ROME 2017 21st Century River Renaissance

Today, water has come to represent a very different reality for Rome.

Unlike other famous cities around the world, Rome does not have an active relationship with its river. Beautiful bridges serve to stitch together the city, but the actual river’s edge remains overlooked.
The Tiber flows below city level by approximately 10 meters, in essence existing as a parallel sunken dimension to the otherwise bustling city life above.
Its wide banks are neglected and unwelcoming. Despite their prime location nestled in the heart of Rome, they remain wasted deserted spaces. At city level, Rome’s once romantic Lungotevere has becomes a congested loud vehicular artery, which pollutes the senses and the environment.
And yet, the Tiber keeps flowing steadily with untapped potential as it snakes through the city, just a stone’s throw away from the many historic sites which seem to have turned their back on it.

In parallel to the progressive degradation of the river, the Rome of today is the protagonist of an increasingly growing polemic.

Rome has had many lives as it reacted to social, political and technological revolutions throughout history. The city has adapted time and time again, emerging victorious in the eyes of change through a renewed and improved identity. This has helped guarantee Rome’s continued presence on a global stage for more than two thousand years.
Today, however, many suggest that Rome is struggling to keep up with contemporary life, inadequate and unwilling to once again adapt, leaving it almost frozen in time.
In itself, this is a huge challenge. How do you marry the complexities of a millennial history with our contemporary lifestyle?
Many see the answers in opposing views which either ask for Rome to be preserved untouched at the expense of innovation, or radically developed at the expense of history. We see the answers reflected in the untapped potentials of the river, where both innovation and history have space to co-exist.

Using Rome as a muse, you are the creative in control to interpret what the outcome of this challenge represents for both the city and yourself. There are no limits, only endless possibilities to develop into visionary concepts and designs.

Here are some questions for you to consider:

Is it about revolution, evolution or conservation? Is it a loud intervention or a series of subtle ones? Is it about leisure and lifestyle? About nature? Architecture? Green transportation solutions to add a layer of connective tissue to the city? Does it engage with new technologies? How will the designs deal with the additional environmental challenges, such as the occasional violent tidal surges which sweep through the river? Will proposals be limited to an area of the Tiber, the whole urban river bank, or extend out into the surrounding urban context beyond the confines of the river itself?