Urban Redevelopment - Agrigento and Its Historic Center

FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE - ARCHITECTURE DEGREE COURSE - AGRIGENTO CAMPUS - ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014 - URBAN PLANNING WORKSHOP C.I. Instructor: Prof. Arch. Giuseppe Abbate Project: Salvatore Cataldo, Calogero Michele Soldano, and Flavio Vicari

The Urban Planning Workshop has chosen the historic center of Agrigento as its exercise area and aims to define a strategic plan for interventions to promote the active protection and revitalization of the historic center.

Building upon the materials provided by the course instructors, field surveys were conducted to update and verify the data, using indicators such as street entrances, civic numbers, the quantity and positioning of staircases, and assessing the coherence between the external appearance of buildings and the configuration of courtyards. The following tables were prepared:

Table 1 - Building Knowledge. A program for active preservation and the redevelopment of the historic center must begin with an increase in understanding of urban history and pre-existing conditions. Thus, an introductory table was created containing a sequence of historical maps from pre- and post-unity eras related to the entire historic center, specifically the Terravecchia Don Minzoni neighborhood.

Table 2 - Typological Analysis of Building Heritage and Unbuilt Public and Private Spaces within the area. Identification of specialized buildings and building units. The investigation aimed to identify the typological classification of buildings, the naming and approximate dating, in procedural terms, of the monumental building heritage, both specialized and residential; the demarcation of building units; and the coincidence or difference between building type and building unit.

Table 3 - Quantity and State of Conservation of building heritage, areas free of buildings (courtyards, private gardens, cloisters), road network (streets, alleys, courtyards), and open spaces (squares, terraces, public gardens). Consistency was understood as the number of above-ground elevations. Conservation status was examined from a static, functional, and hygienic point of view and evaluated through on-site verification. Checks were made for historic and recent elevations. Private or public recovery interventions were disclosed through appropriate tables, either ongoing or completed.

Table 4 - Analysis of services, facilities, and intended uses. Investigation into public ownership and the use of public buildings. Uses of ground and upper floors. Accessibility, mobility, and parking. The analysis aimed to verify the activities and functions in the area, examining the quality and quantity of public services and facilities, their appropriate or inappropriate allocation, the scope of use, the extent of public ownership, and its utilization. A plan was drafted containing the indication of facilities and services, general and supra-municipal interest facilities, the indication of axes or squares, and the indication of buildings and areas of public ownership (state, regional, municipal) and ecclesiastical property.

Table 5 - Assignment of intervention categories to building heritage, areas free of buildings, road network, and open spaces. In relation to the results of the analyses carried out so far, the most appropriate intervention categories for the recovery and redevelopment of building heritage and unbuilt spaces were assigned, along with intended uses suggested by the study of services and facilities, with particular reference to publicly owned building heritage and concentrated real estate.

Table 6 - Urban Planning Project. The urban planning project for the recovery and reuse of private and public building heritage, the redevelopment of unbuilt spaces, and the improvement of accessibility and circulation derives from the results of the previous analyses. Specifically, the urban planning project aims to integrate a series of artisanal activities (shops, restaurants, wine bars, etc.) into disused and/or abandoned buildings to bring life back to the historic center. Another intervention involves creating a stepped square to replace the collapsed Lo Jacono palace, installing corten portals to reconstruct the old profile of the building.