The Department of Architecture and Design (DiAP), Sapienza University of Rome in partnership with the Deputy Mayor’s Department for the Environment, Food and Waste, Roma Capitale, has called on students, graduates, and young professionals in the field of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, and the arts, to submit proposals for free ideas to re-assess and regenerate the Malagrotta Landfill and its surrounding area, located on the eastern outskirts of Rome [41°51’16.4″N 12°20’05.5″E]. The aim was to open a humanistic, scientific and civic discussion concerning a sensitive environmental issue in the city of Rome.

The Malagrotta Landfill, among the largest in Europe (240 hectares and about 4500-5000 tons per day), was closed, after protracted activity and several controversial events, in August 2013. The need to develop ideas and strategies to investigate, forecast and manage its future is one of the chief priorities of the Municipality of Rome (Roma Capitale) and of the surrounding neighbourhoods; therefore we encourage proposals from interdisciplinary teams to define perspectives that might have a relevant impact on the new approach for solving such an environmental problem.
There have been already several successful case studies all over the world demonstrating that landfill regeneration processes can present important opportunities for the enhancement of living environments, communities and land value: Batlle i Roig (Vall d’en Joan and Vacarisses), James Corner (Fresh Kills), Peter Latz (Ariel Sharon Park), Bjarke Ingels Group (Incinerator in Copenhagen).
The proponents (a research group lead by Prof. Orazio Carpenzano) have been researching on landfill remediation over the last year collecting significant case-studies and ideas that will be commented on, analysed and published together with the winning proposals of this call in a research report during 2015.