MAPS. European program case-study. Military assets as public spaces

The call concerns the project experience developed by the research group of Politecnico di Milano - Piacenza Campus – leaded and coordinated by Guya Bertelli (1), as part of the European program MAPS (Military Assets as Public Spaces), supported by URBACT (2), oriented to the development of urban policies. This participation gave the opportunity to the components of the research unit to experiment processes of sharing and examination on the meaning of public space in the contemporary city, mainly in disused and fragile contexts. The project network is composed by 9 cities of as many European countries, with the Municipality of Piacenza as leader: Serres (Greece), Varazdin (Croatia), Szombathely (Hungary), Telsiai (Lithuania), Koblenz (Germany), Longford (Ireland), Espinho (Portugal), Cartagena (Spain). The goal is to define a possible method that results in the implementation of processes for the valorization of abandoned military areas and their architectural heritage, through the proposal of a sustainable, inclusive and participatory system of regeneration strategies. The actions developed in order to achieve this goal have been structured on two different interacting scales: local and global. Support groups (ULG) have worked on the local scale, able to develop ideas from citizens, associations, communities, private and public institutions, writing a Local Action Plan Document (IAP). At the global scale instead, transnational conferences were organized in order to share and to develop aspects which were highlighted at the local level. The sharing of good practices was intended as a key moment, with the building of a network of cities with common issues to be addressed and discussed. This paper aims to show the methodology of intervention implemented through the participation of local communities in the reactivation processes of disused military areas, which are occasions for the regeneration of parts of the city. The main goal of our participation in MAPS program was to highlight the potential of military areas heritage, through the discussion and participation of citizens in order to support projects of reuse and regeneration. It was a great opportunity to develop an approach able to combine the architectural and urban project with social inclusion, in a complex process perspective.