Re-naturalizing to Regenerate the Piedicastello-Italcementi Urban System of Trento

The regeneration of multi-layered urban structures involves complex theoretical, methodological, and technical issues that must be addressed to understand the reasons and means for a sustainable transformation that respects the distinctive characteristics of places and the demands of contemporary life. In its various forms, the need for regeneration concerns different types of urban fabric that have become dysfunctional, affected by abandonment and impoverishment, due to traditional functions succumbing to social and industrial transformation; in others, as in the case of historic centres, it corresponds to the physical abandonment of places where people struggle to survive. This paper seeks to outline possible strategies for the regeneration of multi-layered fabrics, starting from the present reality and from a deep knowledge that must be able to read and reinterpret the physical, social, and economic characteristics layered there. Controlled planning or any other way of reactivating the abandoned urban system, whether industrial or residential, can only be based on knowledge. The project, understood as a form of knowledge aimed at rethinking the natural and built landscape, proves to be an indispensable tool for creating a new, virtuous circle and creating better living conditions for the inhabitants (whether human, plant or animal). With regard to the Piedicastello district of Trento—the city's industrial and religious centre, while also being a mountainous area, leper colony, agricultural area, military centre, production centre, and residential district—it is essential to consider the district and the factors that have determined the evolutionary processes of this significant area of land, so that we may imagine the sustainability of an area that has undergone numerous and important transformations over time. Its various sections have also undergone radical changes in size and use, and over the course of abandonments and reuses they have remained viable. However, over the last 20 years, partly as a result of the loss of its twentieth century industrial purpose, and despite various regeneration proposals, the district, increasingly isolated and distant from the rest of the city’s structure, has become less and less dynamic. This paper analyses the current fragile state of this area, which plays a crucial role in the physical, social, and economic development of the city of Trento, in its interrelated historical, cultural, and environmental aspects. Piedicastello-Italcementi is a significant case because it includes an old core, residential buildings, infrastructure, the large empty space in the industrial section, an unresolved waterfront on the Adige River; it will be considered in its entirety as an urban system. Starting from a consideration of development, critical issues and potential, underutilization, and dysfunction, this paper will outline a regeneration strategy based on re-naturalization. It will have the aim of redeveloping the urban district, emphasizing the identity of its parts and separate environmental settings, and rediscovering a relationship with the city and the river, the green agricultural areas, and the mountains.