Urban morphology as a basis for urban design: the project for the Isola dei Cantieri in Chioggia

Abstract

Settlements can be considered as complex syntheses of their territory in which economic resources are translated into their structural equivalents. The organization of land usually follows the same criteria that guided the settlement process in which there is a typological correspondence between urban and rural fabric. It enables the formation of a homogeneous land structure on which all later anthropic transformations will be based. For this reason a typo-morphological interpretation of settlements in history can represent an important point of reference for urban design. Unlike the ideological component that characterized the typological debate in Italy during the last century, a return to empirical data can represent a sound basis for a new urban design strategy. It needs to interpret the complexities of the new urban phenomena, yet be fully aware of their historical role and their unique identity. This paper can be considered a first attempt in that direction. It concerns a project for the urban and building renewal of the Isola dei Cantieri in Chioggia. It takes as a starting point the typo-morphological interpretation of the historic centre of Chioggia as part of the wider lagoon human landscape. Using the tools of urban morphology, we set out to design a new urban district that was nevertheless deeply rooted in the building history of this part of the Venetian Lagoon.