IWRECKS PILOT SCENARIOS: REDUCING WASTE AND AVOIDING THE THREATENING OBSOLESCENCE IN ARCHITECTURE

Abstract

Obsolescence is something deeply linked to the production of waste, from the scale of small technological devices to the scale of urban stuff. The obsolescence of urban built environment, made by large buildings, vast areas, and even whole districts, is of course a more complex phenomenon to manage, if compared to the programmatic obsolescence of technological products. For this reason, intervening on the acknowledgment of the abandoned or decommissioned building, both in terms of highlighting a sort of heritage component and their reusing potentials, can mean a reduction in the number of buildings to be demolished and therefore in the production of rubble and waste. These topics have been dealt with in two research projects carried out at the University of Padova. The former (2017-2018), DATA_Developing Abandoned Transurban Areas (1) aimed to propose sustainable future scenarios and develop ground-breaking strategies for the development and economic boost of scattered urban areas, focused on a territorial and urban scale to investigate effective regeneration practicability related to the location of the artefacts and the settlement situations around them. The latter (2018-2019), iWRECKS_Industrial Wrecks: Reusing Enhancing aCKnowledging Sheds (2) essentially focused on the architectural scale aimed to provide innovative transformation visions to professionals, entrepreneurs, investors and citizens coping with the reuse of abandoned industrial buildings. Upgrading abandoned industrial sites and buildings has proved again to be a central issue in political and urban-focused debates in Italian north-eastern areas, particularly so in Veneto.