Aniene. The other river. From climate adaptation actions to urban regeneration: the making of an Environmental Centrality

The research focuses on urban regeneration (1) involving adaptation actions to address climate change (2) and aims to implement the “structural projects” that are a strategy of Rome local plan (3). The case study is the Aniene, the other river of Rome besides Tevere. The Aniene reaches Rome in the Tiburtina Valley, an industrial area next to the ring highway. Then it passes by the outskirts to historical neighborhoods and is crossed by high-impact roads and railways. The river is known for its poor water and environmental quality (4), but also for the building pressure that forces its runoff into narrow spaces resulting in flooding during cloudbursts (5). To protect the river from the urban impact, in 1997 the Riserva Naturale Valle dell’Aniene was established. What could have been an opportunity - to ensure ecological continuity and naturalness to the river and provide attractive green areas within the urban fabric - turned into a threat. The greenery of the Reserve became source of pollution from the periphery to the historical neighborhoods and is now in a state of uninterrupted degradation. The riverbanks are unstable and unusable; often it serving as dumping ground for waste; slums and other high environmental-impactful activities (junkyards, cultivations, landfills, industrial area next to water) have conquered most of the open spaces. This precariousness leads the city to distance itself from the Reserve and the river, causing them to be rejected and avoided instead of being integrated with the urban fabrics. The Aniene becomes a physical barrier, exacerbating the distance between potentially close neighborhoods, thus interrupting the dialogue between the green spaces and the city. The issue extends to the climatic and hydrogeological risk context. Improper land use and the lack of river expansion areas increase the flooding hazard, posing a threat to numerous people, buildings, and cultural heritage sites. Finally, the heat island effect is pronounced despite the proximity to greenery, primary due to the deforestation and the soil cementation. Consistent with the national urban regeneration strategy to work on improving the quality and re-use of urban open spaces, and wishing to support an environmental-climatic rebalancing, the research supports the creation of a new type of “metropolitan and urban centrality”. The proposal is to enlarge the set of those places that host facilities relevant to the metropolitan-capital and provide rare services to a vast catchment area. According to the investigations, the Aniene Reserve can assume this role if the regeneration process is coordinated and implemented over time. Therefore, the project results in a Masterplan for the Reserve urban area, focused on 4 strategies, described below using the slogan “the river signifies”. To address the complexity of the area, the strategy involves an overlapped system of frames, each providing a specific intervention. The overlapping of action does not occur randomly. The first step is to restore the environmental balance through climate actions, implementing water square, rain garden, expansion areas for the river, waste catcher barriers, all aimed at restoring naturalness to the greenery and the river. Then, “the river signifies ecological continuity” enhancing the quality of the Reserve, establishing new ecological corridors through the river, reactivating the forsaken green areas within the urban fabric. Moreover, “the river signifies accessibility” not only providing new entrance to the Reserve but also promoting the use of both private and public open spaces adjacent to the Reserve, reconnecting the neighborhoods and implementing the security of peripheries. Through the reuse of greenery and the reactivation of many abandoned buildings, it became possible to create new public spaces for citizens. Lastly, “the river signifies sport and wellness”, related to the historical context, aims to enhance the archeological sites, cultural heritage and natural assets, to create a network of places for cultural and sporty enjoyment. The masterplan proposal starts from the river and gradually addresses the strategies. Firstly, restoring the Aniene and its Reserve improved the urban fabric’s quality, promoting inclusivity and environmental well-being. The result is a complex framework of actions (i.e. enhancing, adapting, reactivating, renewing, transforming...) which enable the development of high-quality design interventions. It’s crucial to emphasize that the actions and the sequence of their application are consistently adapted to the specific context. This is noticeable in four pilot-designs, each of them underpins the character of the area. The Confluence Park project aims to create a new public park where there is currently abandonment and inaccessibility; the Water Station project creates a new station on the Tiburtina-Tivoli railway, removes camps and illegal cultivations; Sport and assets project aims to open up the ancient roman quarriers to the city and create a new sport center within the Reserve; the River promenade project seeks to restore the river to its natural space. The Masterplan outcome is the establishment of “a new centrality” based on the metropolitan open spaces, aligning with the principles already proposed by the Rome Plan. This gives rise to the Environmental-territorial Centrality, a new structural project that achieves urban regeneration and climate adaptation by placing the green-blue resource at the core of urban planning.