From urban crutches to the city that endures. Settlement models and architectural prototypes for the transitional city beyond the emergency

This contribution reflects on the still marginal role of architecture within post-disaster urban policies in Italy, despite the recurring incidence of earthquakes and hydrogeological disasters. Architectural intervention is too often reduced to a symbolic or propagandistic dimension, entrusted to iconic buildings intended to embody the rebirth of affected communities, while the decisive issue of temporary emergency settlements remains secondary. The research considers these settlements as actual urban devices of expansion and transformation, whose design requires structural integration with the vital mechanisms of the city and with the rearticulation of the relationship between the built centre and its surrounding context.