ASP projects

Rethinking Industrial Cities: Ivrea as Unesco Site

During the 20th century industrial cities underwent experimentation with new models of production systems, often linking industrial projects with the modernity of architectural and housing development models and new conceptions of planning. After the decline and dismantling of industrial sectors, the communities affected had to find new ways to relaunch and maintain the physical structures of the industrial city, which were often of excellent architectural quality. Today these cities find themselves rethinking their territory in order to host new activities and processes of innovation and development. Triggering this change means organizing a long-term project that requires the exploitation of the local heritage, recognition of the potential of local players and resources, the involvement of communities and the communities’ capacity to create a new future scenario in which to recognize themselves. Various strategies have been used: the policies of major events, the recognition of “cities of culture”, the organization of important modern buildings by well famous architects. Among these, there is also that of Unesco recognition, which places two different actions together: that associated with the utilization of the cultural experience that characterizes locations and that associated with the capacity to “maintain” the asset that is the object of recognition over time and to place it within the contemporary, through a so-called management plan (which is obligatory for presentation of the candidacy dossier). The management plan therefore could become a full-blown strategic plan, a plan that makes the cultural heritage an important element in policies of innovation and development. The project proposed to consider the experiences under way in North America and Europe (in western countries and in ex Soviet countries) in a comparative key and to organize experimentation in the field starting with the case study of Ivrea, the city of (Adriano) Olivetti and Olivetti itself, which is about to inaugurate its process of candidacy as a Unesco site.

Principal Academic Tutors
Patrizia Bonifazio
Architecture and Planning, Politecnico di Milano
Alessandro De Magistris
Architecture and Planning, Politecnico di Milano

Academic Tutors
Carlo Alberto Barbieri
Inter-university Territorial Studies and Planning, Politecnico di Torino
Filippo De Pieri
Architectural and Industrial Design, Politecnico di Torino
Paolo Galuzzi
Architecture and Planning, Politecnico di Milano
Federico Oliva
Architecture and Planning, Politecnico di Milano
Gabriele Pasqui
Architecture and Planning, Politecnico di Milano
Rossella Salerno
Architecture and Planning, Politecnico di Milano
Giorgio Vitillo
Architecture and Planning, Politecnico di Milano

External institution
Comune di Ivrea
Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
MuseoTorino
Studioata

External Tutors
Giovanna Codato
Comune di Ivrea
Melina De Caro
Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
Francesca Filippi
MuseoTorino
Gracialiano Berrocal
Studioata

Team members
TEAM A
Alessia Mapelli [Team controller], Architecture
Annalisa Andaloro, Building Engineering
Lara Di Chio, Engineering for Cinema and Methods of Communications
Francesca Giliberto, Architecture for restoration and preservation of architectural and environmental heritage
Andrea Migliarese, Architecture
Matteo Novati [Project Communication Coordinator], Building Engineering and Architecture

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