KEEPERS OF THE FUTURE. THE ROLE OF DAMS AS ECOSYSTEMIC ENERGY DEVICE FOR INNER COMMUNITY IN SICILY

Since 1972, the scientific community has established the limits of development, stating how increased environmental awareness can be the core for sustainable growth. In this sense, it is emblematic how the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement recognises cultural heritage as a powerful vector in shaping sustainable and resilient practices within urban and rural communities. Therefore, thinking about the relationship between heritage, infrastructure and communities could catalyse the development of shared imaginaries around the role of heritage resources in the definition of inter-territorial transformative practices. This essay aims to focus on the role of large dams in safeguarding the cultural heritage of inland areas in Sicily. If the territory is meant as a super-structure, a palimpsest mindful of the traces of the past, then the infra-structure of the dam, which is an integral part of the orographic transformation complex, could be converted into a ecosystemic device useful for establishing new ways of sustainable development for local communities. Accessibility, inclusion and sustainability become key words for reasoning on the framework of water and landscape protection of the vulnerable territories in inland areas, already suffering from drought, desertification and possible sudden flooding in the immediate future. The maintenance of large dams, rather than their demolition, could be support by close-to-nature solutions, aimed at a soft experience of the surrounding material and immaterial heritage. Thus, by compensating for the fragmentation of habitats and establishing unprecedented relationships between community and territory, dams could become keepers of contemporary resources to face the future.