sustainable reuse of disused railway

Abstract Railways, an infrastructure system consisting of 'railway lines', tunnels, toll booths and stations, are considered 'abandoned' when, for various reasons, any regular service of railway type is suspended. About 2 thousand kilometers of lines no longer active railways exist in our Italian territory, in most cases abandoned to decay. European and international examples of redevelopment of these derelict structures in bicycle lanes or otherwise dedicated to sustainable mobility foresee the transformation of old stations and toll booths in dining and reception points (youth hostels, hotels, restaurants), info points for the enhancement of the territory and care centers for bicycles maintenance. These tourism businesses may be of great impetus to the development of employment and economic exploitation, as well as be a driver of growth for tourism and economy of the country. In Italy a possible strategy for sustainable conversion of these paths necessarily has to take account not only of landscape and environmental values, but also the rich archaeological heritage which, in most cases, these routes intercept and connect. In this regard, the recovery of the railway plaza of Velia, a Focea colony of Magna Graecia is emblematic. Founded shortly after 540 BC, Velia is located inside the archaeological area (northern region), associated with an abandoned stretch of nineteenth-century galleries and ancient houses of the archaeological park. According to a view to integrated redevelopment, the project proposal is based on the idea of the "museum" structured on the historic landscape values

I centri minori e le Comunità Energetiche Rinnovabili: tra istanze di tutela e di innovazione energetica

La fragilità dei piccoli Comuni delle aree interne è una questione diffusa, che coinvolge Paesi europei e non. In considerazione delle molteplici potenzialità che queste realtà racchiudono, l'UE sta promuovendo programmi per contenere il loro consistente declino demografico. Anche i singoli Paesi europei, tra cui l'Italia, lavorano per perseguire tale finalità, favorendo progetti per il recupero e la valorizzazione dei villaggi. A fronte del limitato successo di alcune di queste esperienze, appare necessario riconsiderarne gli approcci, in vista di un concreto ed efficace sviluppo dei territori interni. In tale senso, le Comunità energetiche rinnovabili (CER) possono rappresentare una valida alternativa, offrendo numerosi vantaggi in termini di autosufficienza energetica. Tuttavia, intervenire sul patrimonio costruito dei piccoli centri, soprattutto di quelli italiani, richiede una particolare riflessione, utile per rapportare le istanze di tutela con quelle di innovazione energetica. Alla luce di ciò, il paper affronta il tema della valorizzazione dei comuni minori in relazione al modello delle CER, analizzandone criticità e potenzialità, per proporre un'indagine critica sul rapporto tra le attuali innovazioni tecnologiche in campo energetico e le questioni legate al costruito storico

Una carta internazionale per la valorizzazione e lo sviluppo sostenibile dei centri minori delle aree interne: La carta di Salerno

Il patrimonio edilizio, paesaggistico e culturale nei centri minori delle aree interne, in tutti i Paesi del mondo, rappresenta una risorsa di rilevante interesse ed ha pari dignità con i beni presenti nelle grandi città. Purtroppo il fenomeno dello spopolamento, derivante da dinamiche sociali, economiche e culturali della società contemporanea, sta provocando un depauperamento dei beni materiali e immateriali di queste realtà insediative. Una carta di intenti può delineare delle linee-guida con l’obbiettivo di mitigare il fenomeno suddetto ed evitare il rischio di cancellare intere aree geografiche dalla presenza attiva degli abitanti, custodi del territorio. La carta delinea i principi, gli obiettivi, i metodi e gli strumenti per valorizzare le caratteristiche autentiche della civiltà passata che connota l’identità dei luoghi, favorendo la permanenza degli abitanti, principali attori nella conservazione dei saperi e nelle azioni di crescita e sviluppo

The reuse of disused buildings. The case study of railway toll booths: analysis and methodological proposals

The recovery and reuse of disused railway heritage is a mostly recent topic, which arose in response to the substantial decommissioning of railway lines from the first half of the 20th century onwards. It was during this period that the first greeways were born in America, evidence of a new way of considering and interpreting former railway infrastructures, to be reconverted and returned to society with diversified functions and roles. The advantages in recovering this vast heritage – including not only the railway tracks, but also the architectural artefacts (stations, toll booths, roadman’s houses, warehouses, etc.) that insist on them – are many. First of all, there is the decrease in land consumption, by locating new functions in disused structures, as well as the creation of alternative infrastructure systems, based on sustainability and low environmental impact. In addition, the conscious recovery and reuse of railway buildings allows the preservation of local memories and histories, together with typological, constructive and formal characteristics typical of this building class. However, refunctionalising these places often appears difficult, requiring multiple competences that not only include architectural and environmental issues, but also social and economic ones. In the light of these considerations, the paper investigates the topic of the recovery and reuse of disused railway heritage by proposing a multicriteria analysis tool that takes into account these different and multiple fields. The tool, specially designed for evaluating interventions on these particular architectural artefacts, will be applied to a case study: the former railway toll booth in via Lungomare Guglielmo Marconi, located in Salerno (SA). The application, which involved experts in various fields, will highlight, as an effective solution, just one of the projects initially proposed for the reuse of the disused railway toll booth

Area Strategy and Participative Approaches for the Resilient and Sustainable Development of Inland Territories

The benefits derived from the enhancement of inland areas are behind numerous European initiatives. Among them, there is the Strategia Nazionale Aree Interne (SNAI), which was born in Italy in 2013 and proposes a method for the demarcation of inland territories according to specific criteria and indicators. Although SNAI s work is relevant, it does not fully consider some crucial factors in describing the criticality and potential of inland areas. Moreover, little attention is given to dialogue with local stakeholders, whose confrontation is crucial for pursuing effective territorial development strategies. With such premises, the paper investigates the topic of territorial development of inland areas by presenting the results of the RI.P.R.O.VA.RE Project. Starting from a new demarcation of the territories - to be added to that one carried out by SNAI -, the Project analyses their level of resilience with the aim of proposing effective area strategies. To this end, the results obtained from one of the analysed focus areas are presented, exploring, in particular, the participatory approach adopted in this application case