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Old Town Centres in Crisis

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OUR "OLD TOWN CENTRES" IN CRISIS

The crisis of old town centres is due to several factors, not least a cultural crisis. People are becoming more and more self-centred, they live in a hurry, they have no time to look around them, to stop for a while and sit on a bench to have a chat. People have lost the pleasure of strolling to the town centre, they prefer shopping centres, sheltered from bad weather and from extreme temperature, here they only need to cover a short distance to find all they need.
It follows that if old town centres are to be given back their life minor projects like resting areas and a few benches are not enough. People must change their way of thinking, they need to discover again the pleasure of living in the most important and most beautiful area of their own town.
First of all, it is necessary to design an overall programme aimed at revitalizing the old town centre and covering a variety of areas such as town planning, commercial interests, access, etc. as well as specific needs. We must re-assess the value of our heritage and preserve it to be able to link our present life to past and future times.
This way only we shall not forget our historical and cultural heritage, we shall recover instead that sense of identity and belonging that we have nearly lost. To make all this possible, the old town centre must find its economic, social and cultural life again, it must regain its own role as a gathering place, a place of interaction, of exchange and of self-assertion so that it will not become a space for mere nostalgic appraisal.
Local administration must be involved in this programme, it is only by giving back political responsibility to local institutions that the citizens interest and participation in the cultural life of our towns can be revived. Furthemore in this specific area one cannot distinguish between conservation and usage. The role of local government is carried out through care and preservation of cultural heritage but also through seeing our heritage as a real economic resource.