La Repubblica covers the interview with Stefano Boeri conducted by the director of La Repubblica, Maurizio Molinari, during the Repubblica delle Idee event held in Bologna.
The debate, focusing on diffused cities, touched on topics such as Italy’s building heritage and the challenges of future cities – from environmental sustainability to the reuse of obsolete and energy-consuming buildings, land consumption, and a new vision of the city-archipelago.
“Today, the choice that is being taken as a reference for all European cities is to avoid land consumption. In this regard, I like to recall the lesson of Renzo Piano, who has always proposed the internal mending model for growth, that is, rebuilding existing parts by changing, replacing, and improving them. […] We have built 14 million buildings, 8 million of which since 1945, and of these, about 4 million are in the wrong places, seismic zones, or areas at hydrogeological risk. Many of these are also degraded and energy-consuming. This is a political problem that needs to be addressed. These are infrastructures that made the history of European cities in the 19th century and started to be in crisis in the mid-20th century, today mostly empty. It makes no sense to grow outside the current boundaries of cities. However, what is needed is the courage to intervene, to facilitate the replacement of an outdated structure with a new building capable of absorbing sunlight and wind, spreading the energy it produces, architecturally more functional and perhaps even more beautiful,” says Stefano Boeri.
To read the full article: La Repubblica Article
To view the full speech: Repubblica delle Idee Video