Toxi-City: From Reuse to Regeneration. Reimagining Taranto's Post-Industrial Landscape Through the Former Circumarpiccolo Railway

Anthropized territories are punctuated with artifacts, spaces, and places that, over time, have lost their original function. Remnants of the System, outpaced by technological evolution, abandoned after resource exhaustion, they are deemed too costly to dismantle. These elements mark the landscape, witness to an often once-glorious past. Typically erased from the collective imagination, they are outside the mental landscape of inhabitants.

Among these elements, disused railway lines frequently appear in post-industrial cities. Symbols of urban development in the last century, they capillarily traverse the land (in Italy there are an estimated 7,000 km of disused railways), often in extraordinary locations, offering alternative and exceptional perspectives on landscapes, places, and spaces. The widespread presence of these systems represents a significant opportunity for the evolution of contemporary anthropized space.

The disused Circumarpiccolo military railway in Taranto serves as a compelling example: a relic of the city’s prestigious military past, it now stands as a cadavre exquis inviting new interpretations. With a long-term vision, involving the various stakeholders operating in the territory, it becomes possible to envision a transformation unfolding progressively over time, activating new forms of local economies while reshaping new meanings for future generations.

Using this specific case study, the essay explores the opportunities presented by the repurposing of disused railways and examines possible intervention strategies. The possibility of an ecological conversion of such places can launch a profound signal for change, particularly in fragile and compromised territories, providing a form of restitution to cultural landscapes burdened by a toxic legacy.