Toward EXPO 2105 in Milan (Italy): assessment of the rural settlements in urban landscape under transformation

Ref.: 6
Área temática: 01 Integridad física de los paisajes urbanos históricos
Fecha de recepción: 14/11/2008

AUTORES (* Autor principal)

AGOSTINI, Stella * (Italia) - Università degli Studi di Milano
CAIROLI, Dalila (Italia) - Università degli Studi di Milano
ROSINA, Elisabetta (Italia) - Università degli Studi di Milano

ABSTRACT

The urban sprawl are erasing the connection between many farms settled in urban area and their land. The first results of the research on Rural Vernacular Heritage [1], on metropolitan areas, allows to put on the table some questions and remarks. Main issues concern on recognizing the indicators for reading the rural vernacular relationships. The difficulty increases going into the city.
Although without any agricultural use, rural settlements conserve their identity after the urban annexation?
Surviving farms could get identity and quality values in the new urban development?
These settlements, which have differentiated quality, quantity, and features in the different urban areas in the world, are just areas waiting for transformation or they still can be living resources for a sustainable development of urban landscape?
The answer comes from a global approach of these settlements assessment. The approach has to reveal their capacity of interaction with urban area.
The previous research enhances the necessity of reference pattern to survive the links that rural heritage closely interweaves with its land. In the further step of the research the authors aim is to load of contents the categories listed in ICOMOS and CIAV's charters.
The paper introduces the multicryteria approach to assess the worthiness of rural areas and their attitude as cultural and economic resources in the planning development.
Listed factors have human, environmental and relational features:
1) Factors to recognize the resource:
State of conservation
Persistence of historic features
Traces of local historic transformation
2) Factors to recognize the links with the place
Use's values
Typology features
Relationships with the land
Effects on the landscape
3) Factors to recognize the heritage, following the criteria of the 1972 convention
integrity
identity
authenticity
4) Factors of inhibition of development
Merging results, authors find out both which elements still enable to generate local identity and threats to their survival.
The comparison of analysis results and development strategies allows to evaluate compatibility, sustainability of urban management and policies, and their effects on historic urban landscape context.
The implementation of the method on the Milan urban area shows its feasibility as
planning framework for conservation of physical integrity of historic urban landscape now and in the future.
Milan area is an example of urban landscape under strong transformation, because of the change of development targets.
Looking at EXPO 2015, the purpose of Milan city plan office is to stand the planned increase of population (700.000 newcomers) [2] by means of a high increase of building standard of urban areas. This intention will affect the city properties first of all.
In Milan area there are 63 rural settlements, 42 among them are city properties. Therefore, the authors denounce the high risk to be overwhelmed by this new urban sprawl, which will irrevocably alter the historic urban landscape.
The present study enhance the convenience of recovery "rural vernacular heritage" by maintaining its living links with the land, despite of the recovery of the "rural heritage", as typological feature only, emptied of any other value.

BIBLIOGRAFÍA

[1] Agostini, S., Pizzingrilli, P., Rausa, P., 2006. Il patrimonio rurale vernacolare ai margini della metropoli, CLUP, Milano, ISBN 88-7090-849- 6, pp. 238.
[2] Senesi A. «Expo, Milano nel 2015 dovrà raddoppiare gli abitanti Bisogna costruire più case» Corriere della Sera, 4 novembre 2008 Pagina 6.