This year's IMLA study project 'Rimini 3.0: Bellariva - Miramare - Ausa, Italy' is a follow-up project, which deliberately builds on both the strategic plans of the city of Rimini and, in particular, on the results of the 11th LE:NOTRE Landscape Forum 2022 in Rimini including the student competition with the title 'Riviera di Rimini – Dancing to the Future'. While the competition was situated in a large-scale context, the students are now asked to go more into detail and to select one of these two possible topics:
1. The former seaside (holiday) colonies, dating from the late 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. They are listed monuments and partly renovated, but partly in a serious decay.
or:
2. The concreted canal of the Ausa river, into which the river was transferred between 1967 and 1972 (originally, the Ausa ran more strongly through the city centre, close past the Roman city centre).
Depending on the chosen topic each project team selects one of the following focus areas:
- Bellariva with the former colony 'Murri' or
- Miramare with the colonies 'Bolognese', 'Novarese' and others or
- the corridor of the Ausa river in the western part of the city
At the end of October the IMLA team organised an excursion to Rimini with site visits. Students and supervisors explored the project areas on foot, by public transport and by bicycle.
A special thanks goes to our local expert Silvia Capelli from the Municipality of Rimini, who kindly offered us a guided tour with explanations on the contemporary strategic developments in Rimini, with a special focus on the former seaside colonies.
Based on the preliminary work of the Landscape Forum including the student competition, the interdisciplinary student teams are now asked to
- pursue with an analysis and evaluation of existing concepts and considerations for the selected focus area
- develop the existing concepts further, into innovative, visionary, but also feasable design solutions
- elaborate ideas and measures that can initiate and/or accompany the implementation of the designs, e.g. in the form of architectural or artistic 'acupunctures' or events
- develop ideas on how to involve the citizens of Rimini in the process
- consider the potentials of new kind of tourism: away from summer mass tourism towards a more sustainable year-round tourism