Il riuso e la valorizzazione del patrimonio insediativo nei territori in contrazione. Il caso dei borghi abbandonati della Valle del Rio Pardu in Sardegna

The system of settlements that dominates the Pardu Valley in eastern Sardinia, which has always been characterised by a precarious hydrogeological balance, has long been subject to a process of progressive depopulation, intensified by a series of landslides that led to the total abandonment of the villages of Gairo and Osini after the violent floods of the 1950s. Today they are ghost villages, preserving an abandoned architectural heritage in a state of ruin, overrun by spontaneous vegetation. While this condition represents a strong risk factor for the loss of the material component of buildings, it also contributes to maintaining a relationship of close harmony with the surrounding landscape. The urban layout preserves traces of the original medieval matrix, characterised by an organic and compact construction, the result of historical stratification, which constitutes a situation rich in tangible and intangible values to be safeguarded. These constantly changing characteristics, which the state of abandonment reveals and makes unique, have a latent potential to be used to reduce inequalities and socio-economic imbalances between territories. In particular, it refers to the contrast between the inner areas, which are subject to processes of marginalisation and depopulation, and the coastal areas, which are experiencing increasing housing pressure, with obvious phenomena of settlement polarisation. The paper reflects on the perspective of recovery and valorisation of the “ruin” in a scenario of sustainable use of the environmental and territorial capital and of local development from a social and economic point of view, in line with policies for fragile and marginal areas.