THE COAST : RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES Despite the real risk of rising sea levels due to global warming, the vast majority of major urban regions are currently in coastal areas. There are obviously many reasons for this, first and foremost among which is the openness to the world represented by the sea front. [ + ]
THE COAST : RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Despite the real risk of rising sea levels due to global warming, the vast majority of major urban regions are currently in coastal areas. There are obviously many reasons for this, first and foremost among which is the openness to the world represented by the sea front. The Mediterranean Arc opens out towards the Middle East and Africa and is far from having exhausted the opportunities which arise out of such a position.
[ - ]MEDITERRANEAN SQUARE Let us give the sea, which is at the center and not outside the Barcelona-Genoa entity, a name: Mediterranean Square. Let’s give it a shape: a magnificent esplanade, turned towards the north, and bordered by all the built decor that compliments all the region’s physical features. [ + ]
MEDITERRANEAN SQUARE
Let us give the sea, which is at the center and not outside the Barcelona-Genoa entity, a name: Mediterranean Square. Let’s give it a shape: a magnificent esplanade, turned towards the north, and bordered by all the built decor that compliments all the region’s physical features. In the background, the mountains lend consistency and composure to the landscape—exactly the opposite of sfumato painting, where the background fades off into the distance. Let’s give it a flâneur, because the urban doesn’t exist without occasions for ambling: a sailor, a seafarer, or better yet, a tireless swimmer that moves freely (though here again, we’ll have to use our imagination, because our Square mustn’t be monopolized by jet skiers, outboard motors and/or yachts, which would make it into a nearly-privatized game board), and who explores places and panoramas from the point of view of the sea-esplanade; back and forth, to and fro. Lastly, let’s give it a role: it is the common space, the one which, without insisting on cohesion, will imbue the urban froth with a specific sort of atmosphere and personality. Of course, such a froth bears the traces of generic globalized urbanism, but that certain je ne sais quoi, that near-everything that distinguishes it and makes it unlike any other, is sought and found in MediterraneanSquare. It is there that each person is able to assert his or her life space within the vast assemblage; to feel “here” and not anywhere else, and to recognise himor herself as co-inhabiting with others this same coastal forum.
Michel Lussault
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A PANORAMA OF THE SEA The coastal motorway is much more than a functional route: it represents an individual travel experience in a magnificent landscape with the shimmering marine horizon extending as far as the eye can see. The motorway, which runs continuously from Barcelona to Genoa, is currently the only infrastructure which unites the magnificent panorama of the Mediterranean Arc. [ + ]
A PANORAMA OF THE SEA
The coastal motorway is much more than a functional route: it represents an individual travel experience in a magnificent landscape with the shimmering marine horizon extending as far as the eye can see. The motorway, which runs continuously from Barcelona to Genoa, is currently the only infrastructure which unites the magnificent panorama of the Mediterranean Arc.
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A LEISURE ECONOMY Today, leisure hours and work hours are increasingly liable to overlap. The Mediterranean arc is a region with rhythms for each season, as much for residents as for tourists. [ + ]
A LEISURE ECONOMY
Today, leisure hours and work hours are increasingly liable to overlap. The Mediterranean arc is a region with rhythms for each season, as much for residents as for tourists. A year-round leisure economy has thus emerged.
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