Building the “Earth City”. A vision for the suburbs in Reggio Calabria

Abstract

The state of decay of the Italian social housing heritage built in the second half of the 20th century calls for a reflection on the prospects of contemporary housing. After a rapid examination of some pivotal regeneration interventions developed in the European context, two suburban districts of the city of Reggio Calabria, Archi CEEP and Arghillà, are taken as emblematic case studies. Here, a design hypothesis is proposed for them: following a reinterpretation of some modern and contemporary theories on the city, this proposal brings the attention back to the land, based on the idea of an expanded house that welcomes the landscape, ,that is, an “earth city”, a formal unity of city and countryside, city and nature, which outlines a possible research perspective on the theme of living in a new urbanity.