Landscape strategy: Ecological Redevelopment and Social Regeneration for Colli Aniene

Colli Aniene is a high-density residential district in East Rome.

It is a paradoxical district: although it is rich of open range fields and vegetation, nevertheless it is not yet able to offer a high quality of life to its resident people (such as air quality, thermal comfort, social relations). These public spaces are inadequately equipped; moreover, the huge urban

infrastructures (highway, subway, bus terminal) close to the district produce a very high level of pollution and a strong spatial split, with a consequent social cleavage.

Therefore, the project aims to revitalize the whole district by using the vegetation as the mean to improve both the environmental comfort and the social regeneration. The vegetation is thought to be a meeting place and a channel for the civic education of the people.

The requalification is centered in the creation of a urban forest, which is conceived on the ground of its natural growth. The forest is marked by variously high and colored species of trees to help to identify the single areas.

To reduce the budget, the forestation is served by a rainwater recovery system equipped with recovering points and helpful rain gardens to avoid the road breaking.

Finally, the social path is thought to come out of the empty spaces inside the forest, by showing different forms and functions in each single areas, and by being conceived as a mean to connect  the urban fabrics and to generate social relations in the neighborhood.