New infrastructures, new landscapes

Abstract

New infrastructures, new landscapes

Abstract

The paper will discuss one recent Italian project that share a common background: the relevance of the existing maritime landscape as a non negotiable value. The studies will be discussed in details a feasibility study for the new port in Monfalcone.

National infrastructural policies emphasize competitiveness and connection as a central issue in

cultural, economic and political development of communities . Based on networks and system development along passageways that make up the European infrastructural armor; the two are considered at the meantime as cause and effect of "territorialisation”.

These two views are obviously mutually dependent. It's hard to think about a strong attractiveness out of the network, and to be part of the latter encourages competitiveness. Nonetheless this has proved to be conflictual when landscape values and the related attractiveness are considered.

The presented case study project, is pursuing the ambition to promote a new approach in realizing large infrastructures; its double role is to improve connectivity and to generate lasting and positive impact on the local regions. It deal with issues of inter-modality and the construction of nodes and lines which connects Europe, and its markets.

Reverting the usual approach which consider landscape project as as a way to mitigate or to compensate for the infrastructure, the goal is to succeed in realizing large infrastructural works by conceiving them as an occasion to reinterpret a region or, as extraordinary opportunities, to build new landscapes.

The strategy proposed consists in achieving structural images based on the reinforcement of the environmental and historical-landscape systems. Starting from the reinterpretation of local maritime context and resources it is possible not just to preserve the attractiveness of a specific landscape but also to conceive infrastructure in a more efficient way.