Urban Regeneration and Architectural Quality in Inner Areas of the Italian Apennines. Indicators and Models for Projects and Planning

The issue of inner areas cyclically resurfaces in the attention of Italian politics in different way. Currently, both SNAI (National Strategy Inner Areas) and PNRR (National Plan for Recovery and Resilience) are dealing with this issue. The intent of the research, that is now in development, is to describe a procedure for diagnosing and classifying the conditions of the centers/towns/urban tissues of inner mountainous areas, identifying the different categories of intervention and efficiency indicators of possible interventions for the recovery of functional roles, paving the way for quality architectural projects. It is evident that the Italian settlement, with its very dispersed configuration, is extremely burdensome for the provision of public services with important consequences on the finances of municipalities and, especially for the “smaller” ones, the contradictory building/urban development outlined above has generated over time conditions of high de-qualification of the fabrics and their functional organicity, generating also neglected building landscapes, far from any kind of attractiveness or architectural and urban quality. In addition to that, the pandemic of Covid-19, with the systematic and generalized affirmation of  “smart working,” has given a strong impetus to the leitmotiv of returning to small towns with a vast supply to which, out of the emergency, is corresponding a demand contained in numbers. This generates a form of “competition” among municipalities in which the quality component will be considered discriminating in the choice among these. Thus, for small municipalities in inner areas, architectural and urban interventions will have to be highly qualifying, suitable for generating a recovery of role, significant improvements in the quality of life and environmental value, as well as a high impact on the reaffirmation of identity of resident communities.