Friuli Venezia Giulia: il riuso di grandi caserme dismesse come occasione per nuove strategie urbanistiche in centri di piccole e medie dimensioni / Friuli venezia Giulia: the reuse of large abandoned barracks as opportunity for new planning strategies in small and medium urban centres

After World War II, Friuli Venezia Giulia has become one of the most militarized regions in Italy and in Europe. What remains today is a huge estate of abandoned barracks, originally created to accommodate hundreds of men, localized in a territory with small and scattered urban centers. Another specificity of this regional autonomous administration with a special status stands in the transfer procedures from the State, to the Region itself and to the Local authorities, where recent important innovations in valorization processes can be highlighted. Carried out since 2009, through research and didactic activities developed at the Master degree in Architecture of the University of Trieste, this study intends to provide design, governance and management guidelines for the activation of re-use processes of decommissioned barracks in small and medium-sized towns. On a territorial and urban scale, particular attention is paid to assessing the strategic role of the former military settlements with reference to the functioning of the urban centers as a whole, to their perspectives of economic development, to the demands from local lifestyles. On the scale of the specific sites, the research provides technical issues referring to: reclamation processes, fixing/demolition/replacement of existing buildings and open spaces; relations with landscape systems; conditions of accessibility and mobility; creation of innovative spaces for housing, equipment and welfare services; energy saving and production from renewable sources.