Can landscape design help recover the lost identity of a symbolic historic city centre? How can spaces be designed for people to enjoy, whilst also “restoring” nature? This research-based design explores the post-earthquake revitalisation of open green spaces in L'Aquila, Italy, including impacts on soil structure, and the functionality and need for public spaces.

The selected site, Piazza d' Armi, is strategically located for future development of the city, and represents a new centre of landscape, urban and social development. The proposal is composed of four major landscape typologies: Woodland, wetland, nursery and meadow, woven together into an ecological park to create a balanced ecosystem for biodiversity to thrive. Sustainable systems are proposed for tackling natural soil regeneration and water drainage systems. The scale of this intervention reflects the importance of the new park to the urban dynamics of L'Aquila; it functions across local, territorial and landscape scales.

Re-composition of the landscape will help bring back traces of the past. The park will commemorate loss and devastation by celebrating their opposites: Life and beauty. The ecological park will serve as a fundamental piece of the urban fabric in the city of the future.