Parasitic City Takes Over Decommissioned Italian Highway

A region of southern Italy is currently calling for sustainable ideas on how to renovate or reuse a stretch of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria highway, located between Sicily and Bagnara, with a focus on implementing a renewable energy into the infrastructure. The old highway will be decommissioned and a new highway is set to be built nearby. Currently the jury is still in deliberation and a winner has yet to be decided for the <a href="http://www.parcosolaresud.it/concorso01/index_en.html" target="_blank">Solar Park South</a>, but being the sleuths that we are, we came across this fascinating proposal for a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/07/parasitic-guerrilla-architecture-hijacks-the-arche-de-la-defense/" target="_blank">parasitic city</a> set to take <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2009/10/08/bay-line-a-high-line-park-for-san-franciscos-bay-bridge/" target="_blank">root on the foundations of the highway's bridges</a>. Although the proposal by <a href="http://jastudioinc.com/blog/?p=1097" target="_blank">Ja Studio Inc</a> called 'Slow Uprising' doesn't actually meet the requirements of the competition, we still love the idea of buildings sprouting on a bridge.

Ja Studio Inc proposed a very unique way to reuse the decommissioned highway that involved building a sloping ramp to the valley floor and constructing a new city on the foundations of the old bridge.

Solar Park South is a design competition led by Regione Calabria - Town Planning and Territorial Governance Department. Given that an old highway is being decommissioned in favor of a newer faster highway, the region wants creative ideas that could reuse the old highway.

The old highway crosses over deep valleys and winds along the southern Italian coastline. The new highway will be much faster and require less massive infrastructure like this bridge.

The region wants not only to reuse the highway in a sustainable manner, but they also want to incorporate solar and other renewable energy systems as part of the reuse or renovation of the infrastructure.

Ja Studio Inc's proposal, 'Slow Uprising', suggests reusing the infrastructure of the old bridge to create a new parasitic city - one that grows organically over time and reconnects people with the varying terrain.

Slow Uprising also proposes a slower paced life, one that is skeptical about clean, fast, advanced engineering solutions and takes root on the spot of the former "classic" bridge.