The rehabilitation of some historical urban port areas in Sardinia

Due to the approval and implementation of the Regional Landscape Regulatory Plan (PPR), in Sardinia most of the attempts to transform the shorelines with settlements have stopped. The only places in which these transformations are allowed are urban areas, often with ports: so urban waterfronts have become a place for projects and programs, which not always are real outcomes of urban policies or strategic plans. Nor these projects and programs privilege the intervention on public open spaces rather than on buildings, and buildings are often reduced to mere ‘containers’ or sometimes, exhibitors of the griffe by a starchitect. Another effect of the PPR is that it has imposed to restart the process of municipal urban plans, which is still in progress, and the redesign of the urban waterfronts is one of the most important opportunities to be seized. The essay analyses some urban regeneration projects related to urban historical ports in Sardinia (Cagliari, Olbia, Porto Torres, La Maddalena, Alghero), from both the viewpoints of urban policies and design.