The Santa Chiara District in Trento has been featured in the latest issue of IdC – Industria delle Costruzioni, a semi-annual magazine promoted by ANCE (National Association of Building Constructors) and In/Arch (National Institute of Architecture).
The December 2024 edition, numbered 496, is dedicated to the “City on Stage” festival, an annual event focused on urban regeneration. This issue consolidates key takeaways from the first edition of the festival held in Rome in December 2023, where representatives, including those from Trento, presented groundbreaking urban redevelopment projects.
Read the official article and view the schematics here (Italian only). Below is the full English translation of the article:
In recent years, the city of Trento has undergone significant transformations linked to urban regeneration. These changes are partly due to pre-existing projects that are now reaching completion and partly driven by recent infrastructure interventions, particularly those related to the enhancement of the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor that runs through the city. This railway upgrade has accelerated ongoing processes and initiated new ones.
Within this context, the regeneration of the Santa Chiara District holds special significance. This complex project, initiated many years ago, consists of multiple interventions implemented at different times, yet all share the common goal of enhancing one of the city’s key vocations: fostering a knowledge-based economy.
The Santa Chiara area, once a central hub for various city functions, has seen a gradual decline since the 1980s. Many institutions and services that originally occupied the district—such as the Faculty of Letters, the university cafeteria, and a retirement home—were relocated, leading to increasing abandonment. However, some facilities remained operational, including the Santa Chiara Auditorium, the Cuminetti Experimental Theater, the F.lli Bocchi Gymnasium, and the A. Solženicyn Public Park, one of the city’s most frequented green spaces.
Years of underutilization resulted in safety issues due to a lack of active surveillance. To address this, starting in the early 2000s, the Municipality of Trento, in collaboration with the Autonomous Province of Trento, initiated a long-term redevelopment program, allocating substantial funds for recovery efforts.
The first intervention began in 2001 with the expansion of the Crispi school complex and the establishment of the Bomporti Conservatory. Following this, the city embarked on a broader strategy for reconnecting and reclaiming public spaces.
One of the most ambitious initiatives within this framework is the “Santa Chiara Open Lab”, a large-scale urban regeneration project supported by a €18 million funding package from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers under a national program for urban security and renewal.
The project is structured into eight independent yet interconnected functional modules, each designed to enhance urban security and resilience. A portion of the funding, approximately €23 million, comes from private investments, integrated within the overall urban development strategy.
The primary objectives of the Santa Chiara Open Lab include:
A key element of the project is the redevelopment of Parco S. Chiara – A. Solženicyn, which serves as a unifying space for the surrounding buildings through the conscious use of social, cultural, energy, and environmental resources.
The latest addition to the administration’s regeneration program is the former Faculty of Letters, currently undergoing restoration. This intervention is made possible by a combination of provincial and European funding, amounting to approximately €10 million.
The rehabilitation of this historic building will contribute to the broader goal of transforming Santa Chiara into a hub for education, entrepreneurship, culture, and community services. Once completed, the project is expected to significantly enhance the quality of life for residents while reinforcing Trento’s role as a center of knowledge and innovation.
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HORIZON-CL5-2021-D4-01
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency
Grant agreement no. 101069610
This project is funded by the European Union under grant agreement no. 101069610. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
