An application of the 'Environmental Area': A prescriptive tool to create healthier urban environments

The Department of Architecture of Roma Tre University and Piattaforma Testaccio, a group of inhabitant and stakeholder associations, both based in the same district: Testaccio, cooperate since 2013 in order to enhance its urban environment and quality of life. The main issue of this collaboration has been a study on the possibility of implementing a prescriptive tool applicable in residential areas: the "Environmental Island", aimed at improving both sustainability and liveability of urban spaces. The students of the course "City & Environment", together with their teaching staff, were called to identify problems and propose solutions, considering also the inhabitants' expectations presented by the associations. It is important to underline that in this case the designers are also users, frequenting daily the area. Testaccio is a historical district characterized by an elderly population, due both to the aging phenomenon and the permanence of the early families. To keep people in good health and decrease their stress, the World Health Organization recommends 30 minutes of walking per day and specific limits for acoustic levels, considering that in big cities noise is an important cause of stress as much as chaotic traffic. To keep older people mobile, it is important to create an urban environment that facilitates their walking, is comfortable and is not threatened by the heat island effect. The analyses, run according to European methodologies, highlighted the areas with the highest level of air and noise pollution, mainly caused by vehicular through traffic but also by some night traffic, due to the presence of many activities. Possible actions were identified in order to reduce traffic, noise and air pollution, featuring, on the one hand, the redesign of traffic patterns and streets, on the other hand, some technological devices reducing both particulate and noise.