Siracusa strategy

place: Italy | Sicily | Siracusa
type: professional work
design: august 2013
cooperation: External Reference Architects

SWOT analisys

TURN TOWN TOWARDS THE SEA Main aim for the strategy is a complex intervention in this areas, by turning their interests into direction which gives the most opportunities for development – towards the seacoast. Activation of seafront, taking advantage of it´s possibilities may give a real profit for those neighbourhoods. An integrated approach to promote the traditional industries, the tourist services, and the cultural activities might be the solution.

POTENTIAL Current potential of Siracusa is concentrated around archeological heritage, old town of Ortiga, marinas and seacoast. Nethertheless there is no common strategy for those places, there are not connected or related to each other.

NETWORK Proposed strategy create a common network of points of interests. All of them are in walkable distance from each other up to 15 min. walk. Some of the hotspots already exist and they need just a small and simple intervention to make them more attractive, some other needs to be created.

IMPROVING After the hotspots are created the pathswhich connect them to each other will become more intensively used, they will get their own identity and characteristic. Improving quality of the streets will be followed by requalification of public spacesand introduction of public facilities.

INFECTING Requalification of main paths and public space will ¨infect¨ the positive effect into surrounding. That will trigger their development and bring the life to public space. Spreading domino-like effect will continue
to affect further and further neighbourhoods injecting new quality of public space and better quality of life.

HOTSPOTS Intoduction of hotspots is not coincidential, it creates a networksurrounding the city. It is supposed to cause an acupunctural” effectby adding a new layer of good spatial and architectural quality in certain points. That will affect the neighbourhoods andwork like a kind of a matrix which will encourage the development.Hotspots must differ in character to provide variety of possibilitiesand to avoid monotony and sameness. All of them must have their own identity.