Speakers
Description
This contribution is conceived within the framework of the PRIN 2022 - COSTA | Med - Catching Opportunities for Strategic Transformation and Adaptation of Mediterranean Coasts*. The overall objective of the research project is to formulate strategies for the transformation and adaptation of Mediterranean coastal territories. Specifically, the Pescara Research Unit investigates the potential of coastal cultural heritage (Khakzad et al., 2015; Rykwert, 2010) as a strategic tool to address current environmental and climatic vulnerabilities. The mid-Adriatic coastal stretch of Abruzzo is chosen as a case in point.
Coastal areas, which are subject to a range of environmental challenges including erosion, rising sea levels, extreme heat, flooding, and saline ingression, are characterised by a high density of heritage values. These areas therefore represent a laboratory for experimentation with the issues introduced.The coastal contexts identified as case studies in the mid-Adriatic stretch (C1 - Pineto-Silvi; C2 - Fossacesia-Vasto) are distinguished by the specificity of their urbanisation processes and socio-economic and cultural dynamics. However, they also exhibit recurring Adriatic settlement patterns, characterised by the juxtaposition of coastal landscapes of varying thickness, marked by distinctive orographic conditions, infrastructural developments, and different extents of ecological relevance. In particular, within the context commonly known as Costa dei Trabocchi (C2), the richness of the natural and cultural heritage present, as well as the incremental exposure of these resources to the risks posed by climate change, serve to emphasise the relevance of environmental issues in the integrated planning and design of coastal territories. Along this stretch, a diversity of coastal protected areas, nature reserves, Sites of Community Importance, areas of fauna protection and naturalistic interest coexist with structural road axes, industrial sites and fragments of 'seasonal' tourist linear cities. Physical-relational and 'unbuilt' traces between the coast and the hinterland, activities linked to the blue economy, decommissioning and transformation processes due to the dismantling of the Adriatic railway line, are accentuating the complexity of anthropic interactions on the natural landscape and in the formation of the coastal cultural heritage. These dynamics intensify and multiply the conditions of vulnerability of the land-sea space. The heterogeneity of this variable-thickness space, and the criticalities to which it may be subjected – e.g. in terms of resource availability, adoption of improper use practices, and deterioration of the health status of occupied soils – call for integrated governance. However, this also necessitates the definition of a different development model for urbanised coastal contexts.
The evolutionary dimension of the heritage is generated and renewed by the subjects who take care of it and is nourished by continuous exchanges with society (Magnaghi, 2020). According to this, the research hypothesis is that the coastal heritage can assume an active role in consolidating the adaptive capacity of a system (UNI EN ISO 14091, 2021).
In the context of the ongoing debate on the integration of heritage and the pressing issue of climate risk, this PRIN research frames cultural heritage as ‘environmental infrastructure’. It acknowledges the contextual forms of cultural heritage as an interconnected array of identity elements, capable of serving as a regulatory infrastructure for the environment (Pavia, 2019; di Venosa, 2022). These forms contribute to the restoration, maintenance, and activation of ecosystem services that enhance the quality of the spaces they inhabit.
This contribution specifically focuses on the activities of the Pescara Research Unit related to the development of scenarios and the setting of a planning agenda for the aforementioned areas of study. The aim is to test risk reduction strategies through the research by design approach, exploring the active role of both existing and latent coastal cultural heritage in this process (Price & Narchi, 2018).
References
di Venosa, M. (2022) ‘Conclusioni. Suoli e patrimoni costieri’, in di Venosa, M., Manigrasso, M. (a cura di) Coste in movimento. Infrastrutture ambientali per la rigenerazione dei territori. Roma: Donzelli, pp. 325-330.
Khakzad, S., Pieters, M. and Van Balen, K. (2015) ‘Coastal cultural heritage: a resource to be included in integrated coastal zone management’, Ocean & Coastal Management, 118(B), pp. 110-128.
ISO/TC 207 Technical Committee and CEN/SS S26 Technical Committee (2021) Adattamento al cambiamento climatico – Linee guida su vulnerabilità, impatti e valutazione del rischio (UNI EN ISO 14091:2021).
Magnaghi, Alberto (2020) Il principio territoriale. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Pavia, Rosario (2019) Tra suolo e clima. La terra come infrastruttura ambientale. Roma: Donzelli.
Price, Lisa L. and Narchi, Nemer E. (eds) (2018) Coastal heritage and cultural resilience. Cham: Springer.
Rykwert, J. (2010) ‘Premessa. “Il patrimonio è ciò entro cui siamo”’, in Andriani, C. (ed.) Il patrimonio e l’abitare. Roma: Donzelli, pp. IX–XII.
| Keywords | land-sea; coastal heritage; environmental infrastructure; vulnerability mapping; design scenario |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
