Università Roma Tre

The laboratory deals with the complex theme of urban regeneration, dealing with a large area of ​​the existing city, within which there are a plurality of themes for the redevelopment of public space starting from the construction of a network of cycle paths.
These are the main points:

1
IDENTITY
We all live the city on the move: from one point to another, each of us dynamically builds the map of our own city day by day
Moving from one place to another we build our identity as a sum of places with which we identify ourselves
A city congested by traffic limits freedom of movement

2
MOVEMENT
Cycling is freedom of movement
A bicycle tour is an opportunity to discover the city and get in touch with people
A bicycle route must link these points together
The paths should not be imagined as single paths but must be connected in a plot that extends according to variable trajectories in the folds of the existing city

3
CHOICE
A network of cycle routes must offer itself to people as a set of choices, alternatives not only as a means of communication from A to B
People thus interpret the various routes according to the occasion or moment, moving between the various points each according to their needs
The plot of cycle paths overlaps the existing city triggering new ways of use

4
PLACES
Cities are not poor in urban resources but are often used inefficiently
Beyond the primary spaces - monumental, institutional, .... - there are a myriad of public places that for a variety of reasons - use, maintenance, safety - are not perceived as potentially habitable by the inhabitants

5
NETWORK
Drawing a cycle network can be the pretext for bringing together fragments, wrecks, margins, troughs, and abandoned areas.
Places that maybe for a period have had a collective use that then got lost
Places that are the remains of processes of erosion, fragmentation and privatization of public space

6
REGENERATION
The design of a cycle network does not only have to do with mobility but above all with public space as a place of the collective dimension of living
A cycle network can serve to materialize lines of movement along which unexpected places are reconnected to the use of people.
A cycle network can be the engine of a regeneration of the urban fabric

7
PUBLIC SPACE
Connecting residual spaces in the city to each other, allowing people to access them, by bicycle or on foot, even in passing, can be the first step in a process of re-appropriation of public space as a shared and collective place
 

8
SAFETY
When we think of a public space, security is fundamental: without it there is no place that can be called collective
Accessibility and visibility are minimum conditions for safe use
A network of cycle paths configures a system of flows that activates the public space of the city

The Tiber cycle path is today the only existing cycle-pedestrian path that crosses Rome from north to south, touching some of the most important central districts of the historic city.
Precisely because of its centrality it is possible to connect to it and connect relevant points of the urban fabric both from the monumental point of view and from the point of view of mobility.
The project of the laboratory consists in the creation of a network of pedestrian and cycle branches, which using the Tiber ridge as the main axis, extend towards the surrounding urban fabric on both sides, aiming to reach punctual places, in which there are be they monuments, universities or accesses to municipal and regional mobility.

In the first phase of the laboratory a series of case studies will be analyzed, which can be used as a guideline for the design.
Subsequently, a series of specific references relating to the various aspects of the project will be provided.

These references will be available by accessing a shared Google drive.

“URBAN DESIGN HELPING ARCHITECTURE AND VICE VERSA”

The module’s aim is to promote coherence between the architectural project and the built environment’s design. The module develops detailed design approach to the local scale.

Knowledge will be imparted through lectures on:
- regeneration’s strategies of contemporary city;
- description of several regeneration’s projects;
- major concepts used in the analysis and understanding of the built environment (townscape analysis, morphology, uses, natural environment);
- description of differents masterplans and design code.

The module experiments a design’s method based on site analysis, evaluation and project referred to the local dimension.
The final work, prepared in class seminars, concerns:
- urban design analysis of the local context (urban pattern, open space and environmental issues, infrastructure and transport issues, community and social issues, existing community facilities, development issues/current initiative);
- critical understanding of people’s diverse everyday uses, problems, link and project opportunities, site analysis summary;
- strategic context framework plan and project opportunities as answer to the revealed contradictions.

Students, in investigation’s group, have to produce four outlines: two concern the urban design analysis of the local context and two describe the project through the elaboration of a masterplan, the formulation of a design code and project’s vision.
In the final examination each student presents an overview of the work which is followed by discussion on the issues raised. The module encourages student to develop a critical perspective on their own work.

- Banerjee T., Loukaitou-Sideris T., (edit. by), (2011), Companion to Urban Design, Routledge.
- Carmona, M., (2010), Public Places Urban Spaces, The Dimensions of Urban Design (Second Edition). Architectural Press.
- Gabellini, P., (2001), Tecniche urbanistiche, Carocci ed.
- Gabellini, P., (1998), La rappresentazione nel piano urbanistico, Nis ed.
- Nucci, L., (2011), Verde di prossimità e disegno urbano, Gangemi Editore, Roma.
- Nucci, L., (2004), Reti verdi e disegno della città contemporanea: la costruzione del nuovo piano di Londra, Gangemi Editore, Roma.
- Secchi, B., (2008), La città del Ventesimo Secolo, Laterza Ed., Bari.
- Campos Venuti G., Oliva F (a cura di), (2010), Città senza cultura. Intervista sull'urbanistica, Laterza Ed., Bari.
- AA VV (2013), Governo del territorio e pianificazione spaziale, città studi edizioni, Milano.