Adaptive urban design to cope with heavy rainfall in the Historic Centre: a masterplan for Ferrara (Italy)

The paper addresses historic centre protection from climate change, presenting urban design guidelines for the adaptation of Ferrara. Ferrara is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995 as a Renaissance city with great historical, architectural, and cultural values. In recent years, the city has suffered from heatwaves and heavy rainfall. In particular, heavy rains flood the historical public spaces of the centre, putting inhabitants, shopkeepers, students and tourists at risk. The summer heat and flooding compromise the maintenance of the ancient fabrics, the historical gardens, and the liveability of the public space. These are crucial elements of Ferrara’s cultural heritage to which the guidelines for climate-proof planning have been addressed. The paper presents a synthesis of the literature review and best practices on climate change adaptation, and cultural heritage concept evolution. Secondly, it presents the analytical methodology used and the design solutions adopted to protect the public space of the historic centre. The research results are a site-specific urban-architectural actions oriented to adaptive urban design for the historic centre with three levels of intensity concerning the time needed to intervene on such a large area (about 400 hectares) and characterized by fragile structural, architectural, ecological and material qualities.