The new large Bertalia-Lazaretto district, currently being built in the northwest area of the city, once completed, will host 2,000 new housing units, as well as new facilities for the university, oices, stores and public spaces.
The first residential “island” in the south-east area (near Via Terracini) has been completed for some time now, but the works for the rest of the district have delayed several times over the past years for a number of reasons, including a town planning layout that requires specific infrastructure, the crisis of the building market and the reorganization of the University in the area. In 2016, a review of the town planning tools highlighted a series of applicable regulations and project requirements necessary to complete the works in this important part of the city, in particular to create the best possible technical and regulatory pre-conditions to incentivize and further facilitate public and private investment to ease and accelerate as far as possible the conditions of real feasibility for the plots.
The works on the university building in the area concern about 25.000 mq to be used for lecture rooms, dorms and other services for students to be added to the existing university facilities in Via Terracini.
The Bertalia hub is one of the most modern complexes of the University of Bologna. Once completed, it will host two dorms with over 400 beds; a building for the activities of the Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering (DICAM) and to part of the activities of the Department of Architecture (DA); a service facility including lecture rooms, computer labs, gym and study rooms. The University will also have to build the roads, car parks and green areas for the whole district, to connect the university facilities with via Terracini, in continuity with the existing buildings and those being built in the area.
With regard to mobility, the Lazzaretto will be the intermediate stop of the People Mover, the monorail shuttle for the fast connection between Airport and railway station currently under construction. Moreover, the project for the enhancement of the Bologna beltway-high-way system with the Bologna junction envisages the realization of a new exit to Lazzaretto with relevant connection to Via Sabena and to the south-west axis to Casalecchio di Reno.

Data Lazzaretto
> Total surface area: 730.000 m²
> Detail Plan (winner of tender in 2000): Piero Sartogo, Richard Meier
> Usable surface: 215.000 m²
housing 78%, University facilities 13%, offices and stores 9%
> 374.000 m² Areas for infrastructures and public services including:
two large city parks west and northeast of the area
110.800 m² community green areas
32.200 m² areas for public facilities (e.g. schools, other public facilities)
67.000 m² public parking areas

 

In the northeastern part of Bologna, in the areas surrounding Via Scandellara and Via Larga, after the recent inauguration of the Unipol Tower some important transformations of the area are still under way.

Bolognina, the area north of the railway station used to be the industrial district of the modern city and is currently undergoing significant urban and social changes.
From the point of view of town planning, important requalification interventions are being carried out which are modifying its layout, the most important of which is the project for the area of the Navile Market and the large disused areas, such as the former tobacco company Manifattura Tabacchi (where the Tecnopolo is located), the former SASIB, former Cevolani and former Sani barracks (the latter being the object of an international call for proposals).
These changes, although they have been considerably slowed down by the crisis of the building industry, will provide Bolognina with new housing facilities, new services and new public areas. Bolognina also has a wealth of historical public housing buildings that over the last years have undergone renovation, as is the case of the ACER units in Via Albani, Via Fioravanti and Via Bolognese which are about to be completed, after a long demolition and rebuilding phase.
There are also numerous projects for the economic and cultural redevelopment in the area, including projects to promote tourism, such as: the new Student Hotel with 600 beds to be built re-using the former Telecom building in Via Fioravanti, the requalification project of the historic market in Via Albani, the business promotion initiatives in Via Serra and surrounding areas.

The Navile Market
The main goal of the requalification project of this large area, drafted within the participated design laboratory concluded in 2007, is the development of the neighborhood, in terms of urban quality and services. The “requalified” area, in fact, will host new housing as well as new public facilities and vast green areas which will be integrated with the residential buildings in a continuous system of open and livable spaces connected with the historic part of the Bolognina. The project will also include the development of hotel, shopping and oice facilities.
The public works will be carried out with the ministerial funds allocated to the City Plan and with other resources made available by the Municipality of Bologna and by ACER (Azienda Casa Emilia-Romagna). The resources will be used to create new social housing and restore the old farmer’s market shed, transforming it into a large roofed square, connected to a cultural center with a multi-purpose room and gym for martial arts. The works for the new facilities in the City Plan started in 2015 and are scheduled to be completed by 2018.

Data
> Surface area: circa 300.000 m²
> Public spaces planned: circa 100.000 m²
> Funding "Piano Città": € 10.250.000
> Masterplan: Studio Scagliarini con TASCA studio
> Urbanization and public spaces projects: TASCA studio
> Realization: Consorzio Mercato Navile.

Rendering - Roofed square (City Plan)

 

 

To the north of the historical city, near the new high-speed station, in the historic Bolognina district, major transformations are taking place that will enlarge the system of services of a metropolitan character and will help to define the new face of the whole city: the improvement of the Lungo Navile Park, the creation of the new CNRUniversity research pole and the urban regeration of the area of the former fruit and vegetable market.

The Lungo Navile Park
The project for the Lungo Navile Park proposes to create an itinerary for cyclists and pedestrians of fifteen kilometres starting from Casalecchio di Reno, passing through Bologna and reaching Castel Maggiore following the course of the Reno Canal and the Navile.
The project, which is also inserted in a more general outlook of recovery and valorisation in a tourist key of the "Bologna of waters", contemplates different actions for improvement of the system of greenery and recovery of the historicalarchitectural components.
The revival of the itinerary along the canal is the first step in an ambitious revival project that sees in the Navile and in its rich cultural and environmental heritage a reference point for the recovery and development of the surrounding urban sector.

Data
> Project promoted by: Fondazione del Monte, Comuni di Bologna, Casalecchio e Castel Maggiore
> Project: Fondazione Villa Ghigi, Elena Vincenzi architect

University-CNR Navile pole
The new Navile university pole will rise in an area of about 88,000 square metres and will house the Departments of Chemistry, Pharmacy, Bio-tecnology and Astronomy, with the astronomic observatory, alongside the existing buildings of the CNR (National Research Council).
The new building compartment will include teaching structures, administrative centres, laboratories and new greenery and will easily be accessible thanks to the expansion of public transport towards this area.

Data
> Project promoted by: Università di Bologna
> Project (winner of competition in 2001): Raffaele Panella
> Realization: FBM - Finanziaria Bologna Metropolitana

 

The railway station and the bus station in Bologna are the main accesses from and to the metropolitan city and, at the same time, also from and to the historical city. The two stations, strongly connected from the spatial point of view (they are almost opposite one another) and the functional point of view (they set in movement millions of passengers every year), in the next few years will be reconfigured to respond to changes in the demands of the metropolitan city.

Situated in an area of 180,000 square metres, Bologna railway station will be the nerve centre of an international transport network, involving daily movement of over 800 trains and about 180,000 passengers. The station will be renewed in three stages: completion of the high-speed track and of the high-speed underground station with connected laying out of the accesses to the north (Via Carracci); restyling of the historical station in Piazza Medaglia d'Oro della Resistenza; and finally the creation of the New Station complex on a project by Arata Isozaki (awaiting financing).

Data High-speed Station
> Surface area: 77.500 m²
> General investment: € 530.000.000 (Gruppo FS Italiane)
Dati Restyiling stazione storica
> Surface area: circa 12.000 m²
> General investment exstimated: circa € 14.000.000 (Grandi Stazioni e Rete Ferroviaria Italiana)

The "Autostazione" bus station in Bologna is the place in which the national and international lines of the public transport on tyres meet, with about 4 million passengers a year. In 2014 began renewal and valorisation of the structure of the "Autostazione" in order to create a modern hub for passenger transport exchange. There are plans to renew the functional performances of the terminal, to increase the attractiveness of the commercial services provided inside the main building, and to improve the public space surrounding the area with particular attention to accesses and pedestrian routes. The architectural elements of the buildings will be preserved and valorised.

Data Bus Station
> Useful area: 16.000 m²
> General investment exstimated: circa € 8.000.000 (Autostazione Srl)

To connect the Station Pole with the Airport, a new automatic shuttle, the "People Mover" has been planned. The technical project is approved, the economic business plan is still under development.

 

The Municipality of Bologna, the Region Emilia-Romagna Region, Città Metropolitana di Bologna, RFI-Reti Ferroviarie Italiane, FER – Ferrovie Emilia-Romagna e TPER – Trasporto Passeggeri Emilia-Romagna (with the support of SRM-Reti and Mobilità Srl.) are creating a public transport infrastructural system to efficiently connect the various areas inside the city among them and the center with the extended metropolitan area, to reduce traffic and pollution.
In particular, the new system will integrate the railway network with the existing trolleybus network, with completion and expansion works interesting both networks.

Trolleybus Network
The existing trolleybus lines in Bologna are currently line 13, 14 and 32-33.
The project aims to extend the network and transform into trolleybus lines the bus line 12 Corticella – Byron (part of the present line 27); line 25; line 19 east direction towards Pilastro (part of the present line 20) and west direction towards Casteldebole and line 15 Casalecchio (part of the present line 20).
The plan would extend the trolleybus network (up to approx. 125 km) northwards and westwards, connecting it with the railway stops. In addition, some fifty new green trolley buses, called “Emilio”, will be purchased to replace the older ones running on diesel.
The first ones have been running since February 2016.
The new trolleybus network will be accompanied by actions to renew the roads involved, to make them safer and more usable for pedestrians and public transport.
Metropolitan Railway Service
The Metropolitan Railway Service (SFM) is the public transport service on rail to travel inside Bologna and between Bologna and its metropolitan territory.
The goal of the project is to realize new stations both in urban and metropolitan area to complete and boost SFM, and to make the stations more accessible (with renovation works and interventions to connect the stations to city), safer and more livable.
One of the most important interventions planned is the partial burying of the S2 B Bologna-Portomaggiore track line in the city area.
When the entire SFM project will be completed, it will be expected to absorb 25% of the displacements between Bologna and the rest of the metropolitan area and vice versa (approximately 100,000 trips/day on a total of 400,000).

Bologna Junction “Project to enhance the Bologna highway-beltway system”
Società Autostrade per l'Italia is working at the executive project for the Bologna Junction, known as "Passante di Bologna", which will extend the beltway-highway section from the Casalecchio feeder to San Lazzaro, for a total of 13 kilometers. The road section will be widened to accommodate three lanes plus emergency lane in both directions.
The beltway road, instead, will have three lanes plus the emergency lane which will be used as a fourth lane in the busiest stretch.
The project also includes works to re-amalgamate the area to the rest of the city, landscape rehabilitation of the surrounding city areas and environmental inclusion of the new infrastructure.
The project aims to rationalize the distribution of traffic flows on the entire metropolitan road system with the construction of 5 metropolitan roads: Nodo di Rastignano (Rastignano Junction), Lungosavena, Nodo di Funo (Funo Junction), Intermedia, Complanare Nord (north junction road).
Furthermore, the plan includes improvement works for the beltway exits and the completion of important main roads around Bologna.
According to the time schedule of Autostrade per l’Italia, works will start at the end of 2017.
The works are scheduled for completion in the first half of 2021. Openings of extended stretches will be possible for functional reasons since 2019.

People Mover
The People Mover is on its way. This suspended monorail train will connect the central railway station to the Airport "Guglielmo Marconi" in 7 and a half minutes with only one intermediate stop at Lazzaretto, the large residential and university complex currently under construction.
The works for the People Mover started on 31 October 2015 and are scheduled for completion on 31 October 2018 and roll-out by 16 March 2019.
The infrastructure is built by Marconi Express S.p.A., a special purpose joint venture between CCC - Consorzio Cooperative Costruzioni and TPER - Trasporto Passeggeri Emilia-Romagna. The concession will end in 2049.

Cycling (Biciplan)
To make bicycles a more and more viable alternative to cars, both within the city and around Bologna, the local authorities are working to define bike mobility plans and create a complete and integrated system.
In particular, the Municipality of Bologna, with the Urban Center Bologna, has been working on the Biciplan (Bikeplan), the new plan for bike mobility in Bologna. The Biciplan is a planning tool that coordinates interventions on bike mobility to make displacements within and around bologna safer and more pleasant: from the requalification of existing bike lanes to the creation of new bike tracks, from the project for road signs and recognizability of the itineraries to the creation of services and implementation of communication strategies. The Biciplan will help create a detailed list of actions to be implemented in the next years, identifying the priorities and quantifying the necessary resources.

Ciclovia del sole (Sun cycle route)
With regard to sustainable and tourist mobility, Bologna is investing on the “Ciclovia del sole”, the new 300km-long bike path, with 140 km in the Bologna area, connecting Verona and Florence passing through twenty towns in Emilia Romagna between Bologna and Modena.
The route of the Ciclovia del Sole in the metropolitan area runs from Crevalcore - following the recovered land of the decommissioned Bologna-Verona railway line - to Sala Bolognese, continuing on to Bologna using the network of existing trails and secondary roads of the city, then continues along the Reno river valley from Casalecchio to the border with Tuscany.
Sixty-five percent of the path will be independent and 35% will travel on low-traffic roads.

Towards the Urban Plan for Sustainable Mobility
The works described above can be integrated into Bologna's Metropolitan Sustainable Mobility Urban Plan - PUMS, a strategic plan focused on rendering mobility sustainable with a medium-long time horizon, but with checks and monitoring at predefined time intervals.
The basic principles of PUMS are integration, participation, assessment and monitoring. The fundamental strategies are: reducing car use and increasing urban public transport; providing the region with adequate bike paths; an increase in the use of the Metropolitan Railway Service; the strengthening of public transport.
The PUMS framework was approved by the Metropolitan Council in May 2017, approval is expected during 2018.

Redevelopment and extension interventions completed
To enhance the infrastructure and improve the quality of services oered, Aeroporto G. Marconi di Bologna SpA, the Marconi Airport management company, has set up a Master Plan identifying the redevelopment and extension interventions for the airport, which between 2009 and 2016 recorded an increase in passengers of 66% (from 4.8 to 7.7 million).
The new passengers Terminal was inaugurated in June 2014 which increased the airport capacity by adding over 5,000 m2 and restyling over 80% of the existing areas to meet the growing passenger traic.
A series of interventions were carried out to improve and redesign spaces and services, such as: unification of the existing 3 check-in areas, new Infopoint, new ticketing counters, redesigning of the ground floor entrance, renovation of public areas, extension and modernization of the shopping areas, rationalization of luggage management, extension of the Marconi Business Lounge, Departure Lounge, departure gates and security check areas, equipped with new automated checking systems. In addition, energy saving interventions were carried out on the plants and signs.

Bologna has 100 hectares of disused railway or military areas which may be transformed, thus triggering a process of urban requalification with a high environmental impact. The abandoned public areas could serve new purposes for the city, hosting houses, oice buildings and stores, hotel, tourist and restaurant facilities, etc.. The renovation, which will interest Bologna for the next two decades, will come along with the creation of new parks, facilities for the community, social housing and enhanced public transport.

Total surface area: 100 hectars
Surface building area: 490.000 m2

New parks surface: 30 hectars
New schools: 5

Main interventions planned:

In light of changing exhibition needs and new development prospects, at the end of 2016 BolognaFiere, the Emilia-Romagna Region, the Metropolitan City and the Municipality of Bologna agreed on a "Protocol for the development of the exhibition centre" which identifies some guidelines for redeveloping the structure.
Among the planned projects - all within the areas already in use at the fairgrounds and therefore without the need to occupy new parcels of land - the renovation project for halls 29 and 30 is of particular importance as they have structural and functional conditions no longer suitable for exhibition activities, so they will be demolished and rebuilt.
The project reconnects the surrounding territorial system through a new spatial and structural "module" that acts as a matrix for the regeneration of the exhibition centre, able to guarantee uniformity and consistency between the existing exhibition system and that of the planned expansion.
In particular, a new interconnection axis will be created around which the two exhibition pavilions and spaces for street food will develop.
The single span exhibition pavilions will have a structure designed specifically for managing fair events with natural lighting from the lateral polycarbonate façades.
The distribution and approach gallery leading to the exhibition areas will be a multifunctional space distinguished by a winter garden and green areas conceived as places for relaxation and rest, where the vegetation will allow a high level of spatial and perceptive comfort.
Work on the project started on 30 October 2017 and is expected to be completed by the end of September 2018.

Data
Exhibition space
Hall 29: 7,400 m2
Hall 30: 14,000 m2
Total: 21,400 m2
Mall pedestrian areas: 7,600 m2

The building complex of the former Manifattura Tabacchi (the old Tobacco company), built in the 1950s-1960s between Via Ferrarese and Via Stalingrado, designed by the engineer Pier Luigi Nervi and property of the Emilia-Romagna Region will host the new Tecnopolo, the technological district of Bologna.
This innovation and experimentation center is part of the regional strategy for industrial research and technological transfer and of the Bologna Metropolitan Strategic Plan.

The project for the Tecnopolo, selected with a design competition, involves the demolition of the most dilapidated buildings to unveil the richness of the existing architecture and integrate it with the new ones to be built.
The new complex will be strategically integrated within the Navile neighborhood, well connected to Bolognina in the South and stretching northwards beyond the beltway.
Overall, the project contemplates the setting up in the Tecnopolo of of Institutions (Regional agencies, ENEA, Istituti Ortopedici Rizzoli) and research laboratories operating on dierent technological platforms: mechanics of materials, building, life sciences, energy-environment, ICT and data center, design.
Furthermore, the Tecnopolo will host the data center of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts - ECMWF, on a total area of 9 thousand square meters, including the area for high-performance computerized equipment on the ground floor and the oice area.
The Tecnopolo will host also the new national agency for the meteorology and climatology (ItaliaMeteo) concentrating some regional research organizations, becoming in fact a european hub for the climate change research.

Data
Surface area: circa 136.000 m²

Project promoted by: Regione Emilia-Romagna

Project (winner of competition in 2011): Studio Von Gerkan Marg und Partner-GMP

Realization: FBM - Finanziaria Bologna Metropolitana

Estimated overall investment: € 198.000.000

 

In the north-east area of the city, at the Pilastro and in the surrounding territory, important transformations are ongoing.

Aree Annesse Sud
In the "Aree Annesse Sud" area, near the Pilastro and the neighbouring commercial and university areas, a new part of the city will arise.
The project contemplates:
> commercial, reception, management, etc. activities (25,000 square metres);
> about 600 homes;
> about 200 homes for social housing;
> greenery and parking areas (83,500 square metres).

The project will also have to carry out some actions for equipment and public spaces, specifically:
> a police station in the centre of the Pilastro complex;
> a new school complex (nursery and primary school) between the new buildings and the existing ones;
> a system of greenery (public gardens, picnic areas and a green corridor) with cycling and walking tracks (both in the east-west direction towards the Pilastro and the Meraville shopping park, and in the north-south and north direction towards CAAB).
The transformation of the area has been discussed with citizens in meetings coordinated by Urban Center Bologna.

Data "Aree Annesse Sud"
> Surface area: 150.000 m²
> Project: Tasca studio e Scagliarini
> General investment: € 180.000.000 (privati)

Pilastro
"Pilastro 2016" is a development project promoted by Bologna City Council with the objective of connecting the richness of the social and cultural capital of the Pilastro with the existing and developing economic demands in the northeast area. The project aims to involve all parties in actions for improvement and maintenance of and care for buildings and green areas, and for community development.

Data "Pilastro 2016"
Project: Comune di Bologna

 

Bologna’s historic center is well preserved, full of buildings of historical and artistic interest, squares and special places like the arcades (nominated to become a UNESCO world heritage sites) which, extending for approximately 40 km, connect the center to the rest of the city.
Over the past few years some squares, streets and significant places of the historic center have been requalified to improve urban quality and usability of public spaces.

In the next future, other parts of the center will be the object of extensive transformation.

In the North-East side of Bologna, past the Pilastro, in the San Donato neighborhood,FICOEataly World isborn. With its 80.000 mq of exhibition space, the great Italian agri-food parkgathers the history of Italian food biodiversity in one place.

FICO Eataly World aspires to become the point of reference for taste, business, experience and teaching for a large, diverse public, hosting numerous activities connected to the whole food chain: from farming and breeding, to processing, production, sales and retail consumption of products.

In terms of urban planning and building projects, this requalification does not structurally alter the image of the area and its existing infrastructure (FICO was built in the main building of the CAAB), but rather it modifies its functions and space layout. The traditional market activities of the CAAB have been reorganized in the “NAM-New Market Area” which has been adjusted, in terms of size, services provided, technologies and management sustainability, to the needs of a modern wholesale market.FICO Eataly World is open to the public since 15th November 2017.

Data
> Surface area: circa 80.000 m²
> Project: CAAB Centro Agro Alimentare Bologna, Comune di Bologna, Eataly
> Public/private investment: more than € 80.000.000

Photogallery: