Landscape Planning

2004  Sustainable city of children

The project concerned the urban area of the district of Sieci, located on the southern outskirts of Florence and the town of Pontassieve; placed along the main road Tosco Romagnola n.67 constantly burdened by heavy traffic,  is strictly delimited and strongly conditioned by the Florence-Rome railway upstream and the Arno river downstream. The landscape presents distinctive features of some value: the habitat of the river Arno with the ancient Gualchiere of Remole, the hills and their characters of the Tuscan countryside, with forests and historical-architectural landmarks. But the city no longer relates to this landscape and the historic core is no longer the centre of urban life. The urban regeneration plan-project, based on the program “Sustainable cities of children” promoted by the Ministry of the Environment, aims to restore the urban nucleus with more points of social cohesion, with  better links between the different urban parts and natural-landscape elements and with the involvement of the students of the Primary School “Sieci”.

WHERE

Municipality of  Pontassieve (Florence)-Tuscany Region- Italy

WHEN

2002 Research Agreement between the Town Planning Department of the Municipality of Pontassieve (Florence) and the Department of Urban Planning of the University of Florence

2003 Plan-Program delivered in January 2003 and approved by the City Council of Pontassieve on 8 March 2004 as part (implementation plan) of the Urban Planning Regulation

WHO

Designers/ Research Group

Project coordinator and head of research, prof. arch. Lorenzo Vallerini; head of the multimedia laboratory, prof. arch. Franco Montanari; collaborators arch. Daria Cresti, arch. Andrea Meli,  dr. Silvia Pierleoni, arch. Ilaria Spinicchia;  graphic processing arch. Michela Sarzotti; three-dimensional modeling and render arch. Francesco Scanu

Clients/ Municipality of  Pontassieve and University of Florence

WHAT

Size/ Urban area of the Le Sieci district, about 3.500 inhabitants

The objectives of the project were:

  • a system of open spaces;
  • a pedestrian and bicycle mobility system;
  • pilot projects that in some key points of the urban context can initiate actions to trigger a process of urban renewal;
  • integration between the pilot projects and the participation of the children, in order to “adapt” the proposals to their needs and wishes;
  • definition of intervention criteria for open space areas as part of the Town Planning Regulation.

The first phase involved a review of the urban-territorial instrumentation and an analysis and evaluation of the urban structure and the landscape system, as well as the organization of a Participatory Design Workshop with teachers, children of the Primary School and their parents .

A second phase concerned the drafting of the Urban Regeneration Plan-Programme and the design of some nodes by the drafting of three pilot projects based on the indications of the Participatory Design Workshop.

REFERENCES

Vallerini L., 2005, La città delle bambine e dei bambini, in OPERE Rivista Toscana di Architettura, n. 8 March 2005, Edizioni della Meridiana, Firenze

Grilli R. (editor), 2002,  Muri di Gomma-Bambine e Bambini impegnati a migliorare la città- L’esperienza del Laboratorio di Sieci, Morgana Edizioni, Firenze