01. INTRODUCTION

Highland CitieScape

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INTRODUCTION

The importance of the territory

INTRODUCTION

For the entire history, mankind showed the innate need for going up hills and climbing mountains. The reason behind it can be attributed to a strategy purpose against enemies since higher places offer bigger perspective of the territory, which leads to a better defense in case of attacks and sufficient time to be prepared. Together with this, there might be the idea of safety, being up means distance from catastrophic events like floods.

But there is something even beyond the merely strategical, there is since very ancient times a certain spiritual need to go up. In classical times, in Greece's first settlements, we see the Parthenon standing out on the highest hill of Athens. The place for the cult of the gods is not located there by chance, there is a strong intention behind this. We cannot say for sure why this happened, but we see that temples, in different parts of the globe, in different cultures show the same principle.

We all know that going up on hills requires a journey, but in reality it is necessary a double journey: physically and mentally. The former consists of strength, attention, reaction, and creates certain awareness of the ground. Th latter involves our personality, our motivations, and a pure desire to reach a goal which lead to a different meaning behind this simple act.

This phenomenon evolved within the passing of the years. In 1818, the German Romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich painted the famous" Wanderer in the fog ". This becomes the most recognized painting of the artist becoming one of the masterpieces of Romanticism. The picture shows a man standing upon a cliff with his back to the viewer. The wanderer stares a landscape covered in a thick sea of fog with ridges and forests emerging from it.

This few elements created a sort of fashion between the upper classes of the century, creating a new man icon representing a change in the culture: escaping from the mundane and getting involved by the nature were an expression of wealth and audacity, along with the rewarding sense of achievement from the top.

Robert Macfarlane commented how mountain climbing has been viewed in the Western world since the Romantic era, defining the picture as the "archetypical image of the mountain-climbing visionary". He stated also that the idea of admiration for standing on a mountain top barely existed in earlier centuries [1].

Nowadays, withing the chaos of the pandemic and the consequent the long hours spent at home, seems like nature in the cities has become extremely appreciated among communities. Green urban areas are widely recognized as important for health and wellness, reducing anxiety, depression, and stress but the attention for these aspects highly increased during the health emergency. For this reason parks and public lands reached their highest usage in modern times and more importantly they are proving to be a way to recover from the emotional and physical crisis caused by the pandemic.

Governments are changing their opinion on public spaces, especially focusing on the fact that the access to outdoors should not be a privilege but it should be a right. Along with this, huge investments have been set on green public areas so that in the landscape market in London has been doubled in only one year.

On the other hand, the private sector of landscape is growing since people want a private park right close to their home. This remarks the need for something that is not only a place for mental peace and physical restore, but also a place for cult included in every day’s life. This aspect recalls the use of highlands as places for cult, taking the human existence to another level, physically and spiritually.

The best example can be represented by the Acropolis (deriving from the Greek akron indicating the "highest point, extremity" and polis, meaning "city") commonly spread across Greece in the archaic era. The Acropolis is shaped in two hierarchical levels:

1. Sacred level, is the highest point, creating an analogy with the natural environment (earth, horizon, and sky). 2. Human level, for the mundane activities, with additional buildings from access road to these temple complexes.

This work tries to combine the two levels in the city of Lugano revitalizing its connection with the natural surroundings where it is possible to find Mount San Salvatore. The mount is currently connected to the city by means of a funicular system and a walking trail.

Nevertheless, the site can be improved by allowing more possibilities to relate with nature and enhancing the already existing ones. The aim of this project is creating a sort of middle ground, an “in between” to have a pause and relate with the wilderness. It is important to create a sense of belonging with this outstanding place, so it can be recognized by giving the right value to the natural heritage of Lugano.

The idea of connecting the spirit with nature and in particular with highlands is very important to a country like Switzerland since the territory is full of mountains but the 70% population live in urban areas.

For what concerns the climate change, it is well known that in the last 50 years the increasing temperature has accelerated rapidly because of human influence. The glacial ice and snow cover have reduced, precipitations shifted from snow to rain, rainstorm have become more extreme, and desert areas have expanded increasing the risk of wildfires [2]. So from one point of view Landscape is making big efforts for preserving the natural areas and improving as much as possible the urban conditions in terms of green areas, air, and stable temperature. On the other hand, landscape should create awareness regarding this high priority global problem by informing about the natural heritage close to us and promoting outdoor activities. Summing up, landscape architecture needs for more usable, efficient, and attractive outdoor spaces reconnecting people with nature in a challenging way.