Motorway and landscape

A research project on the Autostrada A22 (i.e. A22 toll motorway) - project coordinated by the department DICAM of the University of Trento – is on display at the Mart, from Friday 16 January

[ Ricerca Unitn "InfrA22scape"]

First the streets, then the motorways (the latter being built mainly to support Italy’s development, to assert emergence from poverty and Italy’s boom) play a primary role in joining several places of an area, rather than just joining areas.

According to a lot of policy areas and to the public opinion, building new roads represents a new opportunity for “development”. But it is not so: development can be gained by other means, not just with road links.

Autostrada A22, the motorway which the project deals with, connects the Po Valley with heart of the Alps: from Modena to Brennero, about 314 kilometres track along Corridor 1 (Berlin / Palermo) to Monaco and then further north in the heart of Europe.

The exhibition aims at showing that the old infrastructure keeps on causing traffic and pollution; new and intelligent alternatives are emerging: entertainment, stops, artistic and cultural experiences, wine and food tours will be part of a different way of using tomorrow’s motorways. In fact, they will be closely tied to the places they cross, which will have to be enhanced for their extraordinariness and uniqueness.

Service areas, anti-noise protections, overpasses and devices for alternative energy will have to feature higher architectural quality and be environmentally-friendlier.

Giuseppe (Pino) Scaglione - Exhibition scientific head, professor of urban desing at the University of Trento

13/01/2015