Search results for "Old town"
showing 8 items of 8 documents
Gated Housing Estates in the Arab World: Case Studies in Lebanon and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2002
The authors analyze the cultural, economic, and political background of new gated housing estates in the Arab world with the aid of case studies in Lebanon and Riyadh. Their question is to what extent these developments represent a reappearance of the fragmented settlement patterns in many of the old towns. On the one hand, new compounds of several villas and common facilities housing extended families in Riyadh may be interpreted as a revival of certain sociospatial settings in the old town, in which extended families often shared a common courtyard. The compounds for Western foreigners in Saudi Arabia follow the principle of spatial seclusion of social groups with different cultural and r…
The Urban restoration of the Rabato-Santa Croce district in Agrigento, Sicily: Conservation, resilience and architectural morphogenesis
2015
Il saggio rappresenta un contributo al rilevante tema del restauro urbano, incentrato sulla rivitalizzazione del quartiere Rabato-Santa Croce ad Agrigento, semidistrutto da movimenti franosi nel 1966 e ancora oggi in parziale stato di abbandono. La ricerca inverte i termini del problema così come usualmente posti e non procede attraverso la somma di singole competenze specialistiche, bensì riflette su problematiche sempre diverse in relazione alle complesse implicazioni critico-estetiche e alle cangianti condizioni di conservazione. Al superamento d’una concezione tecnicistica dell’intervento, solitamente espressa dai “manuali del recupero”, segue uno sviluppo metodologico che osserva “caso…
Smart lighting in a historic context: a case study
2017
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address a project for lighting an old town in Italy. Its originality lies in the holistic approach that aims to fulfil several objectives. One is to reduce energy consumption by using efficient lamps and advanced control systems; the second one is to make the network viable and useful for many purposes by integrating ICT devices; the third one is to provide a new identity to the older part of the city by using new technologies and design concepts; while the last one is to ensure street and pedestrian safety according to codes and standards. Design/methodology/approach The plan of the city of Bagheria and the stock of luminaires of the city are analys…
The urban being between environment and landscape. On the old town as an emerging subject
2018
The landscape units of the Sicilian mountainous inland, as for the case of Petralia Soprana, are marked by the presence of ancient urban centres controlling the agricultural territory, from which they derived their own wealth, and to which they conferred landscape significance. The unity between economy and landscape has been interrupted by the radical transformation of the socio-economic structure and the technologic progress, which have eroded the consistency between structures and superstructures. We propose an assessment approach based on a synthesis of semiotic and phenomenological view. The approach mainly focuses on the basic concepts and contents of the valuation process that can be…
Accessibilità a Montalbano Elicona: un approccio multiscalare
2021
In any form of the built environment, in order to satisfy the requirement of accessibil- ity, there is a need to consider both material and intangible aspects through a multi- scalar approach. The architectural heritage does not sidestep this need. Any in-depth analysis or project needs to be designed whilst considering the relations and inter-connections between the building, public space and public services on an urban scale. This multi-scalar approach guided some studies carried out under the convention between the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo and the Municipality of Montalbano Elicona, a small town of about 2,100 inhabitants in north-eastern Sicily. In this ca…
Old towns in “smart cities” between conservation and metamorphosis. Pending European Union guidelines
2014
In reflecting upon the role of environmental capital as represented by old towns in smart cities, the author reveals the consequences of re-plastering the facade of ancient buildings while emphasizing the resulting risk of globalization of historic districts. This is followed by a critical consideration concerning the active protection of old towns and their cultural typicality and geographical context, prerequisites for the development of specific guide-lines for the European Union. Explanation is also provided about how the restoration dynamics of the old towns are irreversibly changing the urban landscape in European cities. Strict regulations regarding the preservation of European old t…
Quel "mezzo pollice" di materia
2012
Il capitolo contiene una riflessione sul ruolo delle superfici architettoniche nei monumenti e nei contesti antichi. Nel tentativo di tracciare l'evoluzione del concetto di restauro fino all'indirizzo attuale, il contributo richiama, tra gli altri, il pensiero di John Ruskin e Alois Riegl, che hanno evidenziato il valore di autenticità e rimarcato il ruolo delle superfici nella percezione dell'architettura storica, contestando i restauri distruttivi in corso in molte città (come il restauro della Basilica di San Marco a Venezia). This chapter includes a reflection on the role of architectural surfaces in monuments and ancient contexts. In attempt to trace the evolution of the concept of res…
Ground instability in the old town of Agrigento (Italy) depicted by on-site investigations and Persistent Scatterers data
2012
We combine on-site investigations with the interpretation of satellite Persistent Scatterers (PS) to analyse ground instability in the historic town of Agrigento, Italy. Geological and geomorphologic surveys, together with geostructural and kinematic analyses, depict the deformational patterns of the northwestern sector of the town, previously documented by extensive literature available for the neighbouring Valley of the Temples. The geological and geomorphologic maps are reconstructed by combining bibliographic studies, field surveys and aerial stereo-interpretation. ERS-1/2 PS data reveal deformation velocities up to 18–20 mm yr<sup>−1</sup> in 1992–2000 over the Addolorata l…