Ultra low cost landscape: Parco Uditore in Palermo

Palermo, Siciliy, 15 October 2012. A piece of rural landscape has been given back to the city: hundreds of people flood between Indian figs (opuntia indica),hackberries (celtis australis) and pepper trees (schinus molle), discovering an hidden place, closed to public since a very long time, what is survived from a hard and strong urban development, just because it is a public property. At the beginning of 19th century the place is a huge cultivation of Indian figs, the city is far away. The land comes in public hands as a military zone in the 30’s, just before the II WW: a fuel underneath tank is built, connected to the harbour with a pipeline. After the war the land remains a public place, but in reality the 9 hectares land is hired by a family who maintains cultivation of figs (selling figs leaves to feed cattles and sheeps). From the ’60 the 9 hectares landpiece is what remains untouched by the growing high density surrounding city. The family runs the land up to 1992 when is leasing is broken by the Regional Government (the land owner) because a suspect connection with the mafia superboss Toto’ Riina, supposed to use this land to hide himself from Police and weapons underground. Then from 1992 to 2012 the place is closed and quite abandoned. A big sandstone wall separates this countryside landscape from the growing city along almost 80 years. At the end of 2010 some citizens from the neighborhood start to put pressure on the regional governments to have a park where a survived rural landscape is. This will met some researchers works from the University of Palermo. Then a informal committee starts a process to avoid new previewed buildings in the area (offices for 3.500 peoples), asking a park instead. A public subscriptions starts, facebook pages are created, reaching soon more of 8.000 likes and signs. Design and studies for the park are provided by The University of Palermo for free (Faculties of Architecture and Agriculture). Coordination and works are offered by sponsoring industries and craftmans, but overall is very important the effort given by some volunteers, citizens who strongly believe in the renovation process. A kind of participated project. After one year since the committee creation, the regional government decides to help donating 100.000 Euros and the possibility to use the area. Works started in late 2011 to create a “Public ultra low cost landscape” (about 0,50 Eur/m2). Some red objects (a kind of tribute to the world famous Parc de La Villette in Paris) point out the green area, underlining artifacts along a virtual connection line. Today, one year and half after the opening, Parco Uditore is an hyperpark, a green rural area, witness of an ancient landscape but also a social place where communities meet each other, where kids and young people can play and rest, where communities’ identity is really celebrated every day and more projects are growing weekly about environmental, ecological and landscape issues. From citizens to citizens, an urban low cost landscape still in progress