Rural Architecture in Europe between Tradition and Innovation. Researches, ideas, actions

The book presents the contributions to the final seminary of the research "Current and rural architecture and landscape between tradition and innovation", funded by the European Commission within the "Culture 2000" program. Several research units from Italy, France and Poland participated to the project. Rural architecture is traditionally considered like a spontaneous expression of the human constructive activity, under some respects "elevated", because it is rich of constructive and formal solutions, which put in strong relationship the built heritage with the territory, its uses and the man's life, signing the landscape which it belongs to. Several rural areas are now abandoned all over Europe or, in any case, the traditional productive systems are radically changed, and this has direct influences over the buildings which were created for their needs. The rural heritage, landscape and buildings, is therefore put in crisis, not only because the lack of care and maintenance, but also for the new needs to recover it, for residential and turist purposes, with great risks for the environment and the landscape. From these facts, the problem of "how" to recover these artifacts rises, as they are the result of constructive traditions almost completely forgotten. The researc faced these arguments and the book deals with them.