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Associazione Italiana di Cartografia STUDI MONOGRAFICI
3
Direttoreresponsabile / eDitorin Chief
Giuseppe Scanu (Presidente / President AIC) ViCeDirettore responsabile / ViCe eDitorin Chief
Andrea Favretto (Vicepresidente / Vice President AIC) ComitatoDi reDazione / eDitorial boarD
Camillo Berti, Caterina Madau, Giovanni Mauro, Cinzia Podda, Maria Ronza, Paola Zamperlin
Comitato sCientifiCo / sCientifiC Committee
Giuseppe Borruso (Presidente / President)
Vittorio Amato, Università di Napoli Federico II; Teresa Amodio, Università di Salerno; Margherita Azzari, Università di Firenze; Giuseppe Borruso, Università di Trieste; Laura Canali, Redazione di Limes; Andrea Cantile, Università di Firenze – IGM; Laura Cassi, Università di Firenze; Elena Dai Prà, Università di Trento; Carlo Donato, Università di Sassari; Andrea Favretto, Università di Trieste; Francesca Krasna, Università di Trieste; Piergiorgio Landini, Università di Pescara-Chieti; Lamberto Laureti, Università di Pavia; Lorenzo Papa, Università di Genova – IIM; Dusan Petrovic, University of Ljubljana; Marco Pierozzi, IIM; Sergio Pinna, Università di Pisa; Maria Prezioso, Università di Roma2; Mariagiovanna Riitano, Università di Salerno; Luigi Scrofani, Università di Catania;
Gianmarco Ugolini, Università di Genova; Domenico Tacchia, ISPRA – Serv. Geol. d’It.
Questo volume è integralmente disponibile online a libero accesso nell’archivio digitale OpenstarTs, al link: https://www.openstarts.units.it/handle/10077/12839
In copertina:
la trasformazione del territorio nell’accostamento virtuale tra Google Satellite e la Carta topografica delle Province Meridionali (1862-1876) in corrispondenza della Reggia di Caserta.
Dalla
via
Appia
alla
città
policentrica:
Caserta
e
il
suo
territorio
Maria Ronza
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From the Appian Way
to the polycentric urban system:
Caserta and its territory
Summary
For southern Italy, the Appian Way has represented not only a principal connec-ting artery but also a factor of territorial cohesion which shaped socio-economic events, influenced patterns of settlement, and changed the landscape. Part of an environmental context – the Campanian Plain – characterised by extremely fertile soils and flourishing agriculture, the route known as the Regina viarum contribu-ted to the formation and gradual consolidation of urban centres which represent focal points in the territorial organization. Since Roman times, these urban centres have answered the various needs of local communities and political power. They lie along the route of the Appian Way, which in turn brought intense commercial exchange and economic relations, creating what was basically a “system” of lo-cal potential, specificity and skills. These centres did not lose their individuality, which had been shaped by their history and identity: instead, they began to deve-lop their own specific roles and these complemented each other to such an extent that they appeared to the outside as a coherent, integrated whole. The strategic position of the area – connecting southern and central-northern Italy, lying betwe-en the Apbetwe-ennines inland and the coastal belt – simply betwe-enhanced this intrinsic role, and increased its productivity and range of functions.
Starting from a historical and geographical analysis of the Campanian Plain crossed by the Appian Way, the aim of the study is to describe the phases in a complex process of settlement which led separate centres to constitute an urban continuum. Although they were different as regards the connotations of the site they occupied, their urban plan, when they were founded, and their political and administrative roles and occupational structure, they became what is described as a “continuous city” or the “Casertan conurbation”.
A quantitative analysis of census data in a diachronic perspective was used to identify the demographic and economic reasons behind a chaotic urban expansion
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which, from the 1950s onwards, changed the features of well-established territo-rial organization. However, the study also intends to emphasize that the interac-tion and integrainterac-tion between these centres cannot be seen as a short-term process. On the contrary, it is to be seen as an integral feature of the territory, a structural element intrinsic to its nature. The roots of what it is on its way to becoming, despite environmental crises and organizational difficulties, namely a polycentric city, are to be identified in the Appian Way, the catalyst for communities, activi-ties, cultural interaction and trade flows.
The changes associated with urbanization and industrialization came about in an area that was ready to adopt them: they fell on fertile ground. It might be said that these changes are a tangible expression of immaterial relationships already present in the centres located along the Appian Way.
A study of the cartographic sources makes it possible not only to identify the main phases of urban expansion. In an apparently homogeneous landscape, it also reveals historic centres, archeological sites and defensive structures, and nume-rous building complexes of architectural or cultural value, some because of their connection to what is produced in the territory.
The study also makes considers in a critical perspective those diseconomies resulting from the coexistence of designated uses of the land which clash with each other. By now, areas designated for industrial development have been ab-sorbed into residential areas subject to intense commuter traffic; agricultural systems renowned for their high levels of growth and productivity have been divided up by roadways and shopping centres; structures of cultural significance have lost their identity in contexts where the building quality is low, and the lan-dscape scarred by the presence of quarries the whole length of the pre-Apennine side of the Campanian Plain. The Appian Way, a territorial icon of undeniable historical and cultural value, has itself been impoverished of meaning and value for both insiders and outsiders. Along certain sections, the Regina viarum has had to bow to the logistic requirements of wholesale distribution and industrial production; in other sections, it responds to the advertising needs of countless retail and food outlets.
A fragmented management of a territorial context which, as is made clear by the aerial photos and satellite images, has occurred within a unified urban orga-nism, only exacerbates those diseconomies of agglomeration typically associated with cities having a large population and a complex history of urban growth . Low levels of integrated mobility, open waste and rubbish dumps, land reclaimed for industrial use, air pollution, a shortage of green areas and places for socializing and free time activities are just some of the problems caused by a lack of supra-municipal urban planning in recent decades.
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At the same time, an analysis of the census data regarding the manufacturing and services sectors indicates a gradual process of socio-economic cohesion. Until the 1950s, only the main centres possessed the functions typical of urban areas, but over the following decades there was a general spread of health, educational, financial and commercial services. Until then, the centres involved in this pro-cess had played a marginal role, having an economy based on agriculture and animal husbandry. In some cases, these places were chosen as sites of Industrial Development Areas, which brought about a change in the occupational structure, previously focused on agriculture and related activities. Subsequently, the con-struction of shopping malls close to the main traffic junctions outside the urban area further reinforced the economic role of these specific areas.
There was a positive trend in commercial activity and in services for businesses and residents, which reduced inbalances and guaranteed urban standards to all the centres in the system. Moreover, these areas also saw a marked trend towards complementarity and functional specialization, as regards high-level services and the numbers of businesses according to type of activity.
Although Caserta obviously plays an important political and administrative role, it is a city which, for historical and geographical reasons, fails to represent a true magnet for economic activity and potential residents. Whereas there are various centres which do exert an attraction because they possess one or more fun-ctions either exclusively or to a greater degree than the other nodes in the system.
This complementarity is not the result of a planned design or unified direction; as mentioned above, it is a typical, structural characteristic of the area under exa-mination. The study attempts to highlight the potential represented by an urban organism which is not characterized by a centre-periphery dualism and by the functional gradient connected to that traditional model of urban expansion.
This represents a competitive advantage, awareness of which needs to be foste-red and acted upon by local authorities and institutions so that the management of the territory takes a synergic approach. If it were possible to overcome those pro-blems which prevent the local milieu from expressing the best of itself, and instead produce an image of a totally degraded and dequalified area, then all the potential of a polycentric urban system – an entity with a significant population and good functional standards – could be realized in full. In that way, all of its parts, from the distant outskirts to the areas at the heart of the system would be contributing to economic growth, social development and improvement of the territory.
The Appian Way is, at one and the same time, the cornerstone and the backbo-ne of this structure, the site and symbol of an ongoing process, of a constant striving towards an urban model which is better balanced and more respectful of communities, of cultural heritage, and of expectations for the future.
