Il riuso delle caserme dismesse in Friuli Venezia Giulia: da presidi militari strategici a motore di nuove strategie urbanistiche / The reuse of abandoned barracks in Friuli Venezia Giulia: from strategic military defences to drivers of new planning strategies

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 the 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. At an urban and territorial 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 local lifestyles. At 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.