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The Landscape Produces Innovative Strategies for Lo-cal Communities (Innovative Cultural Marketing Plan for Ager Cuprensis’s Area)
Roberta Angelini
SAD School of Architecture and Design – University of Camerino. [email protected]
KEYWORDS: community, coastal landscape, marketing plan, cultural heritage, tourism ABSTRACT
In the last decade a quality coastal landscape has generated job and investment opportunities for entrepre-neurs and discovery of attractiveness for the local community: a number of sites for building renovations and for public works, public investment in cultural development, diversified offers for a beach natural and cultural tourism, enhancement the resident population. The base of this positive trend, limited in numbers but explo-sive in the involvement of various sectors of human life, are a series of project actions and policies directly related to the character of the place. Cupra Marittima, in the southern Marche, is a site of ancient memory, the headquarters of Ager Cuprensis that extends into the territories between the rivers Aso and Tesino, and has a lot of historical, archaeological and natural values. The idea of an innovative marketing plan has taken life from these basic conditions and aims to give the assets the character of “system” in all its complexity, producing actions, projects and policies to restore values, consistency and quality to individual parts, too long confined in its own. The connective value of the landscape is expressed through a precious floristic area and extensive ilex grove on the hill, a rare shape of sand dune, a hill with olives and pines, gardens and vegetable gardens along the city walls, naturalistic paths, reinforced by the presence of a walled historical center, a castle with a tower, an archaeological site, a solitary parish church, several palaces and many scattered assets.The identification and functionalization of all the value elements of the system has developed enhancement and management optimi-zation of tourism and receptivity, but also new opportunities for study reports and knowledge related to the history of the place, for years carried out by cultural sector and local activities, being an impetus to the local activities and a reference to a chance to live in this community.
The awareness of living a transition process that regards a society and an economy in trouble and that, in recent years, has become a real lifestyle, brought some Italian regions to react to events through renewed adaptive ways, involving local people, basic economies and public administrations.
The social and economic crisis has determined, in affected populations, a great sense of uncertain-ty, and, also, a great determination towards the reaction, supported sometimes by creative public policies and good private practices that have been able to get away from processes caused by extreme external agents. So, actions and projects that have encouraged research and technologi-cal innovation, skilled employment and strengthening of smart technologies, have often completed a social and economic change of course. However, this has not always been enough to stand the shock in some regions such as Marche, structured and grown into a smaller and regional produc-tion network, comprehensively distributed throughout family economies and raised in a few dis-tricts of productive sectors. This necessarily has stimulated the search for different points of view to withstand the stresses, causing, in local communities, a different ‘resilience’ as a result of different absorption, adaptation and transformation capacities.
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Often the place where a local community originated, has preserved recognizable characteris-tics for its inhabitants, able to adapt to different historical periods and different needs, always providing a reference to the local lifestyle. The presence of an articulated landscape and di-versified ecosystems has been able to provide valuable support to its inhabitants’ quality of life and to generate sustainable economic development (Scolozzi, Morri, Santolini, 2012). In these cases the presence of a natural capital has placed a resistance to external shocks safe-guarding the people and constituting a starting point or an incentive to active transformation of lifestyles. In this way, some areas, more than others, have had, at its disposal, a substrate of resources that can be used to build more persuasive development cases, on which the local communities efforts, the interests of investors and some government prospects of adminis-trations, have been directed.
The hypothesis is applied to the territory Cuprensis Ager, along the coast of the Middle Adri-atic, extended between the rivers Tesino and Aso, where the town of Cupra Marittima, which has several natural, archaeological and historical valuable elements, is the urban core of refer-ence. The Ager Cuprensis, rich in agricultural soils with high productivity in the hills among Grottammare, Ripatransone, Campofilone and Montefiore, in the context of the V° Regio of Roman Italy extending from these hills to the coast, overseen by Civita on the right of the Menocchia stream, which was the natural landing place in the Paleolithic era (Colucci, 1791).
The strategic role of the town is consolidated, later, when the village of Saint Andrew and of Boccabianca, and the medieval historic center of Marano born, and goes on until the nine-teenth century when the settlement is housed in the coastal plain with installation of the seaside village and of the modern town. There has been no overlapping of these tissues in different historical periods, but a presence, on the territory, of recognizable and independent urban, classical, Roman, medieval and nineteenth century plots, which tell the clearly story of urban planning even where the signs of aging have partly damaged the structural integrity.
This great wealth of archaeological and historical remains would not be so exceptional if it were not held together by an extraordinary bonding like the landscape of the Marches, ar-ticulated in different spaces and places even at various settlements. The Ager Cuprensis still manages to manifest its own presence by preserving its original morphology, hills, knolls and crags, river and coastal plains, coast, coastal dunes and beaches, through cultivated areas, and characterized mainly by olive and fruit trees and recently, by vegetable crops and farms, and through natural areas such as the Mediterranean bush, the floristic area, the pinewood, the holm oak woodland, riparian and compliant with sand vegetation.
The idea of the “Marketing Plan for an Integrated Cultural System” comes to life from the basic conditions of the territory of Cupra Marittima: the variety of natural, historical and archaeo-logical elements forms the plot, in which, nowadays and in the past, stories of life and work of people who had settled here, joined up. All this may contribute to determine the importance of the places and to aspire to a prospect for the strengthening of the most favorable conditions to the socioeconomic development of the territory, setting tools and procedures for an “exempla-ry”, quality and sustainable project. The change of perspective that goes from the consideration of such goods as ‘individual elements’ in the territory to that of ‘integrated cultural system’ is
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UNISCAPE En-Route - a. I - n. 2 - 2015❝60 61❞ the innovative strategy of marketing plan, which aims to transform the ‘importance’ inherent in each of them into a ‘value’ for the entire territory. The project aims to give the identified goods the character of “system” legible in all its complexity, producing actions to restore value, consistency and quality of the individual parts that were, too long confined in their own being referential. Each element of this system is brought out one another “if” and “as” part of a rec-ognizable landscaped area and in a systematic pattern that has the sense of a route, not simply as measurable and conceivable, but taking on the values of a composed system of independent elements that can be activated separately and for different excerpts and complementary ele-ments that both enhance the wealth and the several resources of the Ager territory, as the base of a unique and innovative concept in the field of territorial marketing. (Fig. 1)
The main projects concern Interventions and Actions:
• Natural Archeological Park: enhancement of the archaeological site integrated into the historical-archaeological-naturalistic local and territorial features.
The area of the archaeological park, with the presence on the site of the ancient town of Cupra, has an important installation of historic archaeological recognition. The operations involved a campaign of excavations in the Roman forum and basilica, mapping, surveying
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Fig. 1: Pattern of the Marketing Plan
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UNISCAPE En-Route - a. I - n. 2 - 2015and restoration of archaeological sites, the lighting of the site, the perimeter and the iden-tification of access and dedicated signage.
• Park and Castle of Sant’Andrea: renovation of historic and natural site as a center of the territorial system through the development of management services and cultural activities.
This site locates the site of the old village, that has the same name. The present castle was, in the past, the church (first half of the the XII century) and it was one of the forti-fied towns of the Piceno coast. It is located in a place that makes this area unique and an undoubtedly fascinating environment. The view that discovers the coast in the north and in the south, the relationship with the historic center of Marano, the easy accessibility and visibility that it has from the coast, make this place a point of great interest both environ-mental and historical.
• Urban Park inside and outside the walls of the old town of Marano: redevelopment of the historic nature system of the village in the stretch of wall as a support to the use of urban spaces and cultural containers.
The historic center is located on a spur of the Piceno hill topped by castle walls overlook-ing the sea. The overall buildoverlook-ing structure has elements of great historical interest: from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century, stratifications and juxtapositions of entities, make it a great historical and architectural center besides of particular value to the con-siderable presence of green areas and for its beautiful locations overlooking the sea.
• Ancient nature trails: enhancement and restoration of the ancient distances between dif-ferent nodes of the local cultural system network.
Human movement in the ancient villages and among the elements scattered throughout the area, for life, work and devotion reasons, has lain dormant traces of a trail network, detectable directly or through descriptions and historical designs, which are the basis of operations of recovery and reutilization. (Fig. 2)
The marketing Plan has suggested a number of actions aimed at physical enhancing of identi-fied material goods, but also at the development of activities that require effective contribu-tion of the institucontribu-tions and the local business world. Exceeding the static concepcontribu-tion of each individual asset (or place) identified in the system toward an opening to a series of actions that can support their business enhancement as a good and the use as a place, through an exchange of relations between intrinsic value and economic resource. It has been thought in co-financing of structural interventions supported by sponsorships entrepreneurial, forms of management granted to associations and/or local cooperatives, and training activities related to the teaching of the territory from primary levels to specialization ones.
• Operations research and excavation in the Natural Archeological Park are related to the implementation of a range of services related to the use of the place, as the point of reception and management of the park (information, guesthouse, ...) and the didactic mu-seum. The impact on the socio-economic system concerns the possibility of management through the local network of cultural associations, the initiation of study activities with
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primary schools on the themes of archeology, but also high professional collaborations and experiment (center studies) with national and international institutions of this field.
• The equipment of the natural park around the ruined village of St. Andrew moves in the direction of an integrated enhancement of the site, already used in the viewpoint and in the green theater for cultural events. A range of support services to the use of the site, such as the panoramic square for cultural events, the parking area, the info-box, the re-freshment rooms, the media room and the exhibition hall, representing the opportunity to start promotional, tourist and commercial activities, supporting the economy and cultural tourist vocation of the town, providing logistical support also to initiatives in progress (typical markets, cultural events, conferences and thematic exhibitions, etc.). (Fig. 3)
• The historic center of Marano entering in the system with already carried out initiatives (resto-ration of the old flooring, recovery of the caves, consolidation the ridges, recovery of the squares, building renovations) and with the goal of the Municipal to aim an integrated redevelopment, covering the housing stock, the allocation of the green, and especially the presence of social and economic activities. Uncultivated areas along the walls, landscape and history high-value, allow you to create new urban places for amusements, leisure and culture, denoting the operation as a redevelopment project that invests a currently totally degraded area in the historic center.
• The several landscape assets as the floristic area of San Basso, the holm oak wood, the coastal dune, the park of St. Andrew and the walk along the walls, by their nature become
Fig. 2: Places of the project (excerpt from projects of the municipality of Cupra Marittima)
the connective tissue of the historical and cultural system, providing comprehensive mate-rial for the study and mapping of essences, for the direct use of green areas and for the integrated protection of the places image that might not have the high value they have, if the natural environment does not maintain its integrity and its high aesthetic value. Within these areas, through the choice of enhancement and restoration of existing natural paths, creating new links between the ancient rows, taking care of typical plants in a poor state of repair and re-planting in situ those which have documented evidence, the rationaliza-tion of the green system is particularly important. These acrationaliza-tions are strongly tied to local development because of great importance in studies and in maintenance experiments and facility related to the activities of the Picena nursery coast.
Finally, with respect to innovative cultural perspective, the marketing plan aims to shift from traditional local community to the realization of a “Connected Community”, where network tech-nologies enable to obtain a dual purpose: to keep together through the Internet, far off sites (the municipalities of Ager) and mediate socio cultural connections inside the Community with the help of dedicated interactive multimedia languages. You create a system that allows to access and receive global information through the net, and, at the same time, it matures and strength-ens a relationship among local community places and sites of the same system, developing the theme of a network that is sustainable too. To exist, every community needs the recognition
Fig. 3: Some works made.
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UNISCAPE En-Route - a. I - n. 2 - 2015❝64 65❞ of its roots and own memory, and communication and sharing of information related to the character of the place can be a contemporary form of social bonding.
In the last decade this high quality coastal landscape has created job opportunities and in-vestment for entrepreneurs and a rediscovery of attractiveness for the local community: a number of sites for building renovations and for public works, public investment in cultural development, diversified offers for seaside, natural and cultural tourism, enhancement of the resident population. At the basis of this positive trend, limited in numbers but explosive in the involvement of various sectors of human life, actions and policies directly related to the character of the place but directed toward an innovative perspective of management and frui-tion, have been planned. This has increased and optimized tourist flows and receptivity, it has developed new opportunities for cultural relations, and has been an element of pulse to local activities and a reference in the choice of living here.
References
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Caroli M.G., 2006, Il marketing territoriale. Strategie per la competitività sostenibile del territorio, Franco Angeli, Milano Carta, M., 2002, L’armatura culturale del territorio.Il patrimonio culturale come matrice di identità e strumento di
svi-luppo, Franco Angeli, Milano
Chiariello S., 2007, Il marketing territoriale. Principi e tecniche operative per favorire lo sviluppo delle imprese e attrarre nuovi investimenti, Franco Angeli, Milano
Colucci G., Delle antichità picene, 1791, Tomo XIII, Dai Torchi dell’Autore, Fermo
Lagravinese R., 2014, “Crisi economiche e resilienza regionale”, EyesReg Giornale di Scienze Regionali, Vol.4, N.2 Lanzani A., Pasqui, G., 2011, L’Italia al futuro. Città e paesaggi, economie e società, Franco Angeli, Milano
Scolozzi R., Morri E., Santolini R, 2012, “Territori sostenibili e resilienti: la prospettiva dei servizi ecosistemici”, Territorio n.60, 167-175.
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