Giovinazzo is a small N-W town in the metropolitan city of Bari with a population of about 20,396 inhabitants. It is located 20 km from Bari and its coast extends for 10.61 km. The Municipal Administration of Giovinazzo continues the policy of urban regeneration undertaken as a method to redevelop the territory of Giovinazzo and to give a meaning to the future urban planning of city, especially as a set of measures to mend people’s lives.
The strategy indicated by the Administration has been shared by the private owners of the Ex-ironworks areas who have promoted a Regeneration Master Plan for the old industrial sector that now are in a state of neglect and the surrounding areas. Due to its urban location, the area of the Ex-ironworks is a fundamental hinge around which the historical core of the town, the Green Area of the Lama Castle and the eastern seafront are articulated. The project involves a significant reduction in volumes, the reorganization of the road structure of the area and a redesign of the green areas that will allow the pedestrian mating between the former ironworks and the sea.
The area of the Ex-ironworks – largely disused today – is characterized by types of industrial archeology of considerable architectural character. The presence of the ironworks is an integral part of the territory’s identity structure and is still very present in the collective memory of the inhabitants of Giovinazzo. Its location in the territory, between the Old Town, the railway and the sea, make it a key place for the regeneration of the entire South / East section of the city. The challenge of the project is on the one hand to mend the ironworks with the surrounding territory and on the other to be able to activate a process of urban regeneration with the aim of transforming the abandoned areas into a true “Piece of City” based on a mix of functions that include training, residency, advanced craftsmanship and commerce. In the wake of what has already happened in other European contexts, the transformation will take place through selective demolitions and partial conservation of the industrial architecture, under which the new volumes will be created: A new architecture “under” historical industrial architecture.
The “anchor” of the intervention will be the realization of an “Academy of Cinema”, a Master of excellence and specialization of the Academy of Fine Arts, which will be hosted in one of the central industrial buildings, around which students’ residences will be placed. and teachers. Young people will revive the former ironworks area.
Italiano
