Post war urban expansion between conservation and innovation: Italian examples an approaches
Simona Salvo, Architect, Scuola di Specializzazione in Restauro dei Monumenti- Roma
Abstract
Italian historical centres surely are among most stratified in Europe; differently from other European
cities, post war expansions have had an incidence on their outskirts without modifying their historical
core which, strangely enough, have been much more cut into by transformations of the beginning of the
century.
Attention to such recent urban expansions is now coming up and a certain 'culture' has developed about
them since they have become predominant sites of urban life with very specific social and political
marks. Most of them have been planned by major Italian architects of the period and express ideals,
myths, and a 'heroic' view of the role of town planning and of architecture. The interest that literature
and cinematography have lent to these parts of the city says it all.
Today, with a half century time perspective, the evaluation of the historical and the social value of such
attempts to plan the 'modern city' has become easier. What we now perceive is the importance (and the
social economical weight) of this urban heritage, far more threatened by our contemporary daily life
than the ancient one. A key to a new, positive evaluation of this heritage could be based on the
acceptance of its social and political role, of its functional value and on its 'new aesthetic', assuming that
these are effectively the new references of modern urban planning and of modern architecture. Our
duty now is, then, to develop a specific knowledge about it pointing to its rational preservation, basing
interventions on the same rules adopted in architectural restoration which reach out for an equal
compromise between maximum conservation possible and limited (although necessary) innovation.
Under the urban and architectural point of view, the 'fabric' of these areas is as vulnerable and decayed
as many well known architectural examples; moreover, in many cases, these demand further expansions
to satisfy new housing needs. Basically, their architectural and social downgrading depends from
misacceptance of their value and from uncorrected use; consequently, urban expansions suffer identical
problems as architectural objects: fast alteration, impoverishment of the social tissue and drastic
changes in use, in some case abandonment, loss of maintenance and consequent decay of materials.
Only a very limited responsibility of their decay may be attributed to the underlaying urban concept or to
its practical achievement; not even transitoriness and seriality, often brought forward as motivations to
free perish or abandon of such heritage (which, instead, should be accepted as specific values and
therefore preserved as such), justify completely their state of decay. As a matter of fact, the major
cause must be attributed to lack of care and of those necessary repeated interventions that would
'protect' the fabric from accelerated degradation.
Today interventions on modern urban areas have become an urgency and two major problems rise in
relation to their conservation and to their extension: one regards the respect for their authenticity, the
other regards the modalities and the guidelines to follow for their expansion. In many cases, these are
picked up as occasions to 'renew' their image by restoring and substituting their original fabric, and to
enlarge them by repeating old urban schemes and layouts.
A brief review of some Italian case-study (Quartiere La Martella, Matera; Quartiere Matteotti, Terni;
Corviale, Roma) clears out the dynamics of such phenomena and the different approaches to the
problem in Italy. The examples chosen show a constructive solution to the problem; although, it must be
pointed out that a different kind of periphery, concentrated in the poorest parts of our metropolitan
areas, is as well diffused. In such cases spontaneity, unpredictable development, ugliness and complete
absence of planning are the only rules followed by the city development. A different approach is then
needed, in order to clear out the distinction between what is a work of art and what is a witness of our
times, but still accepting both as an important heritage to preserve.
