The research is aimed to reset effective development conditions for contemporary cities, i.e. restricting their borders to the built urban fabric, which through a continuous process of modification based on the grafting of new urban characters, will give life to "the city of the future". To reconsider the destiny of places where we live, means to meditate on the quality of life in the cities of today and tomorrow, and if for few years some cities of the Eastern part of the world will follow a model of expansion, the near future of European and American cities - and probably the farther one of Asian Metropolis - will be subject of a reassessment and revision of what is already built. Updating is the issue that concerns the urgent need of cities to adapt themselves to contemporary demands. Although it may be considered a recurring theme in the history of the city, in the past such need has always generated conditions of urban development related to growth. Today, however, urban development does not coincide with growth and is contrary to this way of planning future expansions. The term “upgrading” becomes essential to start thinking about new models of urban development and maintenance that are sustainable and flexible at all scales. This is happening right now because, while the phenomenon is already taking place within the European continent, a stop of the growth of the entire world population is expected within the end of the new century. Progress will no longer be tied to a greater consumption of resources, but to a greater efficiency and liveability of the cities. Those that will be able to respond quickly to the different needs of their inhabitants will be the winning ones: they should be clearly cosmopolitan, able to put together different social and age groups without generating conflicts, and capable to radically renew themselves in their built fabric and technological and communicational infrastructures. The objective of this research is to demonstrate that the urban grafting into the city tissue which already exists, through several stages building-removal-replacement-regeneration, it is as a highly experimental model, well advanced and capable of giving tangible answers and not just a theoretical one, and therefore highly capable to respond to contemporary instances which we are already trying to cope with and that are expected to spread exponentially in the coming years. “Adequacy" is the method to match and control a set of values to be constantly redefined. These values will embrace different spheres, from the purely aesthetic ones (it is useful to construct well and create a pleasant environment) as well as ecological ones to the most pragmatic that concern basic human requirements and the need for "a place where to live." In countries with a long history, willing to promote a renovation preserving the memory of the places, where the growing populations is not made of young people but of elderly, of immigrants and non-residents - such as is occurring in Europe - these questions are the most meaningful. A policy of re-generation that starts from the inner parts of the city, not only implies the maintenance of its fabric, but above all a radical internal retrofitting capable to meet most different demands. Radical means truly innovative, though necessarily based on continuity: continuity with the residue of memory, in terms of architectural language, in terms of construction techniques and ways of living, continuity in terms of awareness of what was in the past and projection into a future that will be quite qualitatively different from today. The method to demonstrate the versatility and effectiveness of a similar process, will explore some known cases, investigate their characteristics, and produce a conscious “modus operandi” capable to create methods of observation and systems to develop projects at the urban and architectural scale, which should be able of answering to the issues earlier addressed. The research will be carried out according to a double register: on one hand we will perform a qualitative analysis of the places of transformation (one concerning some of the contemporary projects from which certain genes will be extracted to be later injected on the site); on the other hand we will verify the method of grafting through the process of transformation, using examples of typologies of settlement at different scales. The chosen examples possess the new genes of the contemporary age such as the mixitè factor, the ‘green’ element, the alteration of the density, the variety of typologies, the link with the infrastructure and the construction of a ‘urban system’ that mediates between the consolidated, the modern and the contemporary city through a matrix of different components that assemble them. A final factor to be reckoned with great regard, is the technological aspect of the project, that - along with a careful planning, considered as the ability to handle the complexity of "agents" involved in cognitive development and management processes of the articulated urban machine - through a constant supply of "information", tends to marginalize as much as possible "errors" due to random choices. The extension of the grafting from architecture to urban areas will give rise to a new approach that will result in: updating city. A city capable to effectively renew itself, its urban tissue and architectural heritage, rethinking the form of its districts, its periphery, and also its historical fabric.
La ricerca condotta ridefinisce i termini del processo di sviluppo della città collocandoli entro i confini fisici stessi del costruito che, attraverso un lavoro continuo di modificazione basato sull’innesto di nuovi caratteri urbani, darà vita alla città del futuro: Updating city. Riflettere sul destino dei luoghi in cui abitare vuol dire meditare sulla qualità della vita nelle città di oggi e del domani, e se per diversi anni ancora alcune città dell’oriente seguiranno un modello di espansione, il futuro imminente delle città europee e americane come probabilmente quello più remoto di quelle asiatiche, consisterà in un riassestamento e revisione delle città già costruite. Il problema dell’updating della città alle esigenze contemporanee, sebbene possa essere considerato un tema ricorrente all’interno della storia, in passato ha sempre generato condizioni di sviluppo legate alla crescita. Oggi invece lo sviluppo non coincide con la growth, anzi upgrading è il termine fondamentale su cui riflettere per costruire dei nuovi modelli che oltre al mantenimento dell’esistente puntino a un progresso sostenibile in senso lato e che si tramutino in progetti, sia alla scala urbana che architettonica, con un alto grado di flessibilità e predisposizione al cambiamento. Questo perché è prevedibile un arresto entro questo secolo della crescita della popolazione sull’intero globo, mentre questo fenomeno è già in atto all’interno del continente europeo. Lo sviluppo non sarà legato a un maggiore consumo, ma a una maggiore efficienza e vivibilità. Le città capaci di rispondere più celermente ai differenti bisogni della popolazione saranno quelle vincenti, quelle cosmopolite, in grado di far convivere le diverse fasce sociali e di età al loro interno senza generare scontri, quelle capaci di rinnovarsi in parte nei loro tessuti costruiti e radicalmente nelle infrastrutture (tecnologiche e di comunicazione). Obiettivo della ricerca e’ quello di dimostrare che l’innesto all’interno di un corpo già esistente attraverso le diverse fasi di edificazione-rimozione-sostituzione-riqualificazione del costruito, si presenti come un modello fortemente sperimentale, quindi all’avanguardia nel tentare di dare risposte concrete e non solo teoriche, e dunque fortemente plausibile viste e osservate le istanze contemporanee sopracitate a cui stiamo già cercando di far fronte e che si diffonderanno esponenzialmente negli anni a venire. L’ “adeguatezza” rispetto ad una serie di valori da ridefinire costantemente, sarà il metodo con cui confrontarsi abbracciando le diverse sfere, da quella meramente estetica (è utile costruire bene e creare un environment gradevole) ed ecologica, sino a quella più pragmatica che deve rispondere ai bisogni primari e alla necessità di progettare per tutti “un alloggio dove vivere”. In paesi con una lunga storia, che vogliono rinnovarsi preservando la memoria e il rapporto col passato, in cui le fasce di popolazione crescenti sono quelle di anziani e non di giovani, di immigrati e di non-residenti, come quelli europei, questi quesiti sono i più pregnanti. Una politica di ri-generazione che parta dall’interno delle città, non solo implica il mantenimento, ma soprattutto una revisione continua del valori e del patrimonio costruito che deve essere accompagnata da un cambiamento interno radicale in grado di far fronte alle mutevoli sollecitazioni sociali, economiche ed ecologiche. Radicale vuol dire profondamente innovativo, sebbene necessariamente basato sulla continuità con i residui della memoria, in termini di linguaggio architettonico, di tecniche di costruzione e modi di abitare, e strutturato con la consapevolezza che ciò che è stato nel passato deve essere necessariamente proiettato verso un futuro qualitativamente diverso dall’oggi. La versatilità ed efficacia di un modus operandi simile, si definisce attraverso un doppio registro in grado di produrre un’ampia matrice di caratteri architettonico - urbani da un lato, e un processo efficace di combinazione degli stessi dall’altro, che è verificato in ultima analisi attraverso il riscontro oggettivo delle eterogenee forme progettuali compiute considerate dagli esperti qualitativamente valide. Il “mapping” dei luoghi della trasformazione prima e dei progetti contemporanei poi, serve ad estrarre da “contesto” e “progetto” il corredo genetico che costituisce le matrici complesse entro cui fare interagire, attraverso il “grafting”, i caratteri da ri-combinare. Il processo di ricombinazione che interferisce alle diverse scale introduce i temi della mixitè, di inserimento del verde, della rielaborazione della densità, della varietà tipologica, del rapporto con l’infrastruttura e il paesaggio, e l’idea di un sistema insediativo che medi tra città consolidata, moderna e contemporanea attraverso i diversi componenti che costituiscono il progetto d’architettura contemporaneo. Un ultimo fattore da non sottovalutare riguarda l’aspetto tecnologico del progetto che insieme a un’attenta programmazione intesa come capacità di gestire la complessità degli “agenti” coinvolti nei processi conoscitivi, progettuali e di gestione della articolata macchina urbana, tenderà attraverso un costante apporto “informazionale” a marginalizzare gli “errori” dovuti a scelte di tipo casuale. I campi applicativi sono quello urbano e architettonico, che coinvolgono lo sviluppo di porzioni intere di città, si occupano del ripensamento di specifici quartieri o di più ristretti ambiti all’interno dei tessuti consolidati, moderni o dei territori dello sprawl.
Infill e urban grafting. Updating city
NASH, ROY
Abstract
The research is aimed to reset effective development conditions for contemporary cities, i.e. restricting their borders to the built urban fabric, which through a continuous process of modification based on the grafting of new urban characters, will give life to "the city of the future". To reconsider the destiny of places where we live, means to meditate on the quality of life in the cities of today and tomorrow, and if for few years some cities of the Eastern part of the world will follow a model of expansion, the near future of European and American cities - and probably the farther one of Asian Metropolis - will be subject of a reassessment and revision of what is already built. Updating is the issue that concerns the urgent need of cities to adapt themselves to contemporary demands. Although it may be considered a recurring theme in the history of the city, in the past such need has always generated conditions of urban development related to growth. Today, however, urban development does not coincide with growth and is contrary to this way of planning future expansions. The term “upgrading” becomes essential to start thinking about new models of urban development and maintenance that are sustainable and flexible at all scales. This is happening right now because, while the phenomenon is already taking place within the European continent, a stop of the growth of the entire world population is expected within the end of the new century. Progress will no longer be tied to a greater consumption of resources, but to a greater efficiency and liveability of the cities. Those that will be able to respond quickly to the different needs of their inhabitants will be the winning ones: they should be clearly cosmopolitan, able to put together different social and age groups without generating conflicts, and capable to radically renew themselves in their built fabric and technological and communicational infrastructures. The objective of this research is to demonstrate that the urban grafting into the city tissue which already exists, through several stages building-removal-replacement-regeneration, it is as a highly experimental model, well advanced and capable of giving tangible answers and not just a theoretical one, and therefore highly capable to respond to contemporary instances which we are already trying to cope with and that are expected to spread exponentially in the coming years. “Adequacy" is the method to match and control a set of values to be constantly redefined. These values will embrace different spheres, from the purely aesthetic ones (it is useful to construct well and create a pleasant environment) as well as ecological ones to the most pragmatic that concern basic human requirements and the need for "a place where to live." In countries with a long history, willing to promote a renovation preserving the memory of the places, where the growing populations is not made of young people but of elderly, of immigrants and non-residents - such as is occurring in Europe - these questions are the most meaningful. A policy of re-generation that starts from the inner parts of the city, not only implies the maintenance of its fabric, but above all a radical internal retrofitting capable to meet most different demands. Radical means truly innovative, though necessarily based on continuity: continuity with the residue of memory, in terms of architectural language, in terms of construction techniques and ways of living, continuity in terms of awareness of what was in the past and projection into a future that will be quite qualitatively different from today. The method to demonstrate the versatility and effectiveness of a similar process, will explore some known cases, investigate their characteristics, and produce a conscious “modus operandi” capable to create methods of observation and systems to develop projects at the urban and architectural scale, which should be able of answering to the issues earlier addressed. The research will be carried out according to a double register: on one hand we will perform a qualitative analysis of the places of transformation (one concerning some of the contemporary projects from which certain genes will be extracted to be later injected on the site); on the other hand we will verify the method of grafting through the process of transformation, using examples of typologies of settlement at different scales. The chosen examples possess the new genes of the contemporary age such as the mixitè factor, the ‘green’ element, the alteration of the density, the variety of typologies, the link with the infrastructure and the construction of a ‘urban system’ that mediates between the consolidated, the modern and the contemporary city through a matrix of different components that assemble them. A final factor to be reckoned with great regard, is the technological aspect of the project, that - along with a careful planning, considered as the ability to handle the complexity of "agents" involved in cognitive development and management processes of the articulated urban machine - through a constant supply of "information", tends to marginalize as much as possible "errors" due to random choices. The extension of the grafting from architecture to urban areas will give rise to a new approach that will result in: updating city. A city capable to effectively renew itself, its urban tissue and architectural heritage, rethinking the form of its districts, its periphery, and also its historical fabric.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/74621