Doctoral School in Environmental Engineering Fragments of spaces along the roads. Recycling deleted areas Chiara Azzali 2012 Doctoral thesis in Environmental Engineering, XXIII cycle Faculty of Engineering, University of Trento Academic year 2011/2012 Supervisors: prof. Claudio Lamanna, University of Trento prof. Renato Bocchi, University IUAV of Venezia University of Trento Trento, Italy 2012 5 6 Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Claudio Lamanna, who has supported me throughout the research. I am thankful to my assistant supervisor, Prof. Renato Bocchi and to external supervisor Prof. Franco Zagari for their critical contributions. I would also like to mention Prof. Giorgio Cacciaguerra, Prof.ssa Claudia Battaino, Prof. Pino Scaglione and Prof. Raffaele Mauro and my colleagues Luigi Siviero and Emanuela Schir. I’m fi nally particularly grateful to Prof. Pierre Donadieu, his assistant Dott.ssa Chiara Santini and Prof. Gilles Vexlard for the time they granted to me during the interviews and for the useful discussions. 7 Abstract: “[…]Landscape” means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors; […]Acknowledging that the landscape is an important part of the quality of life for people everywhere: in urban areas and in the countryside, in degraded areas as well as in areas of high quality, in areas recognised as being of outstanding beauty as well as everyday areas[…]”. 1 The starting point of this research is the innovative defi nition of landscape, given by the “European Landscape Convention”, that draws the attention to the need of: - examining the territory as a spatial and temporal continuity; - considering the territory transformations as a value; - giving equal dignity to ruined territory, refusing the idea that only beautiful landscape deserve to be protected. Among the several and diverse European studies on infrastructure and landscape relation, the research focuses on marginal areas created by the infrastructure for mobility (road and highway) in the landscape. These areas are lacking a clearly defi ned function, they are not anymore part of the landscape, but they have not become part of the infrastructure. These areas are defi ned as infrastructural refuses. The attention is shifted from the design of the road and from the aesthetic of mobility to the new spaces created by the infrastructure in the landscape. Moreover, the research tries to analyze the infrastructural refuses only ex-post, when these spaces have already been created by the construction and use of a road, or theoretically created in-fi eri by an infrastructure project that has overlooked these areas, forgetting to design them, or simply not taking into account their existence. The fi rst part of the research is devoted to defi ne the identity of the infrastructural refuse through the critical analysis of the main theories of the protagonists of the international debate supported by the identifi cation of literature related to the topic. The infrastructural refuse is then described through analytical tools (morphology and perception) that show the effects of infrastructural transformation focussing mainly on 1“European Landscape Convention”, Preamble and Art.1, Firenze, October 20th 2009 8 mobility infrastructure transformation in Trentino Alto-Adige. The case study analyzed is the trunk road 12 on the stretch called Tangenziale di Trento, and more specifi cally the transformation caused by the junctions close to urban areas. The Tangenziale is a great artery of traffi c that often cuts through the surrounding areas leading to real marginal areas. The research then proceeds to the defi nition of refuse as a value and tries to highlight its potential for transformation mainly by analyzing the strategy of recycling. Different types of re-use of infrastructural refuses are described: the artistic-temporary use, the daily spontaneous use by the population, and fi nally the illegal use. The research analyzes the mobility infrastructural refuses: outlining possible transformations, design, re-inventions; illustrating the unexpressed features of the places; re-drawing with different connotation signs that have lost their original meaning; eventually reaching the “operatività dello scarto”2. Negative actions like abandon, refuse, waste can become occasions to re-shape and re-think the landscape. The results of the research show the possibility to re-think the infrastructural refuse spaces as a reserves of soil, suggest alternatives to the mentality of the compensation and mitigation, calling for the evolution of the protocols of mobility infrastructure design. 2 Sara Marini, “Spazi bianchi. Progettare lo scarto”, in “L’architettura e le sue declinazioni” by F. Labelli and S. Marini, IperTestoEdizioni, Verona, 2008. 9 CONTENTS Introduction p. 13 1. Ex-post infrastructural refuse: an interpretation p. 19 1.1 Territorial architecture of infrastructures 1.2 Landscape fragments 1.3 Road strip and valley fl oor: S.S. 12 - Trento Interview: Pierre Donadieu- É.N.S.P.Versailles - Marseille 2. Invisible fragments: perception and infrastructural refuse p. 43 2.1 View from the road versus revelations of the road 2.2 Sideways viewpoints on invisible 2.3 Invisible landscape of Trentino 2.4 Changing Trentino landscapes 3. Ordinary practices: use and potentiality p. 79 3.1 Ordinary codes 3.2 Artistic use 3.2.1 Installations and performances 3.3 Illegitimate Use - self building 3.3.1 Misappropriation 3.4 Domestic and extemporary use 3.4.1 Spontaneous actions 3.4.2 Temporary actions 3.5 Learning from ... Trento - Use in S.S. 12 10 4. Postproduction: attitudes and tactics p. 137 4.1 Recycle and infrastructures 4.2 Stratifi ed surfaces - minimum thickness 4.2.1 Case studies 4.3 Enclosed surfaces - given perimeters 4.3.1 Case studies 4.4 In-between surfaces - horizontal plans 4.4.1 Case studies 4.4.2 Appendix 4.5 Overlapped surfaces - horizontal thickness 4.5.1 Case studies Interview: Gilles Vexlard - É.N.S.P.Versailles - Marseille 5. Conclusions. Refuses and fragments, land reserves along the roads p. 191 5.1 From ex-post to ex-ante 5.2 Trentino archipelago? Bibliography p. 201 Iconography p. 209 11 Introduction 12 Reasons of the research The research analyses the role of the architectural project and of the landscape architecture in the process of urban and extra-urban transformation and growth connected with the infrastructure for the road mobility. This need comes from the necessity to determine alternative strategies of occupation of areas usually utilized as unique technical support to the road network. These places, often refused and abandoned, offer possibilities of transformation through the research of innovative planning models which can avoid further land consumption. Object and ambit The object of the research are the marginal areas created by the infrastructure for mobility, which are marked by fragmentation, marginality, state of neglect, vagueness, non-utilization or misuse, “terrain vagues” that the research explains as a true operating category labeled as “ infrastructural refuse. The word refuse shows its intrinsic potentiality, its possibility of being re-cycled and re-used within processes of increase and transformation of the city and the contemporary landscape. The research draws attention especially to the infrastructural refuse ex-post originated by a road which has already been built and consolidated by the traffi c use. This infrastructural refuse can also be created as an inherent product – in-fi eri- in the building stage, by executive projects that haven’t envisaged its existence and creation. From this point of view the research on the ex-post infrastructural refuse represents a weak reading key within the wide infrastructural theme and it shifts the emphasis from the architecture of the road and from the aesthetic of mobility ( K. Lynch) to the defi nition of new spaces created by the infrastructures and most of all to the potentiality of the ex-post project, just to avoid the use of corrective of mitigation-camoufl age devices often ratifi ed by the laws in force. The following aspects are considered important: - associating the word refuse to the technical residual areas of the road infrastructures seen as a productive process; - defi ning these area as reservations of land-space for urban and extra-urban change, adding the recycling action. - Bounding the analysis to already built roads or to roads in course of execution- ( temporal defi nition of the road product) - examining as a case-study the trunk road 12, in the stretch labeled “tangenziale di Trento”, chiefl y the points-nodes of the layout of the road which are connected with the background by the use and which cover lands at the bottom at the valley and close to the peripheral areas considered of low or medium mountain ( junctions, interchange nodes, viaducts and access ramps, which have been modifi ed since 1998 by the Provincia Autonoma of Trento). The research fi nds its collocation within the wide study about the role of the mobility infrastructures in the present processes of transformation and growth of the city and the landscape at a European 13 and international level (B.Lassus – S.Allen) . Moreover the research takes into consideration the suggestions introduced by the European Convention of the Landscape about the need of considering the landscape as a spatial and temporal continuity and of giving equal dignity to “ exceptional “ and “ degraded territories “, reversing the deep-rooted mentality