Futura: Politecnico's strategic master plan for Salsomaggiore
Presented to architects, urban planners and historians from all over Europe at the international conference “Le città di Igiea” (The Cities of Igiea)
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Salsomaggiore spa,the international conference “Le città di Igiea, luoghi termali fra memoria e progetto” (The Cities of Igiea, Spa Places between Memory and Design) took place, bringing dozens of experts including architects, urban planners and historians from all over Europe to Salsomaggiore.
After World War I, Palazzo Berzieri set the artistic trend of Art Deco spa buildings. These two days discusses the time, form and place of that cultural context
explains Emilio Faroldi, Executive Vice Rector of Politecnico di Milano and scientific coordinator of the conference.
The strategic master plan signed by the Politecnico di Milano, was also illustrated which will shape the form and new destiny of Salsomaggiore. It is a project by the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, implemented in synergy with the Municipality of Salsomaggiore and the operational tools of the new General Urban Plan (“PUG”).
We called it Futura
explains Maria Pilar Vettori, professor at our School of Architecture. A Lucio Dalla quote, certainly, but also, after Igiea, another feminine noun for the creative energy that will give new life to Salsomaggiore.
"Futura is the acronym for ‘Forme urbane termali fra urbanistica, rigenerazione ed architettura’ (Spa Urban Forms between urban planning, regeneration and architecture), and is above all something new and far-reaching: we started in 2017 interviewing residents and an open debate with the city and its representatives, imagining a polycentric place capable of offering that physical and functional fusion that European cities today demand".
The master plan focuses on a number of places in Salsomaggiore to be 'taken care of' and regenerated, such as the train station, the Platani arena, the market square, the parks, in the name of a multifunctionality and polycentric dimension of the city.
In the Renaissance, ideal cities were planned, calling upon the best artists of the time: after years of waiting and uncertainty, Salsomaggiore has done the same, entrusting the anxieties of a complex, stratified, lively and sometimes wounded city to the visionary knowledge of architects and planners. All this to make it concrete and real that utopia in which humans has always tried to merge their idea of yesterday with their drive towards tomorrow.