"Renovation of Waterfront-Examples from
Waterfront and Ship Transportation in Italian Cities"
Satoshi Okuma
My
report is on the field survey of the cities in Italy, especially
on how citizens utilize waterfront spaces and on the status of
ship transportation. The target cities were as follows. (1)Seaside
cities: Genova, Portofino, and Pietra Santa. (2) River and canal
cities: Venice, Pavia, Firenze, Bassano, Treviso, Vicenza, Padova,
Pisa, and Milano. (3) Spaces composed by roadside canals, ponds,
springs and wells: Cittadella, Ferrara, Perugia and Orvieto. (4)
Ship transportation: Venezia and the Brenta River.
In the seaside city, Genova, the changes in industrial structures led to the
renovation of port areas. The renovation plan for wide areas has been carried
out step by step. The board walk built on the old quays and commercial facilities
converted from old warehouses, are gathering people again. In Portofino and Pietra
Santa, the castle, and landing bridge used for shipping marble, are restored
and utilized for villa or resort.
As for spaces utilizing rivers and canals, urban landscapes of Pavia, Firenze,
Bassano and Venice are characterized by covered bridges and bridges on which
commercial facilities were built. The demolished bridges at the time of flood
or the world war, have been restored based on their original designs, so as to
present the waterfront landscape same as before. At the foot of the bridge, the
boat club, boatslip, and places for playing with water are provided for citizens
to be near water in their daily life. In old towns in northern Italy, daily lives
and the waterfront keep close relationship; the waterside walkway, boatslips,
restaurants, cafes and residences in front of waterfront, roadside canals and
ponds, etc. We can see water is cherished in these cities; for example, wells
of accumulated rain water, fountains in a mountainous area supplied from waterways,
citizens' efforts to secure water source of springs and water supply from deep
wells, etc.
In Venice, though a too famous example of ship transportation, water buses and
water taxes are incessantly coming and going on Canal Grande, in addition to
sight-seeing gondolas and transport boats carrying daily commodities. Because
Canal Grande has only three bridges, gondolas are used for carrying citizens.
The personal boats and gondolas are fully utilized in narrower canals, along
which many boatslips are provided.
Sightseeing or personal pleasure boats compose a main part of river and canal
transportation, characterizing ship transportation in Italy. The Brenta River
was crowded with sightseeing boats around medieval villa and people playing with
water when we cruised for survey. In the middle of the river, several locks are
built so that boats navigate through different water levels. Bridges both for
roads and footpaths, turn and are pulled in, not to prevent the navigation of
boats.
By comparing cases in Italy and waterfront environments in Japan, as well as
based on case studies of waterfront renovation in Milano, Soeul and Osaka, I
aim to propose waterfront renovation plans for Tokyo.
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[Redevelopment
Plan of Port of Genova] |
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[Cittadella] |
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[Bassano] |
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[Lock
of the Brenta River] |
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[Naviglio
Canal] |
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"Study on
Cities and Architecture in Denmark-Urban Formation of the City
of Fort and Port: Copenhagen"
Nobuhiro Koyama
The
basis of Copenhagen had been established in the Middle Ages. The
formation process of this capital of Denmark, have deeply affected
the lifestyle, idea of design, welfare, Eco (ecology&economy),
etc.
The research aims to study new proposals for urban renovation and symbiosis with
environment, through the urban planning and architecture of Denmark.
It is said that Copenhagen had already existed about 800, near the present city
core, as a small fishing village. The place name can be found in the letters
of the Pope from the end of the 12th century. In the 13th century, the place
had been referred to as "Kopmannahafn" (port of merchants), which is
the origin of the present "Kobenhavn".
The King of Christian IV, who had come to crown in 1588, learned politics and
architecture, and implemented the urban planning which provided the basis of
the present city. At that time, the fort around the city had been expanded by
the king; the superb buildings had been built within the fort, and huge port
for navy had also been constructed. Until the end of the 17th century when the
king was dead, Copenhagen had become a mega city of port and fort.
Since a huge fire devastated the city in 1728, traditional half wood residences
changed to the buildings with facades of plaster and bricks. Because the city
has not been badly damaged for example by a war, the city street retains the
medieval cityscapes.
The fort could no more stand the pressure from the city's expansion, and was
removed in 1856; then the Copenhagen would expand rapidly.
Corresponding to the rapid increase in population around 1900, the city absorbed
the surrounding areas, reaching the present dimension. The "Finger Plan",
proposed as the development plan of rapidly developing Copenhagen in 1947, still
provides the basis of the present urban planning of the city.
Since the latter half of the 1990's, various plans have been promoted for urban
renovation; the construction of Oresund bridge linking between Denmark and Sweden
was completed in 2002, which brought about the major change in the axis of the
city. In addition, in Orestaden district between the bridge and city core of
Copenhagen, large new urban development is in process, focusing on waterfront
and Eco.
Various urban projects are implemented in all over the country including Copenhagen,
emphasizing environment.
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[Copenhagen
around 1500] |
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[Urban Transformation
of Copenhagen] |
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[Collapse
of City Wall] |
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[Finger
Plan: Plan for City Expansion (1947)] |
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[Wind-power
Generation at Sea in Copenhagen (2001)] |
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