| The piazza is failing as a typology of public space in Florence, Italy due to sprawl, tourism, and the profuse use of the car. However, the city of Florence keeps building new piazzas to act as a public space inside the Centro Storico and in sprawling Florence only to find them empty and unused. Instead of creating new piazzas, the city should be looking towards the successful types of public space which include the parks outside of the historical center.; What if needed infrastructure is used to fund public space? Currently Florence dumps all of its untreated wastewater into the Arno and consequently pays 1/2 billion euros annually in fines to the European Union. In addition, the Arno floods catastrophically with the last major flood occurring in 1966 causing over 10 billion euros in damage to date. While the city image of Florence is very different than the realities of Florence, even tourists can not escape the consequences of the sewage filled Arno which floods. Building a wastewater treatment plant within the city limits and turning it into a contemporary public park would fulfill the Florentines' needs for communal/public space while also cleaning the water. |
