La strada come collettore percettivo: i casi di Aprilia e Conquista del Guadiana

The study of rural burgs founded during the totalitarian regimes in Spain and Italy, proposes a comparative study of urban realities characterised by peculiar elements, which show a design volition to decline the project on the territory on which it was intended to be realised, starting from an abstraction of the project up to the modifications dictated by social and logistical needs. In this paper, the case of the Spanish city Conquista del Guadiana from 1964, and the Italian Aprilia from 1936, will be deepened. Both of them are characterised by the tangential relationship with the main road axis of reference and connection with the neighbouring cities. This study aims to show that beyond the apparent divergences between the cities, there exists a common basis represented by the designer’s intention of developing a language capable of stylistic representation of the ideology and providing physical proof of the regime’s efficiency. However, this shouldn’t be limited to simple analysis and crystallisation of the city at its foundation, but should try to go further. Seeking to identify the strengths and vulnerabilities of its development in space and time, it comes with one suitable intervention as a solution for future development. It starts from the analysis by phases organised during the workshop, in which there are identified limits, spaces and buildings that have most characterised the villages, and then it continues with a comparison between the burg in time of its foundation and the city/village presented in its actual state. Finally, from the deductions developed during the first part, and from the comparison between two cities, Aprilia and Conquista del Guadiana, we finally elaborate diversified project proposals, uniform in intent, at the same time. Even if proposed solutions are based on non-invasive interventions, the aim is to reflect future urban development. Regarding the city of “Conquista del Guadiana” the proposed intervention concentrates on possible strategies to undertake for the future development of the village. Instead, regarding the city of “Aprilia”, the project focuses on the strategies which enhance those aspects that defined the features of the village, today incorporated in uncontrolled urban development.