Proposal of project of a green area in Vallecrosia, Imperia
Scientific study over the bio-potential of the green areas and their connections
Design finished (April 2009)
In the Vallecrosia county the ferocious urbanization process that has hit the whole Ligurian region during the sixties and seventies has deteriorated and in most parts ruined the coastal and inland landscape.
Years of poor care of all the urban and extra urban green and public areas have left the city with a large burden of arduous problems of both environmental and visual impact.
This thick study has analysed the ”landscape system” of the Vallecrosia county with a specific scientific system that follows the concept of bio-potencial taught by the professor Ingegnoli.
The system of territorial elaboration is based on the quality of ”well-being” (biomass, oxygen production, assimilation of urban pollution, habitat for animal and vegetation species) that every single analysed area of the landscape has and his interactions with the whole system.
In the Vallecrosia county the data shows a very low amount of bio-potential mostly not because of the absence of porous areas (farmland, woods, suburban areas) but mostly because of the poor connections between them.
The project aims therefore to improve the links between areas with focused interventions. Operations of naturistic engineering will be used to improve the connections and interactions between the different areas strengthening their links.
The project includes the replantation and rejuvenation of a hillside that was completely burnt down over 15 years ago.
The list of new trees includes the ”pinus halepensis” and the ”pinus pinaster”. For the intervention to be successful some soil terraces with sustaining elements in order to gain more fertile ground and smooth the extreme angle of inclination of the site.
The living palisade is one of the most basic systems of naturalistic engineering. It is based on (using as much as possible elements from the site) the creation of a small palisade not higher than 50/60 cm, sustained by two or more pickets. Filled up with fertile soil, once the tree is planted, the palisade will slowly fade and disappear living the time to the tree to settle strengthening the surrounding ground with his new roots.
Another intervention will try to rejuvenate the lawns around the edges of the Verbone river sustaining them both with iron cages and living palisades.
