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Design as a Tool for Bringing New Life to the Historic Centre of L’Aquila

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Putting Tradition into Practice: Heritage, Place and Design (INTBAU 2017)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering ((LNCE,volume 3))

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Abstract

This essay describes a two-year research/teaching activity (2010–12), undertaken in a final year Design Studio at the School of Design of Politecnico di Milano. This work aimed at finding design strategies suitable for contributing to the rebirth of the city of L’Aquila after the earthquake of April 6th, 2009. In the framework of a substantial reshaping of the disciplinary approach to design of urban spaces, which the School is currently carrying out, the design proposals were conceived in a temporary and totally reversible form. This approach can effectively create places and spaces for both renewal and growth in a period of uncertainty as it focuses on light and flexible designs which do not involve substantial funding or crucial political decisions. At L’Aquila, this approach also gave response to the need of restarting urban activities by filling the time gap between immediate emergency and permanent reconstruction. A gap estimated in several years.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In Italy earthquakes are not rare. L’Aquila itself had already been hit by such an event in 1461 and in 1703.

  2. 2.

    In Italian, C.A.S.E. sounds like “houses”, it is the acronym of Complessi Antisismici Sostenibili Ecocompatibili (earthquake proof, sustainable, eco-friendly buildings). M.A.P. stands for Moduli Abitativi Provvisori (temporary housing units). According to authorities in 2012 about 13.000 people were lodged in the 4.500 dwellings of C.A.S.E. project; 7.000 people lived in M.A.P. neighbourhoods; 15.000 people lived in former vacant premises; 30.000 inhabitants had come back to their homes. Retrieved from http://www.commissarioperlaricostruzione.it/Informare/Situazione-della-popolazione-post-sisma/Report-sulla-situazione-della-popolazione-post-sisma-al-29-maggio-2012.

  3. 3.

    “Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones”, See [1].

  4. 4.

    Four teachers: the author (professor in charge), P. Brambilla (exhibit design), F. Pignoloni (interaction design), F. Taidelli (building technology) helped by five assistants: C. Bianchini, E. Dalmasso, S. Danesi, A. Di Virgilio, P. Foletti, coordinated 106 students in the development of 34 proposals; 19 of them became Master theses.

  5. 5.

    A substantial help for outlining the work came from: Mario Centofanti (Dean, Master Course of Civil Engineering-Architecture, University of L’Aquila), Chiara Santoro (Chief architect, Municipality of L’Aquila), Francesca Balena (PhD, architect in L’Aquila), Andrea Colcuc (Coordinator C.A.S.E. project).

  6. 6.

    Urban festivals are often implemented to enhance local economy. The “Festival dei Due Mondi”, which takes place in Spoleto, a small town in Umbria, since 1958, was particularly meaningful to the purposes of this work, notably because of the similarity of the geographic context. Casa Menotti, the “Festival dei Due Mondi” Documentation Centre. http://www.casamenotti.it/. Accessed 24 Mar 2017.

  7. 7.

    Contributions from experts: Francesco Giancola (Engineer, University of Saragoza), Renato Ruatti (Architect, C.A.S.E. housing), Anna Spreafico (Architect, Esterni Design Consultants), Lucia Uni (Artist, “Qui L’Aquila”- here is L’Aquila). Special thanks to Giovanni Corazza for providing photographs from his research Il Rimpianto del Nido. L’Aquila e il suo territorio a due anni dal terremoto (Missing the nest. L’Aquila and its territory two years later), 2012.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Design, School of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Luca Guerrini

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  1. Luca Guerrini
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Correspondence to Luca Guerrini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Design, Politecnico di Milano , Milan, Italy

    Giuseppe Amoruso

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Guerrini, L. (2018). Design as a Tool for Bringing New Life to the Historic Centre of L’Aquila. In: Amoruso, G. (eds) Putting Tradition into Practice: Heritage, Place and Design. INTBAU 2017. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering , vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57937-5_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57937-5_13

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57937-5

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