ON THE TRACKS OF TIME: From repair to regeneration.

The thesis explores possible regenerative practices applied to the area of the former Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Florence, which has been abandoned for almost 20 years. This railway complex, rich of industrial archaeology, is reinterpreted as a matrix of transformation and an opportunity for a more sustainable and inclusive urban development.

The aim of the project is to reconnect the new urban pole with the fabric of the city, on a physical but also social level, so as to achieve a continuity with the context that transcends architectural or design aspects. The regenerative approach used has moved along three distinct tracks: THE TRACK OF THE PAST: With the intention of enhancing the memory and history of the railway workshops, the proposal includes a museum that tells the story of the O.G.R. and the Resistance, which opposed the German occupiers in these same places during World War II. The project also envisages the recovery of the track system and some important historical artefacts. THE TRACK OF THE PRESENT: The abandoned buildings of the workshops have been transformed into canvases for the writers who, with their works, have personalised and characterised this place. Somehow this process of overwriting, by the street artists, gives a new identity to the area, which the project safeguards by recovering and repositioning the works. A workshop will also be set up in which the artists will be equipped with everything they need for their practice in order to preserve and implement this creative identity. THE TRACK OF THE FUTURE: In this phase, the consolidation of the area is addressed through the design of the landscape structure that defines its margins. This, consisting of the system of open spaces serving the inhabitants, aims to become an active place for citizenship. In addition, the new vegetation structure will promote biodiversity, improve air quality and combat the heat island effect. The design of a high-density urban fabric prototype is then explored: in this 'city of 5 minutes', life is more sustainable, thanks to reduced travel and the proximity of services, public functions and social opportunities. This neighbourhood is the object of greatest design and conceptual effort within the research. It is a 2.0 city prototype that aims to become an aggregative pole and to create new urban scenarios, enhancing the system of relationships with history, place and inhabitants.