BARI – Bari has a long history of floods and inundations, a risk that still exists today, aggravated by climate change and land consumption which has not taken (and does not take) into account the geomorphological characteristics of the territory and which above all has worsened in recent years.
Giovanna Amedei, president of the Puglia Order of Geologists, says it bluntly: «The data contained in Legambiente’s 2023 report on beaches highlights this clearly. From 2010 to 2023, Puglia suffered 96 extreme weather events and of these 43 affected Bari and the Bari area, which makes it the first province at risk in Italy. These events, which are no longer an exception but the norm, if combined with land consumption without criteria, without adequate mapping and study of the geomorphology, add damage to damage.”
But will this risk be lowered with the large Bari Costa Sud park project?
“Depends. The project itself appears interesting. When it comes to redevelopment, creating public green spaces is certainly beautiful. But as a technician I’m worried about the displacement of the volumes. We know that there are still pending volumes that will be taken towards Japigia. An already heavily anthropized neighborhood. Which will therefore be even more so. So on the one hand there will be the renaturalization of the coast and on the other further land consumption. In practice, the problem shifts, a transformation that on balance risks being worsening, creating neighborhoods of series A and others of series B.”
But are you geologists consulted when it comes to important urban planning projects?
“Unfortunately not. It is mistakenly believed that urban planning goes beyond geology, that the study of the territory and its nature is useless, but this is not the case. Even for the law on the protection of the dunes we were done without… And instead our technical skills can be an important support”.
Returning to Bari Costa Sud, the project involves Lama Valenzano, a naturalistic area and essential space for the flow of water.
«If I understand correctly, these are the interventions of lot 4. The riverbed will be renaturalized and regenerated thanks to the creation of a reticular agricultural park. As a citizen I hope that everything is done with the utmost respect for the wild animals that pass through it and for whom the mouth is an important oasis for safeguarding biodiversity, but as a technician I am also curious to understand if agricultural activities could impact the blade. As I said when we talk about planting greenery and trees, they are all favorable, but in a place where water flows, even trees can become a danger if not well managed.”
What are the critical issues in the Bari area?
«Bari suffers from excessive land consumption. It’s not just me saying it but the Ispra data updated year after year. For the rest, the coast close to the city suffers less from the erosive problem than Giovinazzo or Polignano, on the other hand we are within an environmental system in great change. There are data that indicate that in the next 30 years the sea could rise by up to one meter in the port area. At this point I ask myself: are these perspectives taken into account when rethinking the city? Because up until now it has been built without long-term planning. And unfortunately even in urban regeneration projects we stumble upon the same problem, they are carried forward on the wave of the wonder effect, we talk about redevelopment and we think that the word alone is enough, but without studying the soils and understanding how to recover them with real sustainable criteria. I believe that we need much more environmental culture in our latitudes, to make residents understand the risks they run also from a civil protection perspective. In the end, the lives of all of us are at stake.”
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