“Our country’s natural beauty is not our achievement. What we can achieve is to improve suburbs, the fragile part of cities, as they can become beautiful.” Renzo Piano
The first article of the latest issue of magazine ‘Arredo & Città’, edited by by Museo Italiano della Ghisa (Italian Cast Iron Museum), devoted to suburbs and their regeneration, starts with a quote by Renzo Piano.
As manufacturers of city furniture and lighting installations, the future of suburbs is particularly close to our hearts.
From the analysis of great renovation projects to the new strategies these test out, sensitive not only to economic but also to social issues, and able to involve citizens in the redefinition process, this issue of the magazine offers a lot of food for thought and we highly recommend it.
Urban regeneration is to be intended first of all as recovering what is in existence, not erasing it. This attitude can be found in many regeneration projects for social housing neighbourhoods that have taken place in various European countries. Even in Italy there is a move towards this direction, although with greater difficulties, as can be seen from the numerous projects presented by the issue's authors.
Situations are constantly evolving and nothing is ever solved once and for all. The interpretations provided by the magazine through the numerous examples described help engage the reader and not to overlook those approaches that, at any rate, have been shown to be effective.