The issue of identity as an instrument of natural risks reduction in small historical centers

Abstract

Barcelona has not been oblivious to the phenomena of urban segregation, even the implementation of its first reforms at the end of the 19th century led to the displacement The paper presented shows the first results of wider research carried out by the Department of Architecture of Rome Tre, together with the Department of Engineering, Natural Science, Economics and Humanitarian studies, which aims at defining a protocol of natural risk mitigation in historical centers of Italian Inner Areas. In the following lines the attention will be focused on the theme of identity as an instrument of risk mitigation and community engagement, especially in those fragile territories of the Italian Inner Areas.

Italy is, in fact, an extremely heterogeneous and rich country, whose wealth is based not only on the historical and artistic heritage of the big cities, but also on a network of small villages and an incredible variety of territories, most of which are found in Italian Inner Areas, which represent the image of Italian landscape that we all know and love.

These territories, besides being economically disadvantaged, are also located in areas affected by very high natural risk levels, both because of their natural geomorphological conformation and their localization in the Italian peninsula, and because they are affected by depopulation and abandonment phenomena, that inevitably lead to a lack of territorial maintenance.

The National Strategy of Italian Inner Areas aims at reactivating these territories, which have an incredible territorial, historical, and - potentially - economic value, but only marginally deals with the issue of secure their territories, which should instead be considered of primary importance. It is impossible to reactivate an unsafe place, it would therefore be important that smart policies of natural risks mitigation were included in the programme of the National Strategy of Italian Inner Areas, focusing the attention on small historical centres, great heritage in danger.

The research carried out by the Roma Tre University aims at defining a useful and smart process of risk prevention, identifying the steps necessary for correct risk mitigation actions. Starting from this objective, this paper intends to illustrate the role and importance of the recognition of the elements representing identity, within the risk mitigation process, especially in historical centers.

It is common to deal with the issue of identity in post-catastrophe reconstruction phase, when the question is how to reconstruct both the physical heritage and the sense of attachment of the community, destroyed by the disaster. This research tries to move the issue of identity from reconstruction phase to prevention phase, so that alongside preserving strategic elements from a functional point of view, the protection of identity elements is also considered.

Prior identification of identity elements representative of a place and a community, such as a square or a characteristic historic building, could also promote the starting of community participatory project, focalized on the identification of those elements. This would, on one hand, be instrumental to the identification of buildings and useful spaces to save the identity image of the town in the event of a disaster, and, on the other, make the citizens aware of the hazard affecting the place they live. In fact, awareness and knowledge are the first prevention actions.

The methodology is based on an accurate study of risk mitigation actions and instrument currently used, focusing the attention on the role of the Minimum Urban Structure in historical centers, as a tool for seismic risk prevention and emergency management. The issue of identity can be introduced into the concept of Minimum Urban Structure, thus dividing the minimal urban structure into a functional part and into an identity part. However, the research uses the concept of minimum urban structure applied to a multi-risk approach, not only associated with seismic risk, and also focuses its attention on the identification of the minimum identity urban structure, omitting the identification of the functional one (already subject of other studies and research).

The study has been validated on Montenero Sabino, a small village in Sabini Mounts, close to Rieti.