Environmental design, building reclamation and slow tourism for a sustainable development

Abstract

With the project Valore Paese - Cammini e Percorsi, addressed to the buildings located along the historical-religious itineraries and cycle paths, Italy aims to reclaim the abandoned buildings through the slow tourism development, motivated by cultural and sporting interests. The project, included in the Strategic Plan of Tourism and the Special Plan of Tourism Mobility, involves private operators, companies, cooperatives, associations and start-ups composed mainly of young people under 40, who will have the task of re-using the constructions in question. A study on Slow mobility has been developed (in the BikeFlu research, of the G. D'Annunzio University Architecture Department for the Abruzzi Region) for using the Abruzzi landscapes - coast, hill, foothill and mountain – through the reclamation of abandoned buildings (for centres and cycle-workshops, services, refreshment points, cyclehotels, museums and workshops) for a tourism directly linked to the slow mobility and the territory enhancement. A redevelopment of pre-existing facilities is proposed aimed at providing all the comforts to make the cycle paths attractive and practicable, for a wide range of users (children, young people, adults, agonists, beginners, etc.). The redevelopment proposals include works aimed at securing and preserving buildings and transforming works through addition and grafting to promote sustainable development processes for a useful and appropriate reuse of abandoned resources. The transformative logic is based on the will to ensure the sustainability of design choices and the enhancement of local resources, above all through the control of safety performance, environmental protection, well-being, usability, management, integration and architectural quality of building systems.