Abstract

The paper presents a study on the mitigation of hydrogeological risk in the
small villages of inland areas, which represent a significant portion of the
Italian territory. These realities need an innovative strategy in the light of
a new environmental awareness and technological innovation, not limited
only to the protection of the built heritage but extended to the issues
related to the risks of natural and anthropic origin, increased from the
gradual phenomenon of depopulation of the small towns.
Starting from a re-reading of the tradition in relation to the Italian urban
studies, that still represents an important theoretical reference base, the
research investigates the relationships between environmental risks and
public space, arriving to develop a design experimentation taking the
Greek village of Bova as an emblematic case study. The soil of the public
spaces have been rethought in the light of the “vulnerability-resilience”
paradigm, issuing the widespread practice of artificializing voids derived
from the demolition of decaying artefacts and conceiving them as an
environmental infrastructures.
Consistent with the objectives of the National Strategy for the
development of “Inland Areas”, in particular following the guidelines
of the “2030 Agenda” regarding the Goal 11, the device developed for
“Water Squares” is conceived as a conceptual innovation factor based on
new intervention criteria, no longer based on the principles of “Stiffness”
but on those of “permeability”, capable of absorbing and adapting to
natural changes.