Gibellina City of Art

Abstract

The earthquake that hit Western Sicily in 1968 destroyed, among others, the town of Gibellina. Back then, the town was abandoned and a new city was built ex novo at a distance of eighteen kilometres from the original site. The ex novo foundation of a new city requires the interaction of two fundamental components: one characterised by a physical-formal nature, related to urban layout and architectural characterisations, and the other related to socio-cultural issues concerning the relationships between citizens and their city. If the rst component might be dealt with by means of theories and techniques from architectural and urban disciplines, how is it possible to deal with the even more important second component?