Constructing and Cultivating The Urban Nature

Abstract

In order to investigate the processes of urban degradation caused by heavy anthropisation and land consumption, it is necessary to adopt an analytical-conceptual design approach that starts from the specific problems of local habitats and that, in seeking new forms of adaptive environmental regeneration, is able to embrace the nature-centred instance of design models based on the concepts of restorative and biophilic design, as emerging epistemological sectors of contemporary architectural research. The use of biophilic technological systems can favour the creation of resilient urban metabolisms oriented towards a new sensorial perception of nature that supports and heals our living environments. ‘The Urban Nature’ research (Coordinators of the research: Rosa Maria Vitrano, ‘DARCH’ Department, University of Palermo-Italy; Ignacio Valverde Palacios, Departamento de Constructiones “UGR” University of Granada—Spain; Vincenzo Ilardi, ‘STEBICEF’ Department University of Palermo—Italy; Federica Cacioppo, Dipartimento di Scienze per la Promozione della Salute e Materno infantile ‘G. D’ALESSANDRO’, University of Palermo (acronym: TU_Nature) deepens the processes of biomimicry and nature-centred methodologies in the use of appropriate restorative/compensative technologies for the regeneration of urban environments. The contribution reports the partial results of the research carried out for the regeneration of the ‘Acqua dei Corsari’ coastal road in Palermo, in the section of the Libero Grassi Park. This is an area with interesting landscape potential but which is highly degraded due to heavy anthropisation and land consumption. The study starts with the environmental analysis of the area and the settlement context. The impact of anthropisation processes and the consequent types of building and urban degradation are analysed. The study of local plant essences was carried out for the greening of the area and the redevelopment of the building curtains. An ‘alternative green policy’ will be tested in individual urban contexts: the objective is to ‘repair’ the damage caused by anthropic activity, experimenting with ecological technological models and systems, based on the adoption of a biophilic (‘…Biophilia is not a single instinct but a complex of learning rules that can be teased apart and analyzed individually. The feelings molded by the learning rules fall along several emotional spectra: from attraction to aversion, from awe to indifference, from peacefulness to fear-driven anxiety’. (Wilson, Biophilia and the conservation ethic. In: The biophilia hypothesis, 1993)) regenerative approach, capable of improving the experience of the inhabitants, comfort, health and well-being by bringing the natural ecosystem and urban environments into harmony.