Lo stretto (necessario)
Italy
Lo stretto (necessario) is the research and exhibition developed by MIC-HUB for the Biennale dello Stretto 2024, a multicultural event inviting people to reflect on the theme of urban development and connections in the area of the Strait of Messina, Italy.
Lo stretto (necessario) tells the story of a landscape, relationships, shortcomings, broken connections and relational flows influenced by dystopian infrastructure. The flows that cross cities express relationships between identity and space, creating a place where nature, history and art define the landscape.
The most recent data for the construction of local plans for future development map out social relations based on neighbourhood movements. Tourism is mainly local, work takes place within the metropolitan cities, but it seems only students embrace proximity mobility, probably as they are attracted to using modest means of transport.
These apparently antithetical concepts show that active proximity mobility has been rediscovered only by those who, for various reasons, cannot afford to travel by car. This mobility represents a potential wealth for the landscape.
Location
Italy
Client
Biennale dello Stretto
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
- The exhibition aims to educate the visitor on the shortcomings with a view of generating an element of connection activism
- Mediterranean mobility is characterised by diversity, panoramic views, experiences and stories: reinforcing the poetic connections of local roots, the exhibition proposes an innovative mobility that projects the place in space and time
- The city becomes an instrument of reconnection, echoing the slow fluxes of proximity
Project gallery
Our contribution
The data shows a division between the dimensional characteristic of local travel flows and the physical expression of mobility.
Accident maps, particularly for pedestrians and vulnerable users, reveal a non-place where the identity and cultural vision that should see the pedestrian as the main urban actor is disconnected from the language of the city, symbolised by a lack of infrastructure to guarantee their safety.
The data and planning tools analysed during the research in Reggio Calabria and Messina showed that:
• Travel to workplace is mainly by car, while the modal share indicates that students prefer public transport and active mobility over cars;
• Pedestrian and cycle paths are often in poor condition, unsafe and difficult to access, also due to irregular parking;
• 60% of residents are dissatisfied with pedestrian areas and have a negative perception of road safety;
• 46% of accidents in the metropolitan city occur in residential areas.
The relationships with which the stories of the territories of the Strait are historically imbued are manifested in shortcomings and broken connections, compelling the inhabitants to endure a reality devoid of the beauty of the landscape.
Crossing the strait is a scenic experience.
So, what do those who cross the landscape really need?
In a place where the infrastructure is designed only for cars, it is important to emphasise that the quality of the journey across the Strait depends not only on its speed, but also on the quality of the experience, made up of public spaces, means of transport capable of accommodating the traveller, and adequate infrastructure that enhances the perception of time and the journey itself.
