Green Infrastructures

2019 Tramway Line 3.1 Landscape Design Piazza Beslan and Viale Strozzi

Final and executive landscape design project of Piazza Beslan and Viale Strozzi. In this section, the track of the tram with the tramway stop Beslan, integrated into the public space, gives a new functionality to the square and the extension along the avenue.

WHERE

Municipality of  Florence – Province of Florence- Tuscany Region – Italy

WHEN

2015-2019

WHO

Clients / Società Tram di Firenze S.p.A., Trafiter S.C. a R.L., Carpi (MO)

Project Manager/ Ing. Michele Priore (Manager Office Tramway, High-Speed Trains and Motorways Municipality of Florence) and service staff

Contractors/ Trafiter S.C. a R.L., Carpi (MO)

Designers/ Prof. Arch. Lorenzo Vallerini, in collaboration with Arch. Lorenzo Nofroni and Arch. Elisa Lucattini

WHAT

While the avenues remain the historical interface between the different urban contexts, Piazza Beslan is the new “pedestrian” link, the bridgehead to the urban center along the road that from Via Dionisi, then Via Guelfa, etc.  crosses the historic Centre almost in a single straight line until Piazza Beccaria, beyond the old town.

This stretch of the avenues, with Viale Strozzi that branches into the central axis of Viale Lavagnini with strong tree alignments, represents, from a landscape point of view, a “strong” image of the interventions that Giuseppe Poggi had in mind in  XIX century for “Capital Florence” (1865), much stronger than other sections of the “city ring” avenues.

The track of the tram with the stop contextualized in public space gives a new functionality to the square and the extension along the avenue.

The landscape design has connected the shares of the Square to the edges integrating the platforms of the tramway stop to the square, thus allowing a unitary space,  keeping the current visual cones free and reducing the interference of technological structures (poles, cabinets stop systems); the materials used for flooring and furnishings are homogeneous and the lighting system is appropriate both to the context and from a lighting point of view.  Among the stop furniture were used colored concrete “ball” bollards, the info panel “slim”  and the new generation ticket issuer.

In the section of Viale Strozzi the tramway line changes the forms of the avenue, especially in the initial part adjacent to Piazza Beslan with consequent elimination of the row on the side of the underpass (first row of old plane trees) and the replanting of new trees in addition to existing ones (second row) so as to form again the double alignment of the rows of historical origin made by Giuseppe Poggi.

PUBBLICATIONS/LINK

2023 | Vallerini L., 2023 (in collaboration with Borghetti P.). The Tramway in Florence (italian text), in  Conti M., Latrofa R., Daole F, Ottaviani G., Cappelletti N.B. (editor) “Pisa 2050 Greenblue connection for the city future” (italian text)  , Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 70-77 (ISBN 978-88-946581-9-4).

2022  | Vallerini L., 2022. The design of open spaces and landscapes (italian text), in Borghetti P., Vallerini L. “Green Infrastructures Florence Tramway New Landscape” (italian text)  Journal “Topscape”, n°47/2022, Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 160-163 (ISSN 1125-0259).

2022  | Vallerini L., 2022. Transport infrastructure in urban areas (italian text), in Borghetti P., Vallerini L. “Green Infrastructures Florence Tramway New Landscape” (italian text)  Journal “Topscape”, n°47/2022, Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 156 (ISSN 1125-0259).

VALLERINI_BOOK TRAMVIA 2021_rev08_06_RID

Green Infrastructures

2017 Tramway Line 3.1 Landscape Design Largo Oriana Fallaci, underpass avenues Milton and Strozzi

Final and executive landscape design project of Largo Oriana Fallaci, underpass avenues Milton and Strozzi

WHERE

Municipality of  Florence – Province of Florence- Tuscany Region – Italy

WHEN

2011-2017

WHO

Clients / TRAFITER S.C. a R.L. – Società Consortile a r.l. Carpi (MO)

Project Manager/ Ing. Michele Priore (Manager Office Tramway, High-Speed Trains and Motorways Municipality of Florence) and service staff

Contractors/ Trafiter S.C. a R.L., Carpi (MO)

Designers/ Prof. Arch. Lorenzo Vallerini, in collaboration with Arch. Lorenzo Nofroni and Arch. Elisa Lucattini

WHAT

The landscape design concerned, on the one hand, the almost complete maintenance of the existing tree system with further integrations in some parts of the system, on the other hand, the design of the large area made free by the construction of underpasses with shrubbery hedges, lawn spaces and paved spaces equipped with seats, combined in a whole design of open spaces that includes the Strozzi-Fallaci stop and the tram itself, to provide the context of a new large space for public use of about 4,000 square meters in continuity with the rows of avenues and the gardens of the ancient Fortress.

The strips of hedges are crossed perpendicularly and radially by three paths that lead to the pedestrian crossings of the Tramway and connect to the pedestrian counter-avenue of the ancient Fortress.

Along these paths, the stone slab pavement widens and breaks towards the lawn to form paved parking spaces that contain some concrete seats. The pedestrian cycle paths are integrated into the system of open spaces, parking and tram lines.

In the parking lot along the Mugnone creek we have new trees, stone  pavements, flowerbeds with shrubs and new parking spaces.

The new green arrangement, with 36 new trees and more than 150 ml of hedges, has allowed to renew both the phytosanitary aspects and those of stability of the currently present trees, as well as to integrate the existing tree system  with new plants healthier and more long-lived as the Platanus platanor “Vallis Clausa”, the first “canker stain of plane” tree resistant to a disease caused by the fungus Ceratocystis fimbriata f.sp. platani, the main cause of death of this tree.

PUBBLICATIONS/LINK

2023 | Vallerini L., 2023 (in collaboration with Borghetti P.). The Tramway in Florence (italian text), in  Conti M., Latrofa R., Daole F, Ottaviani G., Cappelletti N.B. (editor) “Pisa 2050 Greenblue connection for the city future” (italian text)  , Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 70-77 (ISBN 978-88-946581-9-4).

2022  | Vallerini L., 2022. The design of open spaces and landscapes (italian text), in Borghetti P., Vallerini L. “Green Infrastructures Florence Tramway New Landscape” (italian text)  Journal “Topscape”, n°47/2022, Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 160-163 (ISSN 1125-0259).

2022  | Vallerini L., 2022. Transport infrastructure in urban areas (italian text), in Borghetti P., Vallerini L. “Green Infrastructures Florence Tramway New Landscape” (italian text)  Journal “Topscape”, n°47/2022, Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 156 (ISSN 1125-0259).

VALLERINI_BOOK TRAMVIA 2021_rev08_06_RID

Green Infrastructures

2016 Tramway Line 2 Historical Centre Variant to Project Viale Lavagnini, Piazza Libertà, Piazza San Marco

Landscape final project for the Historical Centre Variant to Project Viale Lavagnini, Piazza Libertà, Piazza San Marco

WHERE

Municipality of  Florence – Province of Florence- Tuscany Region – Italy

WHEN

2015-2016

WHO

Clients / GLF Grandi Lavori Fincosit S.p.A. –Rome

Project Manager/ Ing. Michele Priore (Manager Office Tramway, High-Speed Trains and Motorways Municipality of Florence) and service staff

Designers/ Prof. Arch. Lorenzo Vallerini, in collaboration with Arch.tti  Lorenzo Nofroni, Elisa Lucattini and  Stefania Nannelli

WHAT

The project for the landscaping and urban furnishings concerns the realization of the Lavagnini – Libertà – San Marco section of the “Variant to Project of the Tram Track to the historic centre” that originally provided for the passage to the Cathedral-Piazza del Duomo as approved by Vote 457/211 of 15/03/2011 of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

Based on the Green Plan of the City of Florence, the project provides for:

1. Maintaining the original design of Piazza Libertà and Piazza San Marco, thanks also to the non-invasive location of the stops ;
2. Unifying pedestrian and cycle paths, open spaces and green areas;
3. The maintenance of the original tree-planting on the both sides of the avenue with the replanting and the reordering of the rows, either in substitution of those that must be removed or of those that must be replaced;
4. A system of pedestrian, cycle paths and crossings for a better accessibility than the current state characterized by fragmentation and discontinuity;
5. The reorganization of parking spaces on the both sides of the avenue, also with tree protective systems against the cars.

The landscaping interventions in Viale Lavagnini concerned the protection of existing trees or their replacement in cases of existing faults and hedges separating from the road, in Piazza Libertà the insertion of the tram stop without altering the system and the shape of the green, in Viale Matteotti a replacement of the existing trees causes the necessary shifts of the lanes of the avenues. In Piazza San Marco there are no stops in the square, but in the final stretch of Via Cavour and in the initial stretch of Via La Pira, and the square remains only as crossing the tramway line. The two stops are integrated into existing platforms, differentiating for the pavement in sandstone slabs; the stop kits have been reduced to a minimum so as not to impact on the historic buildings in front of which the Tramway stops and only the information panels of stop and the ticket issuer are left. The cameras are mounted on a wall, the line is supported by a cable that goes from building to building and the stop cabinets have been moved in a near street to avoid a visual impact in contrast with the historic buildings.

PUBBLICATIONS/LINK

VALLERINI_BOOK TRAMVIA 2021_rev08_06_RID

Green Infrastructures

2015 Tramway Line 2 Historical Centre Variant to Project (Construction Lot 1) Piazza Unità Italiana

Landscape draft and final project for the Historical Centre Variant to Project (Construction Lot 1) Piazza Unità Italiana

WHERE

Municipality of  Florence – Province of Florence- Tuscany Region – Italy

WHEN

2015

WHO

Clients / GLF Grandi Lavori Fincosit S.p.A. –Rome

Project Manager/ Ing. Michele Priore (Manager Office Tramway, High-Speed Trains and Motorways Municipality of Florence) and service staff

Designers/ Prof. Arch. Lorenzo Vallerini, in collaboration with Arch.tti  Lorenzo Nofroni, Elisa Lucattini and  Stefania Nannelli

WHAT

The design of the square, which is however external to the interventions related to the construction of the tramway as foreseen in the Draft Project  “Variant to Project for the Tram Track on Via Valfonda”,  has tried to take the opportunity of the construction of the tramway to redevelop the entire area of the terminus as a gateway to the Historic Centre starting from the historical configuration that the Square had in the context of Santa Maria Novella.

The design idea is based on a simple criterion: to maintain as much as possible a continuity of use of different spaces and functions through constant proportions that allow easy flows of movement without interruptions.

The side of Piazza Unità Italiana encompasses the central area attached to the monument and the long peninsula today in continuity with the sidewalk of Via Panzani in a single large pedestrian area characterized by the recovered and restored stone, while the carriageway area connects again with the central line coming from Via Panzani and directed towards the main railway station through a coloured asphalt pavement.

The central pedestrian area and the side sections of the carriageway are raised by 20 cm. compared to the surrounding situation and include at the same height the platform for the Bus Stop, while the edges are with stone sidewalks that turn to connect with buildings. The side of Via degli Anelli adjacent of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella widens to encompass the Tramway Stop and the road. The on-board parking areas are maintained, while pedestrian traffic is ensured by pedestrian crossings that maintain the current main flow.

For the furnishings, the weaving of the pavement and the monument with four seats laid on two of the four sides of the pedestrian area in the center of the square are maintained, while the lighting system complements the existing one with four artistic chandeliers of the type in use in Florence and four spotlights for the illumination of the monument.

VALLERINI_BOOK TRAMVIA 2021_rev08_06_RID

Green Infrastructures

2019 Tramway Line 2 Historical Centre Variant to Project (Construction Lot 1) Piazza Unità Italiana, Piazza Stazione, Via Valfonda

Landscape executive project for the Historical Centre Variant to Project (Construction Lot 1) Piazza Unità Italiana, Piazza Stazione, Via Valfonda

WHERE

Municipality of  Florence – Province of Florence- Tuscany Region – Italy

WHEN

2015-2019

WHO

Clients/ GLF Grandi Lavori Fincosit S.p.A. –Rome (2015-2017), TRAFITER S.C. a R.L. – Società Consortile a r.l. Carpi (MO) (2017-2019)

Project Manager/ Ing. Michele Priore (Manager Office Tramway, High-Speed Trains and Motorways Municipality of Florence) and service staff

Contractors/ Trafiter S.C. a R.L., Carpi (MO)

Designers/ Prof. Arch. Lorenzo Vallerini, in collaboration with Arch. Lorenzo Nofroni e Arch. Elisa Lucattini

WHAT

The project concerns landscape design, urban design and green works for four distinct areas: the terminus of the Unità tramway stop which integrates on one side with Santa Maria Novella square and on the other with Piazza Unità Italiana, the wide open space between the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella and the Main Railway Station and the Valfonda tramway stop in front of the Station and, finally, Piazza Adua and Via Valfonda up to the grafting on the Avenues including in this section also the arrangement of the Garden of Villa Vittoria (Congress Palace).

As a whole, the open spaces project has deepened the urban-landscape compatibility of the project and developed an overall design idea of the urban context, taking into account all historical, urban and landscape values.

The contents of the project are:

1. New street furniture and new stone pavements connecting areas and redefining the limits of intervention with that carried out at the Main Railway Station;
2. The redevelopment of the terminus area Line 2 Stop Unità, through paving in continuity with the context and a unitary design as a predominantly pedestrian use with continuity of the different spaces and functions through constant rates for easy and uninterrupted movement flows;
3. New asphalt paving of Piazza Stazione after the elimination of the central green flowerbed, colored asphalt in Largo Alinari and new stone pavement for the sidewalks;
4. The arrangement of the paving and furnishings of the new tramway stop in Valfonda – Station, including the homogenization of materials in the areas characterized by the new plantations of Pinus pinea;
5. The arrangement of Piazza Adua in colored asphalt and Via Valfonda with the displacement of the border wall of the Villa Vittoria Park, a general reconstruction of the wall and sidewalks completes the system, while for the Garden of Villa Vittoria it has been provided, following the displacement of the wall, the recovery of the internal parking areas, replanting to compensate for the trees felled and the reconstruction of the original hedge of evergreens leaning along the border wall.

PUBBLICATIONS/LINK

2023 | Vallerini L., 2023 (in collaboration with Borghetti P.). The Tramway in Florence (italian text), in  Conti M., Latrofa R., Daole F, Ottaviani G., Cappelletti N.B. (editor) “Pisa 2050 Greenblue connection for the city future” (italian text)  , Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 70-77 (ISBN 978-88-946581-9-4).

2022  | Vallerini L., 2022. The design of open spaces and landscapes (italian text), in Borghetti P., Vallerini L. “Green Infrastructures Florence Tramway New Landscape” (italian text)  Journal “Topscape”, n°47/2022, Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 160-163 (ISSN 1125-0259).

2022  | Vallerini L., 2022. Transport infrastructure in urban areas (italian text), in Borghetti P., Vallerini L. “Green Infrastructures Florence Tramway New Landscape” (italian text)  Journal “Topscape”, n°47/2022, Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 156 (ISSN 1125-0259).

VALLERINI_BOOK TRAMVIA 2021_rev08_06_RID

Green Infrastructures

2014 Tramway Line 3.1 Landscape Design Piazza Viesseux, Piazza Leopoldo, Via Statuto

Final and executive project for the landscaping arrangements Piazza Viesseux, Piazza Leopoldo, Via Statuto

WHERE

Municipality of  Florence – Province of Florence- Tuscany Region – Italy

WHEN

2011-2014

WHO

Clients / TRAFITER S.C. a R.L. – Società Consortile a r.l. Carpi (MO)

Project Manager/ Ing. Michele Priore (Manager Office Tramway, High-Speed Trains and Motorways Municipality of Florence) and service staff

Contractors/ Trafiter S.C. a R.L., Carpi (MO)

Designers/ Prof. Arch. Lorenzo Vallerini, in collaboration with Arch. Lorenzo Nofroni and Arch. Elisa Lucattini

WHAT

The landscape  project for Piazza Viesseux, Piazza Leopoldo and Via Statuto,  starts from a consideration of the spaces affected by the arrival of Line 3.1 with a vision of the whole and relationship with the urban context characterized by a built quality and for a preservation of urban context. New pavements, trees and street furniture are proposed with a low visual invasive approach and as much as possible adapted to an urban residential system historically characterized.

The interventions include:

1. the vegetation as a whole with the specification of existing trees to be maintained, those to be felled, those to be replanted;
2. the arrangement of the central corridor of the tramway with the planting sites of new trees and with a coloured gravel surface (mulching) that guarantees low management costs and visual quality;
3. the parking areas with diversified solutions of the flower beds (curbs and coloured gravel) and new resistant and visually qualitative trees.

In Via dello Statuto in the central flowerbed, the existing holm oaks, due to the large size and invasiveness of their foliage unsuitable for the close passage of return trains (about 3.00 ml distance), have been removed and replaced with a row of Carpinus betulus ‘Fastigiata’ mainly vertical with a sixth of dense plant ( 6.00 ml )  with adult plants of about 10 years old, of height 10-12 m., to have a “ready effect” view. These trees are anchored to the ground with a not invasive underground systems; moreover the leaves of the hornbeam are rather coriaceous and are easily removable with normal sweeping.

The squares Vieusseux and Leopoldo are reorganized by creating parking lots along the entire perimeter outside and inside interspersed with flowerbeds where new trees of Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’ and Acer campestre are placed, resistant and with good ornamental characteristics.

In Leopoldo square, in the stop area, the pavement of the natural stone sidewalk is restored with flower beds at the existing trees.

PUBBLICATIONS/LINK

2023 | Vallerini L., 2023 (in collaboration with Borghetti P.). The Tramway in Florence (italian text), in  Conti M., Latrofa R., Daole F, Ottaviani G., Cappelletti N.B. (editor) “Pisa 2050 Greenblue connection for the city future” (italian text)  , Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 70-77 (ISBN 978-88-946581-9-4).

2022  | Vallerini L., 2022. The design of open spaces and landscapes (italian text), in Borghetti P., Vallerini L. “Green Infrastructures Florence Tramway New Landscape” (italian text)  Journal “Topscape”, n°47/2022, Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 160-163 (ISSN 1125-0259).

2022  | Vallerini L., 2022. Transport infrastructure in urban areas (italian text), in Borghetti P., Vallerini L. “Green Infrastructures Florence Tramway New Landscape” (italian text)  Journal “Topscape”, n°47/2022, Paysage Ed., Milano: pp. 156 (ISSN 1125-0259).

VALLERINI_BOOK TRAMVIA 2021_rev08_06_RID

Landscape Planning

2016 Park Plan Planning Variations

The proposal concerned the drafting of a Planning Variations to the Park Plan of the Maremma Regional Park for a different classification of the land of the Vallebuia estate, a SEA-Strategic Environmental Assessment and an impact assessment for the Site of Community Importance (SIC) and Special Area of Conservation (ZSC) Monti dell’Uccellina SIR-SIC-ZPS, Natura 2000 network.

WHERE

Monti dell’Uccellina, Maremma Regional Park , Province of Grosseto, Tuscany Region, Italy

WHEN

2011-2012- Planning Variations, SEA and Incidence Assessment (VIncA)

2014 – Adoption of the Planning Variations with Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Regional Park of the Maremma n.66 of 04-12-2014

2016  – Approval of the Planning Variations with Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Regional Park of the Maremma n.30 of 22-11-2016

WHO

Designers/ Group leader  landscape architect, Lorenzo Vallerini; , collaborators, Elisa Lucattini and  Lorenzo Nofroni; nature consultant, Paolo Sposimo  NEMO S.r.l.

Client/ Private

WHAT

Size/ Vallebuia estate 37,9  ha.

The Planning Variations to the Park Plan is based on a Request for Planning Variations to the Park Plan for different classification of land by the ValleBuia estate for which ” … the area on which … the activity is carried out has always been classified as agricultural area and has always operated and obtained permits and permissions according to this status. All investments, cultivation, maintenance and expansion plans have always taken into account this agricultural classification, including the start-up of an activity of farmhouse….. asking ….. a classification of the area in which the agricultural holding is located from its current destination to Forest Areas (zone C1) to Agricultural Area zone D1…”.

The area affected by the Planning Variations falls in SIR-SIC-ZPS n. 116 Monti dell’Uccellina and in Zone C.1.2. Monti dell’Uccellina (Tav. 29.B3)  pursuant to art 12 – Forest areas of the NTA of the Park Plan classified as “Protected C Areas”.

Therefore the Planning Variations had as general objective, based on the Knowledge Framework of the Park Plan and with the support of further analysis and proposal maps, a different classification of agricultural land only (the wooded parts remained unchanged), with change of use from Protected Areas – Forest Areas – Zone C.1.2. Monti dell’Uccellina (art.12)  to Areas of Economic and Social Promotion – Zone D1 – Areas for the Protection of the Agricultural Landscape (art.19).

The objectives and proposals of the Planning Variations have identified as new arrangements:

• Maintain current hydrogeological and geomorphological balance;
• Maintain, consolidate and restore the structural and functional complexity of the different ecosystems, both at the level of each individual “ecological texture” and as an integrated system, with particular attention to environmental points, spontaneous vegetation and biotic corridors;
• Ensure the formal and substantial permanence of the agrarian systems historically determined constituting the basic and peculiar structure of the landscape of Vallebuia, together with the settlement system and roads;
• Maintain the existing self-sufficiency of water resources for agricultural uses;
• Improve, where necessary, the existing accessibility by maintaining the current road layout and the “dirt road surface ” of the carriageways;
• Ensure the protection and recovery of existing buildings, allowing the recovery for agritourism purposes of existing buildings;
• Encourage and pursue forms of renewable energy production;
• Support the development of the agricultural activity of the Company, especially in relation to the expansion of olive cultivation, and the construction of new agricultural annexes necessary for the management of the fund and the exercise of agricultural activities.

The work was carried out in three distinct phases:

• a first phase of knowledge based on existing data updated and verified for the whole area subjected to the SEA and Incidence Assessment (VIncA), with the collection of the existing cartographic and thematic documentation, studies and analyses available, the existing spatial planning arrangements, as well as project and intervention proposals;
• a second phase, in which the existing analyses (thematic mapping, documents, etc.) were integrated by means of field analyses aimed at defining homogeneous landscape areas;
• a third phase, which defined the specific areas and elements to be subject to protection measures as well as specific mitigation proposals.

PUBBLICATIONS/LINK

https://parco-maremma.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Dichiarazione-di-Sintesi.pdf

Lndscape Planning

2010 Toscana Resort Castelfalfi

Integrated Assessment (D.P.G.R. 9 February 2007 n.4/r) of the Town Planning Variations for the Project “Toscana Resort Castelfalfi”, Environmental-Landscape Assessment

WHERE

Municipality of Montaione, Province of Florence, Tuscany Region, Italy

WHEN

2008-2010

WHO

Designers/ Group leader  landscape architect Lorenzo Vallerini, geologist Alessandro Marratzu, naturalist Andrea Bernardini, agronomist Roberto Polidori, collaborators Giovanna Bologni and Sara Lateana

Client/ Municipality of Montaione

WHAT

Size/  Castelfalfi estate 1.100 hectares

The Castelfalfi Estate is interested in a tourist development project, “Toscana Resort Castelfalfi” which aims to:

• the development of a sustainable and international tourist facilities;
• Integration of planning into the landscape context;
• an innovative and environmentally friendly concept.

Project approval is achieved through:

• a Town Planning Variations;
• an Urban Plan (PUA);
• an Environmental Agricultural Improvement Plan (PMAA).

The landscape of Castelfalfi is still in balance, historically determined through a particular organization of agricultural habitat where there are systematic relationships between natural elements and human factors, between rural settlements and the countryside. In this context new interventions such as roads and parking, trails and bike paths, a new village adjacent to the existing one, recovery of the old village of Castelfalfi, residential holiday villages, recovery and splitting of the existing agricultural houses, a new golf course that is added to an existing one, a new agricultural centre, vineyards, olive groves, arable land and forest management, renewable energy systems.

The most sensitive aspect is therefore linked to the management and preservation of environmental resources, and the integration of the project into the landscape system: these are the key aspects of the Environmental-Landscape Assessment developed as follow.

• Recognition of the status of the designs in progress;
• Analysis of the sites and the pre-work landscape, with the aim of identifying the main elements of the landscape (homogeneous landscape areas) and indicating the factors of value and criticality;
• Post-work assessment of the compatibility of planned interventions through an overlap between interventions and homogeneous landscape areas and their quality, vulnerability, ability to absorb the transformations induced by the projects, with further reference to the landscape characters (both natural and anthropogenic) in order to understand the possible coherence or contrast with the structure of the landscape (morphological consistency, landscape texture, visual analyses, etc.);
• Post-work assessment of the compatibility of planned interventions with urban planning, as well as protected natural areas, etc. ;
• Diagnosis: following the environmental-landscape studies and assessments, highlighting the points of strong conflict (visual, ecological, cultural, etc…), but also of the potential (if, for example, new interventions can bring with them new potential to the places, a positive redefinition of spaces, etc.) and indication of useful directions for design, as well as identification of mitigation actions.

Landscape Planning

2008 Maremma Regional Park

The Park Plan for the Maremma Regional Park has been made following  the article 13 of the Regional Law “Establishment of regional park management bodies” no. 24/94 and subsequent amendments.

Located in southern Tuscany, halfway between Florence and Rome, the Maremma Regional Park, established in 1975, is one of the first protected natural areas created in Italy and the first in Tuscany. A “park pioneer” of the first generation, who successfully won the challenge of nature conservation, serving as a model for many other natural parks. It is a coastal area with a strong Mediterranean character, but with a wide variety of environments. The new Park Plan contains not only policies and decisions concerning land use and development, but also the organization and creation of services and facilities necessary for the park and the ways of using and managing environmental resources.

WHERE

Province of Grosseto, Tuscany Region, Italy

WHEN

2001-2008

WHO

Designers/ Research Group

Project Manager, Enrico Giunta and Cecilia Luzzetti, Maremma Regional Park Authority

Group Leader,Lorenzo Vallerini, University of Florence; Geology, Rossano Mastacchi; Botany and Forestry, Paolo Stefanini; Zoology, Andrea Sforzi; Agronomy and Soil Use, Marco Mencagli; Historical Buildings and Archaeology, Beatrice Antoni and Lucia Poli; Planning, Lorenzo Vallerini and Cesare Salvestroni; Infrastructures and services, Barbara Fiorini; Landscape planning, Lorenzo Vallerini; Cartography and Computer systems, Cesare Salvestroni and Ilaria Spinicchia

Clients/ Maremma Regional Park Authority , Alberese (Gr)

WHAT

Size/ 9.000 hectares

The new Park Plan has as its first objective the coordination between planning instruments at different levels as a fundamental element for the success of the Plan itself and as an integration between local governments and the Park Authority, and in parallel, to promote ecological-landscape connections between park areas, contiguous areas and neighbouring territories to address the interweaving of problems of protection within the park and the way in which the outer areas are used, to develop the Park as a central hub of a system of protected areas in various ways, to plan the park as an integral part of the surrounding landscapes and ecosystems.

The work on the plan was carried out in three distinct phases:

• a first phase of knowledge, which was based mainly on existing data for the whole area covered by the plan, with a production of documentation relating to the collection of studies, research and projects existing or planned for the park area;
• a second stage of analysis-synthesis, in which research was carried out on the ground and aimed at sector assessments and interdisciplinary synthesis for the definition of ecosystemic units and contrasting elements, or the evaluation of ecosystemic units identified in specific sensitivity classes related to certain stressors such as pollution, settlement development, infrastructure, tourism and recreation, etc. and the definition of actions necessary to eliminate, limit or mitigate the stresses;
• a third phase of the plan, which defined the specific areas and their implementation rules, the regulation, the elements-areas to be subject to active conservation policies and the intervention and recovery projects.

The Plan, based on the indications emerging from a process of public participation Local Agenda 21 (2003), on the one hand, indicates the ways of activities in the territory, on the other hand, intervention and management policies aimed at achieving objectives for active conservation, recreation, research activities and environmental education, etc. The plan contains not only policies and decisions concerning land use and development (use for buildings, agriculture, roads and public transport, landscape, archaeology, historical buildings, etc.), but also the organization and creation of services and facilities necessary for the Park and, finally, the ways of use-management of environmental resources. The Plan should be structured in such a way as to achieve its main objective, or that of a conciliation between the protection and growth of opportunities for development through policies for nature conservation and sustainable development which must find ways of integration in the park, for the actions of conservation and restoration-recovery of the crisis areas, together with forms of concertation/consultation with the institutions and other representative bodies of the local communities.

Landscape Planning

2002 Florentine Plain Park

The Florentine Plain Park, an “empty” area of about 460 hectares surrounded by a conurbation that tends to be seamless, represents for the metropolitan area of Florence an important opportunity to try to give the city a “good form”, but it is also an opportunity to rebalance the urban ecosystem, to give citizens open air opportunities for meeting and physical activities and also as a contact with natural elements and landscape.

WHERE

Municipality of  Sesto Fiorentino, Province of Florence, Tuscany Region, Italy

WHEN

2001-2002

WHO

Designers/ Group Leader, prof.arch. Lorenzo Vallerini, Collaborators, arch.Ilaria Spinicchia and  arch.Andrea Meli

Clients/ Municipality of  Sesto Fiorentino

WHAT

Size/ 460 hectares

The Florentine Plain Park, as an integral part of the Municipal Structure Plan, has shown that the proposal of a heavily designed park all subject to public actions, was not feasible. This  both in relation to the natural preexisting landscapes and for the size of the areas to be subject to public expropriation.

To meet the general objectives of park which have indicated alternative ideas to those of an “urban park”, the Project has identified four main policies for action:

• open spaces: the active protection of natural, landscape and productive components;
• the water system: the sap of the park;
• the system of accessibility and practicability: critical points and permeabilities;
• recreational activities and services: the use as enhancement and land control.

Since about 80% of the land is privately owned, the protection of natural components (wetlands), landscapes and agriculture goes through a revival of “quality” agricultural activities (organic farming, forestry, agritourism, leisure, etc.), the maintenance of water levels in wetlands and in the net of ditches and canals linked to the land reclamation and  hydraulic system that constitutes the “skeleton” on which the park-system is based.  Without water, in fact, the Park cannot live.

The Project gives indications for the integration of existing and planned infrastructures through mitigation works, for the integration of urbanized areas and for the safeguarding of free spaces of strategic visual importance. 

The Park is enclosed-surrounded by an urban-infrastructural system that prevents adequate physical permeability. So ensuring accessibility is vital to ensure a relationship with the city and for park users.

To meet this need, the Project has identified some essential access points consisting of the three Gates of the Park and Information Points and some Functional Connection Nodes, while for the road-worthiness two main crossing routes have been defined and a footpaths network have been designed to allow the use in all directions, also connected to the cycle-pedestrian system proposed by the Municipal Structure Plan.

The recreational activities and services are the elements that allow a new and more complete way of use of the Park and represent the reappropriation by citizens of a forgotten territory. But the park also offers other more popular recreational opportunities, such as social gardens, activities or accommodation in a farmhouse, as well as a capillary enjoyment of all the landscapes that make up the Plain and the wetlands through a network of paths and roads that cross all the highlights of the Park.

The Park itself, finally , performs a recreational function of itself, as it is, for pleasure – and it is not a small thing! – to go into an open space free from urban settlements, but close, within walking distance from home.