Strategies and visions for new urban habitats. The re-functionalization of the former ‘Convento dei cappuccini’ inside the Cardeto natural park in Ancona's city centre

The opportunity to establish a reflection on the relationship between Heritage and Innovation, on the role of built heritage as a significant element for the medium-sized city, and on the relationships between Heritage, the Contemporary City, and its uses, arises from a series of applied research studies conducted by the UNIVPM research group 'Hub for Heritage and Habitat' as part of the activities of commissioned by the Regional Office of the State Property Agency. This research focused on the case study of the area known as 'Colle dei Cappuccini' within the Municipal natural park called “Cardeto” inside the city centre of Ancona, specifically on the built complex of the former Capuchin friars' convent, later a military barracks, which is now disused. This area of the city, which includes various pre-modern fortifications, is an extraordinary blend of artifice and nature, with a highly valuable historical stratification close to the city's historic core. However, it is in a state of 'periphery at the center,' where many of the existing structures are in a state of abandonment. The owner's intention to transfer the Provincial State Archives headquarters there represents an opportunity to reactivate not only an urban container but an entire habitat where nature and artifice, landscape and environment, meet through the creativity of the architectural project and its functional program. This allows for a new dialogue between heritage and innovation, between the present and the future.