The City and The Water. Walk-through with Andre Dekker.

Livegreenblog and Floornature continue their partnership with DESTeC (Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Construction Engineering), University of Pisa for the Summer School. We've already seen what areas the 2016 workshop will be focusing on.

The title is the same - The City and the Water - but the area of action has expanded. In 2016, in addition to the institutional partners of the Municipality of Pietrasanta and the Pietrasanta Visual Arts Centre (CAV) there is also the Municipality of Seravezza plus the Fondazione Terre Medicee of Seravezza.


This is because the Summer School is focusing on the Versilia river that gives the zone its name and that flows from the top of Monte Altissimo, site of the quarries for the famous marble also used by Michelangelo, down to the sea. 
This territory has been extensively developed by man over the years: suffice it to say that in Michelangelo's days the “marble road” already connected the local quarries to the sea and the quarrying operations have had a huge impact on the local environment. The Summer School intends to base its action on the historical evolution of this area to reach out with new ideas in order to make a change at a different level, from spot operations to more wide-ranging actions.


Andre Dekker, member of the Observatorium, art collective based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands is the artistic director of the Summer School, or Summer Academy as he prefers to call it. Whatever you want to call it, this is a real exploration and outdoor study for students of Architecture, Urban planning, Design, Building engineering, Art Schools and young professionals and artists from all over the world; last week he checked out the area, and of course Livegreenblog was right there with him.


We took a tour of the various areas of action planned according to the programme of The City and The Water that took us from Monte Altissimo to the heads of the Versilia river, as you can see from the photos taken during the day. 


The City and the Water will be taking place in a prime natural environmentin order to rediscover and recreate harmonious engagement with the waterway - so crucial to the territory and to its development and re-launch. Backed by his twenty years' experience working with water, not just rivers but for example the “Warten auf den Fluss” initiative in Germany and more than 10 years and a major success in rehabilitating a waterway, Andre Dekker gives a guarantee for a creative and effective approach that will also personally enrich participants through new practical experiences.

Christiane Bürklein

International Summer School
The City and The Water. Michelangelo and the historical Versilia: land intervention
from 25 July to 03 August 2016
Seravezza, Italy
Artistic and Scientific Director: Andre Dekker, Rotterdam
Organisers: University of Pisa | DESTeC | Master Degree in Architectural Engineering, Municipality of Seravezza | Italy, Municipality of Pietrasanta | Città d’Arte, Città Nobile dal 1841 | Italy, CAV | Visual Arts Center | Pietrasanta | Italy, Fondazione Terre Medicee | Seravezza | Italy
Scientific Committee: Enrico Bascherini | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Marco Giorgio Bevilacqua | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Alessandra Capanna | DiAP | University “La Sapienza” of Rome, Ewa Karwacka | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Luca Lanini | DESTeC | University of Pisa,Roberto Pierini | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Alessandro Romanini | CAV
Organising Committee: Enrico Bascherini | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Marco Giorgio Bevilacqua | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Lucia Giorgetti | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Stefania Landi | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Giulia Lenziardi | DESTeC | University of Pisa, Chiara Porroni | DESTeC | University of Pisa
Images: © Andre Dekker, © Enrico Bascherini, © Lucia Giorgetti, © Christiane Bürklein