Things change. New urban contexts multidimensional survey of permanence and contamination

This study aims at exploring, through architectural and environmental representation and survey, the n dimensions that define images and spaces in new urban contexts, whose (increasingly fast and dynamic) changes are often the result of chaotic accumulations generally due to processes of addition or superimposition of signs of contamination on those of permanence. The outcome is a high and widespread environmental disorder with consequent and generalized inconveniences on both functional and perceptual levels. Our research, dealing with some areas of medium-sized towns typical of Campania, the so-called ager campanus, is focused on the analysis of material and immaterial dimensions configuring the urban environment as the product of an historical substructure projected towards future and featuring characteristics that undergo rapid changes. The contribution given to the analysis of urban contexts material and immaterial qualities by the scientific field of architectural and environmental representation and survey has provided an implementable methodology that, through differential levels of inquiry and different scales of representation, discretizes and measures the environmental quality of urban contexts, exploring them in order to evaluate the n dimensions of a complex system in continuous evolution, and involving many practical and theoretical disciplinary fields on the multitude of aspects presented. The study is based on a multidimensional architectural and environmental survey attempting to trace a critical map of the problems requiring intervention. The method starts with the collection of data showing the modifications of curtain walls and road layout, then classified in homogeneous blocks used to detect the current relation permanence/contamination.