monte Netto is an oval-shaped clay mass. It was born in a recent tectonic uplift in the central Po plain, in the south of the province of Brescia, along the Mella river. The Monte Netto regional Park was instituted in 2007; the Masterplan of the park was adopted on 3rd february 2011 and is now in the approval phase. Maurizio Tira and his team made some preparatory studies to develop the Masterplan of the Monte Netto park. The park covers an area of 1,470 hectares, crossing three municipalities in province of Brescia (Capriano del Colle, Poncarale e Flero) and the monte Netto lays over 1,155 hectares. The main elements of the park, other than the monte Netto hill, are the Colombaie wood (known for its ecological and natural relevance) and the wine-production activities (for their value). Due to these features the Lombardy Region has classified the Monte Netto park as an ‘agricultural park’. In particular, the Province of Brescia proposed to make the red oak wood of Colombaie a ‘Site of community importance’ (directive 92/43/Cee) in the framework of for Nature 2000 network; regarding wine-production, the 97% of the vineyard in this site is classified as Doc (Controlled designation of origin). So the Park targets are the protection and the improvement of primary productions and the encouragement of cultural, environmental and education-al uses for citizens. The plan identifies different areas in order to sustain the agricultural production, environmental protection and public fruition. On the monte Netto hill there are also some critical situations: a controlled dump in post-operating phase and a clay pit. In its northern side, the park is also crossed by the High capacity railway line (Tav connecting Turin and Venice) and by a stretch of the highway (Sp19) between Ospitaletto (A4), Brescia sud (A21) and Montichiari airport junctions. These communication lines make a clear break in the agricultural system and in the connection between the park and the city of Brescia (10 km far in the north). The Masterplan of the park is made of a cognitive frame, an integrated system of information and data necessary to understand the situation of the park nowadays and its future evolutions, some operative tools like maps and technical rules, and the Strategic environmental assessment. The next step, after the approval of the Masterplan, is the drafting of a management Plan of the park. The park zoning required shared solutions between municipalities councilors and technicians, associations and citizens and the conscious participation of all of them. The Plan proposes a zoning made of eleven homogeneous areas. The most important among them is Urbanistica www.planum.net

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the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;vineyard zoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;: this area is relevant for its size and for the importance given to the wine-production. So, to define its borders, the team analyzed the type of cultures, the number and the size of farms in the park. In this area the technical rule requires that only farmer owning at least 5 hectares of land and with the 80% of it planted with vines, can build new houses, but with some limitations: a buildability index minor of 0.01 m3/m2 and a maximum volume of 500 m3. A new idea of public fruition of the park come from the requalification of the pit. The team proposed an educational laboratory about historical seismic, to be located in this site, after the closedown of the clay-pit. In conclusion, the monte Netto Park has strong natural values and historical and cultural landscapes linked with the rural human activities.

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Urbanistica n. 148

October-December 2011 Distribution by www.planum.net

Index and english translation of the articles Pierluigi Properzi Dunia Mittner

Methods and tools

Projects and implementation

Profiles and practices

Problems, policies and research

Bianca Maria Seardo Claudia Cassatella

Planning multifunctional landscapes: from large-scale to project Nature and landscape: coherences and conflicts within the concept of multifunctionality

Chiara Ortolani

Neighborhoods as leverage points betweeen urban planning and transport planning

Anna Richiedei, Maurizio Tira

Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni Federico Savini

Giovanni Caudo Rosario Pavia

Monte Netto: a Masterplan for one hill in a plain

The public city Eco-cities

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The Antwerp structure Plan. A new planning language for the twenty-first century city Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni The Antwerp structure plan devised by Bernardo Secchi and Paola Viganò provides an opportunity to observe how some urban planners and designers are trying to ‘trigger’ new transformative logics by disrupting planning language by means of a technical instrument. The plan has been developed following the request to define a new image for a city that for decades had been abandoned by a large part of its population and whose administration was short on strategies. The structure plan of Antwerp takes cognizance of the need for new conceptual categories from other disciplines to address the issues and the design of the contemporary city. From this standpoint, the Plan experiments with new design and planning solutions. The following pages describe the concepts and tools introduced by the authors in order to ‘bend’ the structure of the traditional urban plan, building new interpretative categories to read and transform the city which can be seen as a paradigmatic example of the contemporary city. The first task for the plan was therefore to deal with unexpected phenomena of transformation. Instead of forecast images, scenarios and strategies were used, introducing conceptual and operational categories which corresponded to different levels of the project and to different stages of its realization. The city has been interpreted through seven images that are both interpretations of the existing conditions and projections into the future: these elements represent a guide for the transformation of the territory. In this structure there is room for possible transformation, indicated by the authors as a dimension of ‘vagueness’, that allows some elements to be left ‘open’: the plan is not completely defined in detail, to allow others to complete the projects later on the basis of a common frame given by the images. This setting allows us to see the city as an object that is not closed, since the images can be differently interpreted. Another too introduced by the plan consists in considering the Plan as a device capable of producing new knowledge. The residents were involved in some parts of the park’s design, giving them the possibility to recognize themselves in the plan and, through this recognition, to take for themselves the territory that was changing. Living together The structural plan of Antwerp can be considered as a new device for living together in the contemporary city. Like many other european cities, Antwerp since the 1970s has been a place of intense migration flows. The Flemish inhabitants, faced with this very strong migration, had a two fold reaction: a substantial number left the city, choosing to live in the territories of the disper-

sion, whereas others followed a policy of separation, which led to the construction of urban areas demarcated both ethnically and socially. Disrupting this process of self-isolation was one of the main purposes of the plan. Through a multi-layered work (physical, spatial, social, symbolic) and a multi-scale project within an overall plan of opening and reclamation of the city by its inhabitants, the mechanisms of ex. clusion and the consequent degradation were defused. The redevelopment of some strategic places which could trigger changes on a larger scale, the involvement of residents in some stages of the plan, the introduction of the ‘images’ as tools for sharing the transformation scenarios, are different levels in a synergistic process, a process that swept away the idea of Antwerp as a closed city in decline. Images In the structure plan, Antwerp was interpreted through seven images, whose definition is a selective process that involved important design choices. The images describe the city’s problematic character along with collective representations of its future. The seven images defined in the plan are: Waterstad, Spoorstad, Havenstad, Villages and Metropolis, Ecostad, Poreuzestad and Antwerp in the Megas- tad. The Waterstad, the city of water, takes shape through a re-reading of the water system and a new recognition of the Scheldt river as the region’s structuring element. The Spoorstad and Havenstad, the city of the port and city of the tracks, are identified as essential for understanding the previous Belgian territorial planning policies. These images suggest the real dimension of an infrastructural storage, whose implications would otherwise not be immediately recognized. The two images of Villages and Metropolis and Antwerp in the Megastad explore Antwerp’s contemporary condition: it is part of one of Europe’s most populated regions where the urban diffusion phenomena are more developed. The Ecostad (ecological city) has to meet the demands of contemporary society related to environmental issues and ecological ways of life. The image of Antwerp as a porous city (Poreuzestad) works on the empty spaces of the city, at different levels of the urban fabric and the large empty industrial space. Implementation One of the most innovative elements of the structure plan is the restructure of Antwerp’s administration. The mayor and the city were able to direct the transformation process by modifying their technical equipment and staff to implement the Plan. Instead of each aspect of the Plan being delegated to the respective sectoral officers, the administration has been reorganized to target the implementation of the strategic projects. A working group specifically responsible for such projects supports the work on ‘general policies’ that constitutes the connective tissue which links the strategic projects themselUrbanistica www.planum.net

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ves. Each project leader has to monitor the implementation of a project in all its dimensions as a referent of a complex design to be implemented with all its various components. Consequently, the administration assumes an active role by becoming, a promoter of the project, as well as maintaining an overall view of the transformations on its own territory, following the gradual implementation of the various parts of the plan. Knowledge The topic of ‘knowledge’ about the city has been approached from two different directions. The first was direct to increase the territory’s knowledge by the authors of the Plan, the second was centred on the capacity of the project to produce new knowledge and, therefore, this strategy was aimed at increasing awareness of the inhabitants. This double approach to the cognitive aspect of the plan was developed through two different work strategies. The acquisition and deepening of knowledge on the local environmental context were achieved through a ‘return of experience as a primary source of knowledge’. This approach has led the planners to the choice to live in the city so as to be able to grasp the specificities and the problems of living in it. The work on the capacity of the project to produce new knowledge was carried out through participation processes, such as meetings, seminars, opportunities for discussion, leisure events with the inhabitants related to strategic projects, such as allowing citizens to recognize themselves in the projects and, in a process of progressive recognition and appropriation, to acquire and produce further knowledge.

port activities’ shift toward the areas in the north of the dock. On the other, porosity refers to minute changes within individual lots previously abandoned. The strategic reflection used by Secchi and Viganò reflects on ‘a new possibility of the urban tissue to be interpreted’ despite the abandonment process. At different levels the porosity expresses the ability to absorb changes and different practices, individual and collective, acknowledging the role of the individual transformations in the space and asking how the current fragmented changes can be reinterpreted in a new collective project.

Territory The structure plan works within the municipal boundaries of Antwerp but it also offers projects and guidelines on a larger scale, through images, strategic spaces and the definition of general policies elaborated for the city and its region. The image of the Megastad specifically deals with a territorially enlarged dimension in which the city is located. Today there are at least four dimensions to be considered in understanding the city’s spatial relationships with the surrounding territories. It is part of a wider river region (the Delta region); the Northwest metropolitan area (Nwma); the Flemish Diamond and finally the Belgian Flanders region. The Megastad image also suggests a number of ‘active policies’ regarding international connections, the major metropolitan infrastructures, the presence of facilities beyond a local scale (secondary schools, hospitals, universities, cultural and recreational functions). Porosity Antwerp is described as a ‘porous city’ an image used to interpret the dynamics and transformations that are taking place in the urban fabric. It is interesting to underline the different levels on which the porosity is recognized. On the one hand, it is a condition referable to the large industrial areas. It is caused by the slow but inexorable Urbanistica www.planum.net

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Antwerp, ‘where it is possible to live together’. An interview with Bernardo Secchi and Paola Viganò Giulia Fini, Nausica Pezzoni G. F., N.P.: In the structure plan, Antwerp is described by seven images related to physical spaces and the practices of living, strategic projects and the general policies for the city. How was the generative process for the definition of the different images developed? B. S.: It was a ‘double system’ of images. Some allow us to understand the city and its problematic character, whereas others show how people would like their future city to be. This knowledge strategy has required a long work of involvement of the citizens. We have tried to isolate some images and some of these belong to a present condition. The image of Antwerp as a ‘city of water’ shows us how much water was present and has been hidden in Antwerp and how this has led to a series of latent problems. It is a way to reveal a condition not totally present in the consciousness of citizens and administrators. Other images are projections into the future. They are meant to be a guide for the collective imagination and for future urban projects. For example, it could be emphasized that Antwerp could be an ecological city or that it is located in a region that has the highest density of public transport in the world. These legacies allow us to think about the mobility issue and focus on the density of the existing public transport. The seven images of Antwerp are therefore both interpretations of the existing conditions and projects for the future. G. F., N. P.: The Antwerp structure plan has strong emphasis on the central parts of the city. At the same time it deals with a territorial dimension through strategies and elements on a broader scale. What is the specific territorial condition of this territory? P. V.: Antwerp is part of a huge mega city region which passes from Lille to Brussels and Rotterdam. We think it is a new kind of metropolis, different from Paris and New York, inside which there are cities and towns, each with its own long history. The awareness of belonging to a larger context (a transnational framework, perhaps the framework of the metropolis of the twenty-first century) is not immediate. The image of the ‘megacity’ was difficult not so much to communicate (because everyone knows that Antwerp is a metropolis, a ‘world city’ since the sixteenth century) as to present it as a vision for the future. G. F., N. P.: Speaking about the different strategies, you have emphasized that a renovatio urbis approach was adopted in the plan, the comprehensive planning format being abandoned. This approach seems to be similar to that of Biagio Rossetti for the Erculea expansion in Ferrara, described by Bruno Zevi. How did you use the concept of renovatio urbis in the plan?

B. S.: The setting of the plan goes beyond the renovatio urbis approach you mention. The idea of proceeding with singular transformations did not seem to be convincing. The role of images was in fact to create a frame within which the renovatio urbis would be possible. The lack of a unified vision, that was very strong in Antwerp, could not be addressed only by the idea of singular transformations, although they are important. It was necessary to build connections, relations between the various parties and between the different themes. The images were used as a guide whereby strategic projects are or will be developed. The projects are not only strongly connected to a single image, but cut cross other images, too. This procedure was essential in a city in decline such as Antwerp, which needed to be completely rethought and to regain confidence in its ability to regenerate itself. From this perspective Antwerp is one of the cities of the renovatio urbis of the sixteenth century. G. F., N. P.: Do you think this approach could be an effective tool to deal with the complexity of the contemporary city? B. S.: In the last decades Europe expected to improve urban conditions through a series of architectural projects in order to enhance some city areas. We have now reached a state of saturation in the cities, with a series of projects that have no coherence between themselves. We think that time is over: after having learned many things from these specific projects, now we must ask ourselves what vision these projects build and have built for the city. I think we can interpret what is happening in Paris, New York and Amsterdam as an attempt to go beyond the renovatio urbis approach (if we see it as an approach only based on specific interventions). We used this term for an intellectual debt with Manfredo Tafuri. Renovatio urbis means in the historical texts a ‘total reflection’ on the city, to which intellectuals, writ- ers, poets, lawyers and architects contributed. G. F., N. P.: The characteristic feature of ‘porosity’ is one of the key concepts through which Antwerp has been interpreted. It is a concept that runs on different scales and allows the issues arising from different populations ‘living together’ inside the city to be treated. What are the peculiarities of Antwerp as a porous city? Where does the porosity come from and how has this spatial character developed in the contemporary city? B. S.: The porosity has three different origins in Antwerp. The first is the bombings: during the last days of the Second world war Antwerp was fiercely bombed, because the germans imagined that the allied landing would take place in a direct line to Berlin. There are still many areas and buildings demolished by bombs that have not been rebuilt. The second factor is that in Antwerp chocolate and tobacco were produced within the urban blocks by a system of small and medium-sized enterprises. There were also other important industries, such as publishing Urbanistica www.planum.net

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and diamond, cutting and their related working areas, but chocolate and tobacco in particular produce smells and were slowly expelled from the city. The third factor is that the urban population began to move outside the city, choosing a detached house in the countryside or in the periurban areas, and following a strong belgian tradition of ‘living in the green’. As in other european cities, the children of couples who moved during the 1950s have begun a gradual return to the city, occupying the vacant production space and building beautiful homes inside the blocks. It is actually quite a small phenomenon, but it is certainly an important indicator of change.

nes for the transformation of the city? P. V.: The administration has not only formed a working group on the strategic projects, but a group on general guidelines, which constitute ‘general policy’ and are defined as policies that may affect the whole urban territory. A smaller group of about twelve people deals with the green connections, studies the spaces that are not included in the list of the main strategic projects and notes changes to building regulations. It covers all the aspects that are not specific but are related to the city as a whole and represent the ‘connective’ tissue on which the development of the strategic projects relies.

G. F., N. P.: Can we interpret the project of the Spoornoord park as a project where changes on two scales (that of the individual strategic project and that of the entire urban system) have worked better together? P.V.: Yes, this work on two different scales has been very useful and is of great charm. The Spoornoord project started slightly earlier than the structure plan. This was one of the most important public spaces in the city. In Antwerp the deterioration of public spaces was widespread, although the town had tried to access european funding for regeneration projects through the Urban programmes. What emerged was that ‘living together’ did not work and that this urban dimension was highly problematic for the city. In fact, the first projects which followed the Urban programmes were soon vandalized. The new park project was significant because Spoornoord was the hardest part of the city and had to respond to both metropolitan and urban ambitions. Therefore we adopted the slogan ‘villages and metropoles’ because the idea, promoted by the municipality, was that it would represent the new park of the twenty-first century.

G. F., N. P.: What innovations has the porosity concept brought into the thinking on the urban condition of the twenty-first century? Is this concept is a way to interpret the rupture and the discontinuity transforming them into an urban design element? B.S.: Our projects have been read as ‘peacemaking’ projects that seek to eliminate the conflict and violence that are deeply-rooted in the contemporary city. We certainly reject a didactic interpretation of violence and conflict (the one that is taught in the schools of architecture in the United States or South America): an interpretation revealed through forms such as the diagonal, the broken or the acute angle, the tensions and conflicts. P.V.: Through the concept of porosity the conflict is dealt with from the inside. The porosity is the acceptance that there is a breaking-point and that with this break we can do something else. We can work by including the dynamics of spaces in a new urban project and transforming them into something else, always remembering that we are in a dynamic process that continues to change. The porosity and the changes introduced will be reconsidered in the future: this is part of the idea that the city is never finished and that there is always room for subsequent modification.

G. F., N. P.: One of the most innovative factors of the Antwerp structure plan is that the administration has restructured its function according to the strategic projects. How was the plan implemented? B.S.: Looking at the structural reorganization process undertaken by the Antwerp municipality, each of the project leaders monitor the implementation of a strategic plan in all its aspects. The property developer therefore has to deal only with an officer, an architect or an urban planner, who leads the whole project and has the role of coordinating the work of both the promoter and the technicians responsible for different sectors. Each project has a referent with a complex design that is to be implemented in all its parts. What the administration did was to place side by side the previous technical officers with a new group dedicated to the implementation of the strategic projects. G. F., N. P.: The structure plan addresses some strategic projects, but it also addresses issues related to the ordinary transformation administration, building maintenance, a common code for the public spaces and facilities. How has the city Council managed the general guideli-

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1996-2011: the odissey of ex areas Falck at Sesto San Giovanni Federico Savini Rittel and Webber discussed how ‘the problems of governmental planning, and especially those of social or policy planning, are defined; and they rely upon elusive political judgment’. They define these problems as wicked. The reconversion of the Falck industrial brownfield, in the municipality of Sesto San Giovanni, north Milan, is one of such a kind of problems. The site is a former industrial site of 1.5 millions of square meters for whose redevelopment is necessary to find either a feasible and agreed-on planning solution. From 1996, the Falck site has been at the very centre of two general land use plans, the object of design of three famous architects and property of four different corporations. For its redevelopment a standard planning solution doesn’t exist. The specific type of large scale development project taking place depends on the cultural, political and societal conditions in which the planning process takes place. This article proposes a critical overview on the 20-years long planning process of the area in order to detect the critical aspects of governance in land redevelopment. 1994-1999: urban planning to face economic restructuring The genesis of the Falck project must be found in the socio-economic restructuring that impacted in the north of Milan during the 80s. During those years a well integrated networks of national, regional and local actors, as well as trade unions and private business, ensures quick and responsive actions towards crisis management. Both national and Eu funds are allocated to favor the implementation of planning decisions to generate new work places. The Framework agreement of 1994 between the regional and local government opens up a urban policy approach entirely focused on the labor issue. The Falck project is fully inscribed in this policy context, aiming at maintaining and bolstering the economic character of Sesto San Giovanni. The general Masterplan of 1994 confirm the productive character of the site, but it is rejected by the Regional government. A second land use Plan, approved in 2000, defines the Falck site as a strategic transformation site and fixes general guidelines for the development by the private landowners. In particular it sets out a building index of 0.5 sqm/sqm of floor’s space, the impossibility to split the territory in different projects, and a general functional mix with a major productive component. Moreover, the municipality prescribes the transfer of a 650 hectars green areas out of calculation of betterment fees. Between 1998 and 2000, the planning process is rather open, with a development agency that promotes conceptual research and international bids for designers. Nonetheless, these initiatives remains strongly detached to the objectives of land rent

maximization by the landow- nership. 2000-2005: the tug of war of negotiated urban planning In 2000, Giuseppe Pasini, a local real estate market agent buys the Falck area. With the purchase the Falck project planning process comes back to traditional planning procecures: the public government fixes general directives within the municipal land use plan which the landowner must comply with in order to have the Masterplan approved. A first proposal is immediately rejected because of the excessive amount of residential space to be built. A second plan is designed by a commission of planning experts from Milan and architect Mario Botta. Although the commission decides to proceed by small steps, with general strategic lines fixed at the beginning, also this plan is not approved by the municipality. The key issues of discussions are: the economic feasibility of the project, including the green space excluded from betterment fee counting, the costly refurbishment of old industrial buildings and the soil remediation costs. This period is characterized by a highly enclosed planning process, with a frequent contact between the landowner’s advisors and the municipality. There is no involvement by local civic society not by upper levels of government. 2005-2010: the project parallel to the plan In 2005 a new development company acquires the land. In the same year a new regional law substitu- tes the Prg as general planning tool with the Pgt, a new planning document to be drawn. The project is given to the Renzo Piano building workshop and other strategic documents are produced to guide the framing of the intervention. A new working group is composed by the development company, the architect and the municipality to define the Falck Masterplan accordingly to the ongoing design of the general municipal Plan. The result is a new Masterplan that complies with new prescriptions: the Pgt introduces more volumetric incentives for high quality public facilities, a better energetic plan in the area, the redevelopment of the train station and the reuse of industrial buildings for ‘public utility’. In this was the Falck development building potentials increases up to 1.1 ml of sqm. This plan is also rejected by the municipality, still much focused on the industrial past of its land. Strong critiques also come from the local civic society that suffers the new development which will attract new social classes and increase housing prices. 2011 to the masterplan approval: new capitals and the phasing issue At the end of 2010 a new company acquires the land. The new company is a multiple capital corporation, with italian and international partners. It keeps the Renzo Piano Masterplan but it generally changes few issues, related to the marketability of the new luxury houses to be built and to the main urban structure. Moreover, the issue of time phases becomes central in the negotiations with Urbanistica www.planum.net

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the municipality. The latter fears opportunistic behaviors of the land developer, which will presumably start to built houses and never complete the public services. The phasing will reflect the political priorities of the city. After a phase â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;0â&#x20AC;&#x2122; targeting the main infrastructures, the first phase regards either the redevelopment of the station and of a first adjacent sector and the development of the southern productive districts. A first agreement on a general Masterplan for the site is signed on september 2011. Conclusions The definition of a new future of 150 hectares of polluted land in the urban periphery is a political problem, not only technical. To be solved it needs a good management of a multi-staklholder planning process. First, there are the public interests that ambitiously claim for high profile public functions, infrastructuration and new productive space. It regards with nostalgia to its industrial past. Second, there are the private interests, which are mostly focused on residential development and on ensuring the economic feasibility of the project, with large costs of soil remediation. Lastly, there are the civic interest, represented by the local groups which fear the radical change of the social milieu of their city, with new luxury apartments and functions. The planning process for such a complex endeavor has however been highly closed and fragmented, so to impede the definition of alternative planning propositions to address these interests. Many public actors have been absent, starting from the Region and the Province, with respective competences on infrastructures and green spaces. And most of all, Milan municipality, whose metropolitan future depends on that of the brownfields located along its fringe, which is full of economic, social and cultural opportunities.

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