Urban ruins in historical centres. An integrated methodology for sustainable interventions in Cagliari, Sardinia

Abstract

The present contribute is focused on the role that ruins play in historical centres in terms of meaning, testimony, values and opportunity. Ruined structures in fact, are still more frequently misunderstood places and the debate over how best to preserve them continues among academics the world over, raising questions that merit further investigation. After an historical and contemporary outline of theoretical and practical tendencies to ruins internationally, with an in-depth analysis and comparison of the Anglo-Saxon and Italian approaches and methods, the aim is to delineate a transdisciplinary and integrated methodology that allows the investigation and enhancement of the strategic values of such artefacts and their potential contribution to the sustainable requalification of historic urban cores. This study considers the historic centre of Cagliari, the regional capital of Sardinia characterised by a high presence of medieval ruins, as an opportunity to re-consider these problems on a local scale. In this city, the wrecks left in the aftermath of aerial bombardment by the Allies during the WWII, represent something of a blight on the landscape beyond the mere presence of fallen masonry and overgrown vegetation. They also represent an absence, a series of empty spaces located in nodal points of the historic centre that neither have a current function or any plans for future use.