URBACT III 2nd chance:Waking up the sleeping giants
Activation of vacant buildings and building complexes for a sustainable urban development2016-2018 / Reactivation of the former Caserma Gavoglio, GenoaContracting authority: European Regional Development Fun URBACT III, Action Planning NetworkLead partners: Nils Scheffler (Urban Expert Berlin) and Gaetano Mollura (Urban Planning Department, Comune di Napoli)
Project team (Genoa/Italy): Anna Iole Corsi (Municipality / Community Outreach), Christiano Lepratti and Silvia Pericu (University of Genoa)Cooperating cities: Naples (Italy), Brussels (Belgium), Caen (France), Chemnitz (Germany), Dubrovnik (Croatia), Gijon (Spain), Liverpool (UK), Lublin (Poland), Maribor (Slovenia), Porto (Portugal), Genoa (Italy)Project brochureUrban GuidebookGood Practices compilationVideo "Voices from the Sleeping Giants"
The intention of the URBACT network is to bring together partners from 11 European municipalities with pilot sites, composed by large empty buildings and building complexes near or in the city centre which "resist" to be redeveloped or reused. The network will support the partners to exchange experiences, share ideas, and develop new approaches. The objective to re-activate these "Sleeping Giants" and implement uses, providing space for what is needed in the neighbourhood / city and supporting an appropriation through indefinite users and a strategic use of these premises under consideration of the common good. The u Lab is collaborating as a consulting partner with the city administration and university of Genoa, within the Action Planning Network URBACT III. The Caserma Gavoglio is a former military base in Genoa, property of the Italian State and already partially transferred to the municipality. It is an extensive underused urban void, located close to the city centre in a dense and disadvantaged urban district called Lagaccio. A successive revitalization of the buildings and the terrain are planned and part of the land will be available to the community for public use.
An action-planning workshop was carried out to evaluate how the concept of urban commons can be an important driver in the reactivation process of the Caserma Gavoglio and its embodiment in the neighbourhood context development. During the workshop, all involved parties, such as planners, architects, municipalities, private actors, and citizens, shared good practices and combined their experience to develop spatial plans and development strategies, tools, and instruments.
Action-planning workshop
Later on, the results of the meeting in Genoa were gathered in a report and brought into the further development of the local action plan. The specific goals include the incorporation of space/ interest of different stakeholders into the area, to respond to the geographical challenge as being situated on top of a water retention basin, and the development of a process structure that allows a step-wise reactivation of the area. It is planned to establish a cooperative planning and co-designing practice, incorporating private institutions and citizens.
Educational social parkMaster plan
CasermaFloor plans
PermeabilityCross-section
Urban parkPerspective
The urban guidebook provides guidance and ideas to city administrations and practitioners on how to reactivate and reuse vacant buildings for a sustainable development of European cities, based on the experience of the 11 cities from the 2nd Chance Network. In detail, it presents the opportunities and benefits that the reactivation of large vacant buildings can provide, six key activities to initiate the reactivation process, and solutions to the challenges posed by waking up a "sleeping giant". The good practice compilation presents policies, programmes, and actions applied by the 2nd Chance Partners (and beyond), to reactivate abandoned buildings and sites. A focus of the strategy is to reach a large number of supporters and potential users to become engage in the reactivation process.