“CITTÀ FLUVIALE”. NUOVI INSEDIAMENTI E QUARTIERI SPECIALISTICI TRA DINAMICHE DI FONDAZIONE, CRESCITA E DECLINO URBANO “RIVER CITIES”. NEW SETTLEMENTS AND SPECIALIZED DISTRICTS THROUGH THE DYNAMICS OF FOUNDATION, GROWTH AND URBAN DECLINE

River and city: a complex relationship and the reasons for their decline Historically, the evolution of Italian, European and global cities has always been based on a vital and necessary relationship with water resources and with watercourses capa- ble of constituting the main or complementary route and network of territorial, mari- time and lagoon communication. From the pre-Roman age to the 20th century, in the Mediterranean basin and through- out Europe, the robustness of waterways and landing and service structures has con- ditioned and stimulated overall urban development. In this context, urban, commer- cial and settlement infrastructures have changed thanks to the emergence of new and more extensive terrestrial networks, which have progressively marginalised the inner harbour districts, rendering their precious service infrastructure obsolete: docks, bridges, coastlines, tow paths, boat shelters. In Italy, the progressive impoverishment of the basins, the intensive exploitation of agricultural lands and post-industrial urban expansion have led to a profound restructuring and economic revision of the internal harbour operations of the lowlands, to the point of totally eliminating fundamental infrastructure profoundly bound to the historical urban identity of entire regions. Throughout the 20th century the destruction, burial or diversion of waterways and basins distorted the consolidated image of small, medium and large settlements, dis- rupting centuries-old social structures linked to the management of river trades, the transport and distribution of goods and their use as a driving force. A progressive loss of maintenance professions and crafts has erased opportunities and jobs that for centuries were associated This session therefore proposes the study and examination of case studies or comparative analy- ses of situations where the presence, evolution and loss of river infrastructure influenced or de- termined the definition of new urban, infrastructural, transport and manufacturing structures. We therefore propose a perspective open to the analysis of urban complexes and especially of local and immigrant communities that are less known or that have been completely neglected by historical research. Attention is paid to the most complex or remote evolutionary relationships that assume greater interest and importance in contemporary times, for example for the pur- poses of tourist, artistic and historical-environmental development, with interventions for the recovery, restoration and re-functionalisation of the works. Case studies: a look at the Italian, Mediterranean and continental reality The seven cases presented illustrate interesting – sometimes completely original – studies on internal port operations and on the management of waterways in different urban and territorial settings that must relate to the reality of the water basins and – sometimes contradictory – an- thropogenic projects. One of these is the essay “Acqua di Torino”. Specialised villages and development of the proto-in- dustrial city by Massimiliano Cantalupo and Agostino Magnaghi (here presented only by the first author). The authors shed light on a context engaged in renewed attempts at urban regener- ation that, starting from the early years of the 21st century, attempt the redemption of a margin- ality condemned to reiterate an ever-present urban decay. A physical and cultural landscape in many ways similar to that of Piedmont is described by Alessio A. Piano in Milan, the city of water. History, function and artistic representations of the Circle of the Navigli. This case set in Milan – from the decline of river networks to the rediscovery and proposed reopening of the Navigli – is a striking example of the changing fortunes of urban waterways in the more general context of environmental and urban regeneration initiatives. In Memory and rediscovery of a lost river: the Ilissos in Athens, Antonia Di Tuccio analyses the river-city relationship from a diachronic perspective, starting from antiquity when its banks were home to numerous religious and work activities and concluding with its “disappearance” in the mid-20th century, channelled under modern roads. In the paper Harbour decline. The relationship between urban pattern and use of water in Rome and Pisa, Valerio Cianfrocca looks into the relationship between the city and the river in medieval Italy, examining the reconfiguration of the urban fabric of the two cities studied. In this context, rivers lose their role as commercial routes to be exploited for their utility in the sustenance and well-being of the citizens. Other practical needs led to the diversion of Torrent Sa Riera in Palma de Mallorca. In Houses and urban spaces dictated by River Courses: Sa Riera Torrent (Palma) in the middle and modern ages Tina Sabater Sale analyses residential transformations, starting from the historical reconstruction of a block of stately buildings. The transformations that took place in Egypt between 1898 and 1960, especially the changes in river islands and coastal villages, are the topic addressed by Bruno Di Gesù in Transformations of the Nile Valley in Lower Nubia in the 20th century: the case of First Catara, discussing the complex relationships between the needs of Modernity and the protection of Heritage. Finally, in Living on waterways. How houseboating is urbanising European cities’ waterfronts Martina Callegaro takes a look at contemporary life, analysing the methods and reasons for a recent trend that is shaping the waterfronts of many European cities. The case studies of Amsterdam, Paris, London and Berlin illustrate the limits and possibilities of developing a dif- ferent and alternative way of experiencing the relationship between river and city. the river, but now have almost completely disappeared from collective memory.