Inhabiting highland villages. Comparing project experiences between the Alps and the Apennines.

On Monday May 5th, 2025 at 9:15 a.m. in Classroom D of the Caserma Neve Campus (Via Scalabrini, 76), the seminar “Inhabiting highland villages. Comparing project experiences between the Alps and the Apennines” will take place.

The seminar aims to promote a moment of reflection and sharing among project experiences that have addressed the issues of regeneration and territorial reactivation in mountain contexts. The contributions will offer insights to guide design actions capable of enhancing the opportunities of territories characterized by high environmental quality and cultural richness but which present relevant criticalities, including phenomena of seasonality, demographic contraction, abandonment of architectural heritage and rural landscape, limited endowment and accessibility to services.
Through the testimonies of researchers and professionals involved in interventions to restore the built heritage and landscape, the seminar will identify new perspectives for reading, interpreting and designing spaces and places to live in highland villages.

The seminar is part of the activities of the Urban Planning Laboratory (professors Marco Mareggi and Giovanni Lanza) of the laurea (equivalent to B.Sc.) program in Architectural Design. For several editions, the workshop has been inviting students to confront the territories of the Apennines of Piacenza, proposing design solutions developed from a careful analysis of the contexts and shared with local administrators. The seminar thus represents an educational activity and encourages exchange and debate with all those who, interested in the issues of living in highland villages, would like to participate in the work.