Safety and Identity. The search for settlement models for post-earthquake reconstruction

Safety and Identity appear as the opposite ends of a problem of our time that imposes a challenge to the researchers of disciplines that deal with territories, urban settlements and architectural heritage. A challenge that should be faced through integrated approaches capable of overcoming "specialisations" and experiment inter-disciplinary research and projects. The DICAR Department of Politecnico di Bari is conducting theoretical and applied research on the issues of seismic disaster prevention and post-earthquake reconstruction. The methodological goal of this research is to the strategic choices for restoration, reconstruction and new construction not by rules developed on a "sectoral" basis but by principles that should be the result of an integrated approach able to combine the most strictly "technical" reasons with the reasons of built forms and their meanings, regarding architectural, urban, and landscape characteristics. With the awareness that, when appropriately considered, the latter can direct the choices relative to the first and lead to recognizable and shared for-mal solutions, able to achieve security and identity at the same time.