Safeguarding of urban and landscape identity in post-earthquake reconstructions in Italy. Methodology of the analysis and first results

The loss of identity for places and landscapes represents an important cultural component of environmental hazards. Experiences such as the recent post-earthquake reconstruction in Irpinia show how the damage to the identity of places, far from being repaired, can actually be worsened if the reconstruction processes are not based on a solid architectonic and environmental culture and a well established repertoire of intervention methodologies and know-how. In order to ensure truly sustainable development, the Council of Europe recently called for a common denominator for widely endorsed interventions which can nonetheless be implemented in a variety of geographical and cultural situations. This key concept is "landscape", which in a broad multi-disciplinary context is defined as "an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors". In this sense landscape is considered "a key element of individual and social wellbeing", "basic component of the European natural and cultural heritage", and the "human well-being and consolidation of the European identity" (European Landscape Convention, Firenze, 20th October 2000). The common aim must be to work at "landscape protection" and "landscape planning". These statements underline the importance of safeguarding the urban and landscape identity of a place to ensure cultural, sociological and environmental values. Yet most studies relating to earthquakes and subsequent reconstruction work in Italy tend to focus above all on the technical data of the episode and fail to pay any attention to the identity of the sites. This is probably due to the difficulty of obtaining objective results. Starting from these considerations, the research project "Development of innovative methodologies for the safeguard of the urban and landscape identity in the areas subjected to the environmental risks" overseen by the Operative Unit "Architecture of towns and landscapes" of the Regional Centre of Competence AMRA, Section for Territorial Policies and Technological Transfers, sets out to identify the issues involved in linking earthquake risk and loss of urban and landscape identity in experiences of post-earthquake reconstruction in Italy to date1. We had a dual objective: to establish the strong and weak elements in such reconstructions and match these against the reconstruction carried out in Irpinia and other reconstructions chosen as benchmark experiences. Below we give a summary of the research carried out, the methodology adopted and the first results obtained.