Living along the river: feasibility hypotheses at the urban scale for services and equipment in the Val Bisenzio

The results of the research were preceded by a study that established the general framework in which the two main sub-systems were examined: the combined residence and services system for Vernio and the one devoted to tourism and hospitality for Montepiano. In both systems a series of areas and buildings to be rehabilitated were identified, within an overall design that was agreed upon and verified in accordance with the objectives of the structural plan. From the cognitive analysis of the structural plan we know that “the system of settlements of the municipality of Vernio is constituted by a network of mountain and hill centres and nuclei, with complex territorial relationships based on the central role of the Val di Bisenzio and on smaller settlements, mostly on the slopes of the hills, each with its own specific environmental, historical and landscape qualities. The main objective is that of maintaining the identity of the individual urban nuclei as a necessary condition for containing building expansion which continues to consume the territory. The establishment of new residences is motivated by the expected construction of a surface metropolitan line in the current plan. Another element which characterises the plan is the “re-constitution of the permeability between the built areas and the surrounding natural environment through small-scale interventions aimed at rediscovering and rehabilitating a traditional aggregation model which today is in the process of disappearing, with the aim of reconstructing the multiplicity of interactions between historical and architectural assets and the consolidated qualities of the territory”.