Models of Bastion Fortifications Integration in Cities

Abstract

This paper examines the models of contemporary integration of bastion fortifications into the urban tissue, either in case of preserved bastion fortifications or in case of valuable urban areas created by their transformation during the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, and also in case of spaces at the place of former fortifications in which visible physical remains of fortifications have not been preserved nor has recognizable and historically valuable urban area been created by historical transformation. Bastion fortifications, which had significantly characterized the morphology of renaissance and baroque cities during the four centuries of their existence, lost their purpose at the end of the eighteenth century. Depending on specific strategic and political circumstances, fortifications in certain cities have been preserved in their original form, whereas in others they have been partially or completely removed and the spaces at their place have experienced urban transformation. Based on the analysis of historical integration models of bastion fortifications, the analysis of urban features of spaces at the place of fortifications at the beginning of the twenty-first century and the identification of contemporary identity factors of city centres of such genesis, this paper defines three possible models to enhance future development of spaces at the place of bastion fortifications.