Urban recycle. Regenerative strategies for the “horizontal city”

Abstract

This paper proposes the first steps and subsequent developments of an experimental approach – through the actions carried out by the Reggio Calabria Operational Unit in the “Re-Cycle Italy” PRIN1 and developed in further subsequent research – aimed at regenerating the degraded landscapes2 in the urban margin areas of the “horizontal city” in Southern Italy. The result of the research is a proposal of a settlement model in which to hypothesise an “ecological transition”. From the “horizontal city” that exploits primary resources and produces urban waste and fragile territories, to a model of “metropolis landscape” that is based on modern widely shared principles of urban recycling, sustainable development, sharing and participation, circular economy and the care of the landscape.