Crespi d’Adda, Italy: the management plan as an opportunity to deal with change

Abstract

This paper describes the elaboration of the management plan for the UNESCO World Heritage site of Crespi d’Adda, a late-nineteenth-century company town that was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 1995 due to the integrity of its urban structure and the functional continuity of its productive and residential system. At the time of inscription, a management plan was not mandatory, and inscription did not produce a real development strategy able to counter the risks arising from de-industrialisation. The management plan preparation, launched in 2007, was assumed to represent an opportunity to ensure both protection and sustainable evolution. The process of elaboration made it necessary to promote coordination and dialogue among different institutions. This permitted enhancement of local governance. Moreover, the management plan acted as a framework within which to set guidelines for intervention on the external and internal features of the buildings, aimed at preserving the values of the site through the implementation of good practices.

Keywords:

• Conservation
• governance
• historic buildings
• management plan
• stakeholders
• World Heritage

Notes

^1. The report was commissioned by Louis Bergeron, President of The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH). Until then, no company town had been admitted to the World Heritage List. Bergeron, “Les villages ouvriers”.

^2. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Operational Guidelines, 16.

^3. UNESCO, Nineteenth session (Berlin, Germany).

^4. Republic of Italy, Law 77/2006 Special measures for the protection of Italian sites of cultural, landscape and environmental interest inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List [Misure speciali di tutela e fruizione dei siti italiani di interesse culturale, paesaggistico e ambientale, inseriti nella «lista del patrimonio mondiale», posti sotto la tutela dell'UNESCO].

^5. Italian Cultural Heritage Ministry, National Commission for UNESCO Sites and Local Tourism Systems 2004. Model Plan for Management of Cultural Heritage Sites inscribed in the World Heritage List: Guidelines [Il modello del Piano di Gestione dei Beni Culturali iscritti alla lista del Patrimonio dell’Umanità. Linee Guida]. Rome, Italian Cultural Heritage Ministry.

^6. The public buildings are listed pursuant to Legislative Decree 42/2004, Part 2, Title I, Heading I, Art 10 Beni Culturali (Cultural Heritage). The mausoleum is listed pursuant to Decree 597 09/19/1985, in compliance with Law 1089/39 (now Legislative Decree 42/2004).

^7. The first decree is aimed at preserving the ‘overall beauty of the landscape’ and applies to the western side of the territory pertaining to Capriate San Gervasio, including Crespi d’Adda. It was established by Ministerial Decree on 31 July 1969, pursuant to Law 1407/1939 (now Legislative Decree 42/2004). The second protected area, in conformity with Legislative Decree 42/2004, Part 3, Heading II, Art 142 Aree tutelate per legge (Areas protected by law), includes a band of 150 metres along each side of the river Adda and the territory which falls within the perimeter of the Adda Nord Regional Park, and therefore the whole village.

^8. Municipality of Capriate San Gervasio 1995. Detailed plan for the village of Crespi d’Adda [Piano Particolareggiato per il villaggio di Crespi d’Adda].

^9. The Committee involved representatives of the Municipality of Capriate San Gervasio, Adda Nord Regional Park, Region of Lombardy, Bergamo Province, Regional Directorate of the Ministry for Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism (MiBACT), local officers of the National Ministry (Superintendence for Architectural Heritage and Landscape), and a research group based at Milan Polytechnic (composed of professors Stefano Della Torre and Paolo Gasparoli, and architects PhD Maria Paola Borgarino, Anna Teresa Ronchi and Matteo Scaltritti). Afterwards, the research group was commissioned to prepare the management plan.

^10. Pereira Roders, “Monitoring cultural significance”; Jokilehto, “Considerations on authenticity and integrity”, 1.

^11. UNESCO, Operational Guidelines.

^12. UNESCO, Budapest Declaration; International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Paris Declaration.

^13. ICOMOS, Guidance on Heritage Impact Assessments.

^14. Protocol agreement for the preparation of an Integrated Plan for Intervention for the redevelopment of the factory in Crespi d’Adda [Protocollo di Intesa per la redazione di un Programma Integrato di Intervento finalizzato alla riqualificazione della fabbrica di Crespi d’Adda ]. approved with City Council resolution no 14 on 21 January 2015.

^15. The guidelines refer to residential buildings because they present similar features and can be clearly identified by type. Accordingly, it was possible to give sufficiently precise and replicable instructions. Some instructions, such as those for intervention on building fronts, also apply to other types of building.

^16. Publications providing further description: Borgarino, “Crespi d’Adda World Heritage Site”, 115; Gasparoli, Livraghi, Ronchi and Scaltritti “Indicazioni normative per il progetto”, 319.

^17. Heras et al. “Value-Based Monitoring System”, 130.