Museification versus Life

The city of Syracuse and its historic center, the Historical center of the Island of Ortigia is becoming exponentially an open air leisure park like Venice, Barcelona and other highly touristic places; daily life is becoming increasingly difficult for locals. The value of the properties raises and at the same time there are not enough utilities (high school, supermarkets, sport centers, cinemas, etc.) for residents.

This museification of Ortigia prohibits its preservation as a real living urban space and replaces its programmatic diversity with homogeneous real estate addressing visitors. What is the future of heritage? How can we devise an alternative preservation strategy that limits the loss of informality, authenticity and programmatic mix? The ‘Museification versus Life’ workshop will focus on the last remaining anchors of programmatic diversity in Ortigia and test how these can strengthen their presence. At the same time, it will test strategies for inserting new programs and spaces that do not focus on the tourist but on the permanent residents of the town, turning them back into the real protagonists.