THE FOREST AS A TOOL TO REGENERATE URBAN AND SUB-URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

Key to the regeneration of urban and suburban environments is the use of the forest as an architectural and technological tool. This element is fundamentally important for the sustainable design of an environmental system in all its scales because of its diverse functionality in many ecosystems. Just as in a production process where the end product can rarely be used further, the progressive development of land reduces its functionality and services, many times to the detriment of future generations.
On this basis, analogous to the elements of the building system, a university research group conducted an experimentation for the region of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, a border area in the north-east of Italy whose southern boundary is the northern basin of the Adriatic Sea. It was identified that the forest – and more generally the green matter –is the minimum element on which to base the research by defining classes of needs, requirements and performances. Throughout this project, consideration was given to the ecosystem services that the vegetation is able to provide to the environment and society, investigating the relationship between form and function.