Speakers
Description
The study intends to investigate the landscape of the mid-Adriatic coastline in the coastal stretch between Pineto and Vasto, interpreting the heritage processes associated with the ongoing transformation dynamics.
In detail, the focus is on new forms of sustainable development, aimed at protecting and enhancing the built, natural and intangible heritage. In this research, heritage is understood as a lived resource accessible to all, constantly nourished by local communities (Ricoeur, Choay, Magnaghi).
This research is part of the much broader framework of the PRIN2022 project “Coast | Med - Catching Opportunities for Strategic Transformation and Adaptation of Mediterranean Coast”, coordinated by the two research units of the University of Chieti - Pescara and the University of Roma Tre.
The Abruzzo coast offers the opportunity to confront a heterogeneous and rapidly developing territory. On the one hand, the shape of the Adriatic city, characterised by a compact urban structure, crossed by the infrastructural bundle (railway, state main road and motorway) that connects the country's Adriatic dorsal; on the other hand, the Costa dei Trabocchi, an area where today the natural and rural landscape shows significant processes of urban and tourist development.
The study focuses on the communities that inhabit these territories, on their knowledge and needs, to draw an overall picture of the coastal heritage and to understand the current tensions between the different territorial identities and the transformations of the urban context.
Following this approach, it is possible to identify planning strategies and innovative practices that can support the valorisation and protection of the existing heritage, understood as an active resource for the sustainable development of the coastal territory under study.
Coastal heritage, understood in this case as environmental infrastructure, must be placed in the context of the disciplinary debate (di Venosa, Pavia); it brings together tangible and intangible goods, communities and landscapes, and assumes the task of becoming a potential laboratory for the development of policies aimed at mitigating and counteracting the ever more current climatic and social crises. Its enhancement is linked to the quality of life of the populations that inhabit it, as stated in the European Landscape Convention.
Moreover, Article 8 of the Faro Convention also emphasises the link between quality of life, environment and heritage, highlighting the latter's decisive role in the environmental context. This concept takes on particular relevance in Abruzzo, today in the middle of economic, social and cultural transformation.
In this context, heritage takes an active role in the process of urban transformation. Its history belongs to all the communities living it today and only by involving them can concrete changes be initiated.
The research group of the University of Chieti - Pescara aims to produce an atlas mapping the current state of heritage in the mid-Adriatic coastal context in its different forms, highlighting the characteristics that can mitigate the risk factors resulting from climate and social changes. Furthermore, the project aims to present project scenarios for the analysed contexts and the development of an agenda with objectives, actions and priorities.
One of the most stimulating aspects of this research is the analysis of the intangible heritage and the places that guarantee its continuity, both consolidated and to be reinterpreted, along the Abruzzo coastal landscape. Emblematic is the case of the trabocco, a structure that symbolises a historical and indissoluble link between the coast and the hinterland. At the same time, the heritage extends beyond the coastline, involving dismissed oil platforms, whose innovative reuse could contribute to a new narrative of the coastal heritage. This perspective highlights the crucial role of heritage valorisation and transformation in the process of sustainable spatial development.
References
Choay, F. (1996) L’allegoria del patrimonio. Roma: Officina Edizioni.
Di Venosa, M. and Manigrasso, M. (2022) Coste in movimento. Infrastrutture ambientali per la rigenerazione dei territori. Roma: Donzelli Editore.
Magnaghi, A. (2010) Il progetto locale. Verso la coscienza di luogo. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Magnaghi, A. (2020) Il principio territoriale. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Pavia, R. (2019) Tra suolo e clima. La terra come infrastruttura ambientale. Roma: Donzelli Editore.
Pignatti, L. (2024) L'Adriatico come Smart Sea. Siracusa: LetteraVentidue.
Ricoeur, P. (1990) Soi-même comme un autre. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. Trad. it. (1993) Sé come un altro. Milano: Jaca Book.
| Keywords | Coastal Heritage, Intangible Heritage, Heritage Communities. |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
