The resilient cycle network. The case study of Montesilvano

In recent years, in Montesilvano, the frequency of urban flooding resulting from extreme weather phenomena is strongly increasing. And it is precisely with reference to this phenomenon that the Research Convention between the Department of Architecture of Pescara and the Municipality of Montesilvano has inserted a line of investigation aimed at verifying whether between cycling networks, collection and management of meteoric water exists the possibility to establish a connection. Legislation, guidelines and best practices in his sector provide no useful indications. They are linked to a qualitative hypothesis whose priority in almost all cases focuses on creating the highest possible number of kilometres of safe, functional and intermodal cycling lanes. To identify operative references to the links between cycling lanes and stormwater management we must look at plans designed to contrast climate change. Many have a specific section dedicated to this theme: examples include Philadelphia, Copenhagen and Melbourne.
Their comparison reveals that improving stormwater management requires multiple actions. Principal actions include: breaking free of sector-specific logics, integrated projects for the spaces of the network and associated areas and the recognition of the importance of the relationship with context. In Montesilvano, marked by two parallel north-south axes (the Parkway and the Waterfront) and its five perpendicular east-west lines (Grandi alberghi, via Strasburgo, via Marinelli, via Torrente Piomba, Palaroma), the areas waiting for a project that can combine the mobility linked to the cycle network with the treatment and management of rainwater have been identified.