Cycling lanes and Stormwater Management: an integrated project. Montesilvano as a case study

The frequency of flooding in Montesilvano has risen steadily in recent years. Linked to this phenomenon, the research agreement between the Department of Architecture in Pescara and the Town of Montesilvano includes the general objective of verifying whether the network of cycling lanes can help resolve this issue. Legislation, guidelines and best practices in his sector provide no useful indications. They are linked to a qualitative hypothesis whose priority in almost all cases focuses on creating the highest possible number of kilometres of safe, functional and intermodal cycling lanes. To identify operative references to the links between cycling lanes and stormwater management we must look at plans designed to contrast climate change. Many have a specific section dedicated to this theme: examples include Boston, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Ottawa and Philadelphia. Their comparison reveals that improving stormwater management requires multiple actions. Principal actions include: breaking free of sector-specific logics, integrated projects for the spaces of the network and associated areas and the recognition of the importance of the relationship with context. In Montesilvano, marked by two parallel north-south axes (the Parkway and the Waterfront) and its five perpendicular east-west lines (Grandi alberghi, via Strasburgo, via Marinelli, via Torrente Piomba, Palaroma), there is a need to identify areas ready to welcome a project that successfully combines bicycle mobility with stormwater treatment and management. This is the responsibility the research intends to assume in the near future.