Crespi d’Adda - a Workers' Utopia
A case study research site
The Italian Electrical Transmission Grid and Coverage
Only 0.01% of the current Italian urban area has to go off-grid due to the topographical restrictions and the infrastructural limitations. However, such situation might be reversed when “Net Zero” goal is achieved. Such total reliance on renewable energy will challenge our former vision over the relationships between urban space, natural resources, and landscape.
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The Off-grid Potential for Italy to be Net Zero
230,000 GWh is the potential capacity for future renewable energy in Italy, which will be able to turn the fossil-based grid into a “Net Zero Grid”. The potential for wind and solar energy in the current off-grid zone indicates the future environmental confrontation of the infrastructure for energy production.
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The Future Net Zero Grid
Mergence with natural topography is to be emphasized for designing future solar & wind power infrastructures within the existing natural environment. To achieve this, a new type of energy infrastructure should not be simply in a form of an industrialized collection of energy technologies, but a future landscape heritage that preserves an outstanding natural environment, and can serve the human wellbeings of the nearby urban space.
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The UNESCO Heritage Sites and National Parks, Italy
58 sites in Italy were inscribed as World Heritage by UNESCO, which include architecture, urban space, natural landscape, archaeological relic, and classic artwork. Through looking into these precedents of landscape mergence and building typologies, the project intends to seek heritage recyclable and can be regenerated into future energy infrastructure which reflects to its surrounding conserved environment and urban space.
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Making Net Zero Grid a Future Landscape Heritage
Regionalism is of core to consider to reflect the local preserved heritage sites when designing new infrastructural landscape for certain region. A division in culture, architectural style could be observed from the heritage sites and the urban areas they serve within a proper distance for tourism and sightseeing.
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The Geographical Position and The Nature Picturesque
Natural Beauty has always been a main contradictory subject for the newly emerged urban form. The balance between those new builds and the existing nature is the main task to deal with when dealing with landscape projects. Through the categorization of UNESCO, we can identify those precedents that are highly merged and integrated within its natural environment without hurting the original picturesque.
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Typology Restoration and Deformation
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Net Zero Grid in Dolomites Mountains
The aim for proposing such Porticoes form energy infrastructure can be best illustrated in the context of the Dolomites Mountains Area, where divisions are created between urban spaces due to topographical restrains. Such an infrastructural landscape not only can have value in terms of Carbon neutrality but also can strengthen the tie between lost urban space.
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A Grid, A Heritage
Expanding, Expanded
This proposal aims to build a renewable energy grid infrastructure, which preserves and integrates with the natural landscape. It also serves as a suburban cultural grid linking cities, a future heritage that keeps producing and reproducing itself.
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Biographies
Book
Aureli, P. (2020). The city as a project. Berlin: Ruby Press.
Cabannes, Y. and Marocchino, C. (2018). Integrating Food into Urban Planning.
Krawczyk, D. (2019). Buildings 2020+. Bialystok: Printing House of Bialystok University of Technology.
Malanima, P. (2006). Energy consumption in Italy in the 19th and 20th centuries. [Napoli]: [Napoli].
Wright, F. (1969). The disappearing city. [Place of publication not identified]: Horizon.
Journal
Borgarino, M., Della Torre, S., Gasparoli, P. and Ronchi, A. (2016). Crespi d’Adda, Italy: the management plan as an opportunity to deal with change. The Historic Environment: Policy & Practice, 7(2-3), pp.151-163.
Crespi, A., Brunetti, M., Ranzi, R., Tomirotti, M. and Maugeri, M. (2020). A multi-century meteo‐hydrological analysis for the Adda river basin (Central Alps). Part I: Gridded monthly precipitation (1800–2016) records. International Journal of Climatology, 41(1), pp.162-180.
Hasanbeigi, A. and Price, L. (2012). A review of energy use and energy efficiency technologies for the textile industry. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 16(6), pp.3648-3665.
Kim, H., Rakibuzzaman, M., Kim, K. and Suh, S. (2019). Flow and Fast Fourier Transform Analyses for Tip Clearance Effect in an Operating Kaplan Turbine. Energies, 12(2), p.264.
Palamutcu, S. (2010). Electric energy consumption in the cotton textile processing stages. Energy, 35(7), pp.2945-2952.
Saha, P., Khan, M. and Patra, S. (2018). Truncated α-amylase: an improved candidate for textile processing. Preparative Biochemistry & Biotechnology, 48(7), pp.635-645.
Visentin, F. (2016). Modernist Ideas and Local Reception: The company towns of Piazzola sul Brenta and Borgonyà, 1895-1930. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 40(3), pp.578-600.
Online
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Brain, J. (n.d.) The Cotton Industry - Historic UK. [online] Historic UK. Available at: https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Cotton-Industry/ [Accessed 5 November 2021].
Carrieann, S. (2020). Is hydropower an overlooked investment? - NS Energy. [online] Nsenergybusiness.com. Available at: https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/features/hydropower-an-overlooked-investment/ [Accessed 28 November 2021].
Chi, S. (n.d.) What is Crespi? | Crespi d'Adda. [online] Villaggiocrespi.it. Available at: https://villaggiocrespi.it/en/ [Accessed 30 September 2021].
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ENTSO-E (2019). EU electricity transmitting map data, Available at: https://www.entsoe.eu/data/map/ (Assessed: 28th November 2021).
FM Magazine. (2018). Towering turbines. [online] Available at: https://www.fm-magazine.com/issues/2018/apr/wind-turbine-market.html [Accessed 21 November 2021].
GWA3.0 (2021). Wind speed GIS data, Available at: https://globalwindatlas.info/area/ltaly (Assessed: 30th November 2021).
EA (2021). Renewable energy data, Available at: https://www.ea.org/articles/renewables-2020-data-explorer?mode-market®ion-ltaly&product=Bioenergy (Assessed: 30th November 2021).
Melinda, W. (n.d.) Weaving Machinery. [online] Fashion-history.lovetoknow.com. Available at: https://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/fashion-clothing-industry/weaving-machinery [Accessed 22 November 2021].
O Ecotextiles. (2009). What is the energy profile of the textile industry?. [online] Available at: https://oecotextiles.blog/2009/06/16/what-is-the-energy-profile-of-the-textile-industry/ [Accessed 20 October 2021].
Prince, A. (2008). Energy Conservation, Textile Industries, Global Energy Crisis. [online] Fibre2fashion.com. Available at: https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/3377/energy-conservation-in-textile-industries-savings [Accessed 8 November 2021].
Statista. (2020). Italy: household electricity prices 2020 | Statista. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/418092/electricity-prices-for-households-in-italy/ [Accessed 21 October 2021].
Statista. (2020). Italy: fertility rate 1850-2020 | Statista. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1033293/fertility-rate-italy-1850-2020/ [Accessed 21 October 2021].
SolarGIS (2021). Solar radiation energy GIS data, Available at: https://solargis.com/maps-and-gis-data/download/italy (Assessed: 30th November 2021).
UNESCO (2020). World Heritage List Statistics, Available at: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/stat/ (Assessed: 28th November 2021).
VILLAGGIO CRESPI D'ADDA (2021). Villaggio CRESPI D'ADDA - Informazioni e Visite Guidate. [online] Available at: <https://www.crespidadda.it/> [Accessed 30 September 2021].
Water21.org.uk. (2014). Kaplan Detailed Information » Water21. [online] Available at: http://www.water21.org.uk/hydropower/ossberger-hydroturbines/kaplan-turbine/kaplan-detailed-information/ [Accessed 15 October 2021].