The architectural technology design approach for the enhancement of historic cities. A strategic proposal for the unesco town of Mantua

Historic Cities are dynamic systems continuously subjected to internal and external actions that tend to erode their cultural values. Moreover small and medium historic towns present a physical structure with an ancient historic center, a surrounding buffer zone and peri-urban areas that together build the contemporary local identity. In this scenario, the sustainability of the interventions on cultural and environmental heritage and the correct management of local resources need a multidisciplinary and multi-scalar approach. This approach overpass physical or administrative boundaries, and pushes the attention on tangible objects and sites, to foster a model focused on problems and goals. A group of researchers of Laboratorio TE.M.A. (Politecnico di Milano) has developed an application-oriented theoretical approach to design strategic views to enhance local resources and increase cultural and landscape values in historic towns of small and medium dimension. This model has been applied also to the town of Mantua, and this case study is described in the paper.