Urban re-densification and regeneration: 21st century city strategies

Abstract

The last century's urban-development objective is no longer pertinent. Yet our cities must continue to grow, but, above all, the quality of life of its inhabitants must be improved by reducing the ecological footprint, which in many cases is unsustainable. In the ongoing search for guidelines and strategic intervention, the need for the re-densification and the restoration/completion of a degraded urban fabric has emerged at various levels. The restoration of existing heritage and the building densification are fundamental actions for urban enhancement and requalification whose raison d'être is the reduction in land consumption. An INA Casa residential district built in 1958 in Trento comprising a series of buildings, with a variety of floor areas, has been analysed from this standpoint. It has emerged that, notwithstanding design proposals that would have made the district fully functional, some indispensible infrastructures were never built. The analysis of the district has produced a qualitative cognitive map that addresses areas of intervention (from the technological and structural to environmental design).