G124 PADOVA 2020/2021 - PARCO DEI SALICI
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
G124 is the group founded by the Architect Renzo Piano that works on the outskirts and the "city of tomorrow".
Renzo Piano, since he became Italian Senator for Life in 2013, donates his political salary to young architects for the "mending" of Italian suburbs. In 2020, the cities of Bologna, Padova, and Palermo were involved, and, supported by their respective Universities, they worked on a green space to be valorized following what Piano defines as a "Natural Mission".
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
The project is part of the G124 project, the working group of architect Renzo Piano that addresses the regeneration of Italian suburbs. In 2020, the Padova group worked on Guizza, a suburban neighborhood in the southern part of the city.
The place where we chose to act is "Parco dei Salici", a green area of about an acre and a half in the heart of the neighborhood. The lack of equipment and adequate shade had made the park over the years little frequented, a destination for drug dealing and crime at night.
The main goal has been to define a new meeting point in synergy with the realities around it, giving it clarity and identifiability.
The working group has immediately aimed to define various participatory design actions, involving citizens throughout the design process. Through an online survey, the dreams and needs of the inhabitants were identified, which then became the starting point for the planning of the new Parco dei Salici.
The intervention has provided 167 new trees in the park, to define a new 'green lung' for the neighborhood: a small urban forest with a central elliptical clearing. The sole act of planting has demarcated two distinct areas, ideal for carrying out the activities demanded by the citizens. In the wooded area people can relax under the tree canopies, in the central green square, instead, it can be organized events and activities, thanks to the construction of a small pavilion.
For the 167 new trees that have been planted, the group has designed special braces: structures that are essential for the growth of the tree and rethought to double as urban furniture items. These devices, called Vizha in honor of the Guizza neighborhood, provide seats that, in the shade of the new trees, define "vegetable lounges" where people can chat with friends or read while immersed in nature.
The distance between the trees has allowed living these "lounges" even in the middle of the Covid: 19 pandemic: safe places for citizens to meet.
Key objectives for sustainability
From an environmental sustainability point of view, the key objective of the project was to restore the Guizza area to its former wooded state. On the other hand, on the social side, the involvement of the community has allowed the construction and partial financing of the project. Even economically, the intervention has been realized with the help of the citizens, through various crowdfunding, and with sponsorships of local companies, public municipal funds, and the University of Padua's funds dedicated to innovative projects.
The environmental aspect has been studied in depth with scientists from the University of Padua and the Municipality, forming an interdisciplinary group of consultants who studied the history of the area with a view to reforestation.
Inside the park, 167 autochthonous species (local willows, hornbeams, ash trees, and maples) were planted in October and a drip irrigation system was installed to allow them to grow properly.
The active involvement of citizens throughout the process also led to an awareness of the importance of reforestation. In particular, a tree was dedicated to each citizen participating in the crowdfunding. Then the youngest were involved, children from nearby schools, who for a year alternated visits to the site and classroom lessons related to environmental issues.
In addition, the award-winning scientist Stefano Mancuso will work on the park, installing sensors to measure the environmental benefits, monitoring and displaying with scientific precision the effect of the new green lung on air quality in terms of Co2.
Perhaps the most important result remains the involvement of the citizens, gathered in the park as a large community composed of different social backgrounds and ages.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The project's key objectives in terms of aesthetics and quality of the experience focused instead on the definition of the geometry of the Park, the organizing element of the entire intervention.
The shape chosen is not random. The ellipse is a geometry rooted in the spirit of the city of Padua, its genius loci. From Prato Della Valle, the square created by Andrea Memmo in the seventeenth century, to the anatomical theater and the Roman amphitheater, several places in the history of the city take up this geometric conformation.
In the desire to ennoble and enhance the outskirts of Padua, it was decided to recall the spatiality of these historical places. The 167 new trees have become the ordering elements of the space and have been arranged in such a way as to leave a large elliptical void in the center: a clearing that binds the history of Guizza, an ancient wood on the outskirts of Padua, to the history of the city.
Key objectives for inclusion
The objectives of the project for Parco dei Salici are the inclusion and the involvement of citizens. Intervening on public space has a specific responsibility because that place belongs to everyone, and everyone must feel that that space is safe, attractive, and meets their needs and desires. To achieve this goal, the project seeks to be inclusive starting with the methodology adopted.
Through the survey and the meetings with citizens, it was possible to listen to the needs of as many people as possible and to define, from these, a project suitable for a wide range of users.
Thus, a large play area for children has been installed, many seats have been designed to allow the elderly to rest in the shade of the trees and the small pavilion, located in one of the two vertexes of the elliptical void, allows the development of many activities: there are those who do yoga, those who rehearse choir or theater, those who organize concerts or children's parties. The possibility that so many different things can happen in this place is itself a reason for inclusion: depending on the time of day or week, this space becomes a source of interest for all potential users and not only for a predetermined category.
The primary objective was in fact to define a place for human relations, offering everyone to participate productively and positively in the opportunities that the city has to offer.
Results in relation to category
The first period of analysis and consultation with the citizens revealed that the lack of places to meet and share was not only dictated by the physical conformation of the area.
In Guizza lived a rather active community, but not very cohesive.
It was therefore tried, in parallel, to activate citizens in a participatory process, combining the design of the park to an intense activity of communication and involvement. The goal was to define a new place to meet and be together, but also to generate sharing, belonging and respect for the new project.
This process led to surprising results. The participation of the citizens has been very high, as well as the interest in the project.
This has also led to a series of funding and sponsorship that has been fundamental to realize the project. The interest has been aroused not only on the citizens that have personally participated in financing the initiative but also on some local businesses that have provided their expertise for free.
The result is that today the park is a vividly frequented place, as well as managed by the very same citizens. A group of volunteers has formally "adopted" Parco dei Salici a few months ago. This adoption, recognized by the Municipality of Padua and already active in other green areas of the city, consists in the daily opening and closing of the park as well as the management and custody of the area and all its activities, organized with local associations.
How Citizens benefit
Guizza citizens have been actively involved in the project through an intense level of communication. Meetings and presentations were held weekly and four participatory design actions were carried out:
- Online survey (April 5-26, 2020)
To involve the inhabitants during the lockdown period, we gave an online survey in which each citizen, in addition to learning about the current initiative, could submit its proposals for the future park. The questionnaire was active from April 5 to 26, 2020 and a total of 571 responses were collected, which were then analyzed and used as a starting point for the project design.
- Crowdfunding (July 2020)
Through the PlanBee platform, a crowdfunding campaign was organized to raise funds to build the special seats for the 167 new trees. Thanks to this campaign, the donating citizens were able to adopt a tree and its seat, becoming its guardian;
- Self-construction (11-12 and 25-26 July 2020)
Four days of participatory construction were then organized at the Parco dei Salici. The G124, supported by a group of volunteer students from the University of Padua, prepared 167 construction kits and built Vizha devices together with the citizens.
- Events in the park (May 2021)
Once the project was realized, we worked on the identity of the Park and the activities. All the local stakeholders were involved, including associations, schools and the council, to organize together a series of events that would activate the area.
This activity represented the final handover between the G124 group and the Guizza citizens for the management of the scheduled activities at Parco dei Salici. In one month, 19 associations have organized activities, 22 volunteers have shared the gate's opening and closing shifts, and a full calendar of activities is planned for the summer.
Innovative character
It is expected that in the coming years an increasing number of people will move from small towns to large cities. Inevitably, these same cities will have to be ready to welcome large flows of people, guaranteeing everyone an adequate lifestyle: services, outdoor space, and good neighborhood relations.
It is therefore clear how important it is today to intervene in these peripheral areas, which are nothing more than the city of the future.
The project for Parco dei Salici was imagined and then realized in a very short time and without any starting budget, involving the neighborhood in every step. It was an almost utopian formula of intervention (considering the bureaucratic and logistical difficulties in Italy), but it led to unexpected results. In fact, in just a few months, the necessary energy and sponsors were found to make everything possible. The Municipality has supported the project by buying the trees, the citizens have financed the seat-braces and helped to build them, local companies have provided materials and labor to build the pavilion as well as the necessary lighting to make the park a safe place even at night.
The project proved that it is not necessary to have large economic resources to improve the situation in the suburbs. On the contrary: the smaller the projects are, the more it is possible to involve the population in the whole process - construction included - and to activate that sense of pride and belonging that then acts as a driving force for many nice activities.
