Architecture of the urban pavements in Rome. A case of study of Multi-scale and digital approach for an ecological transition.

The topic of the urban quality of public space is of essential importance in the management strategies of cities, and has been recently updated in the international policies of the 2030 Agenda for SDGs and on the European level in the strategies relating to the management of public spaces and their quality. These renewed demands bring about changes in the physical and material characteristics of the urban elements and the changing modality of use by citizens of the city’s public spaces. The paper reports on the results of a university research research activity by Citera- Sapienza financed by the Municipality of Rome. The study task has been the definition of guidelines and operative tools for improving the quality of urban pavements. It could represent a relevant case of ‘best practice’ of urban regeneration with resilient, flexible and/or proximity public space as an element of quality. The issue of the quality of urban pavements is in fact set within the broader one of the quality of cities; since we believe that “the road is the soul of the city”, there can be no doubt that, through an albeit partial reading of the city by stratigraphic levels, the “layer” consisting of urban pavement – roads, sidewalks, plazas – has an essential function for contributing to the quality of urban life. For its complex topography, its urban morphology, and the multiple traits that define its parts, Rome is a laboratory in which multiple city management and planning tools aimed at achieving an urban quality have succeeded one another and developed over time. Based on the sustainability objectives, innovative solutions were identified for vehicular, pedestrian, bike, and tram pavements, and pavements for car parks. Therefore, a study aimed at enhancing and improving the quality of the road space could not avoid making reference to the plurality of the typological/morphological articulation of the body of the city, which means, in the specific case, contributing towards giving shape and urban quality to the greatly differing spatial situations that the mapping of Rome’s roads naturally requires.