Untouchables_Repubblica

|   AFRAID’ Untouchable   |

We all know Rome for its historic structures, for architectural monuments from time long by. The architecture and city we see now is not a snapshot of one particular moment in history, but it is a result of many centuries of layering new structures in response to needs and trends. Monuments of one generation became the basis for solving the crucial needs of the next generation. That persistent layering ensured that Rome did not become a soulless museum of architectural artifacts, but it remains a lively and complex prosperous city.

At some point in the last century, it seems that Rome stopped adding new layers. It is like everyone is AFRAID that any new intervention, no matter how small or insignificant it is will destroy centuries of history.

For that reason, we should not be AFRAID to think of Rome as a dynamic ever-changing entity. We cannot allow for a city like Rome to be “untouchable” because it stops the crucial layering and then the city becomes a soulless museum.

That is why we need to constantly encourage experimentation with the city, to explore new possibilities, and address crucial problems.

The core step in that direction is temporary installations in the form of architectural/artistic pavilions and interventions. We should applaud, and encourage even crazy temporary interventions as letting water in the roundabout, and creating golden temporary intervention around the fountain at Piazza Republica. Those kinds of temporary layers help to point out certain local and global issues or present values by showing a different perspective trough artistic and playful approach.
Temporary installations will also be a small stepping stone toward changing the collective perception of what a city development should be. Today we are so fixated that city development is only about building new neighborhoods and infrastructure, but in fact, city development is a constant process of reinventions of the existing urban fabric in order to ensure the prosperity of the city and providing a pleasant environment for its residents.

That in fact is true sustainability – Ensuring that city lives today and that it will live for generations to come using the same structure, same infrastructure. And when you look at Rome in that light, it has been developing and reinventing itself since 753 BC, and we must ensure that that great history continues for generations to come. That is why we should not be AFRAID of adding new layers … we should, in fact, be AFRAID of doing nothing.