Rail Transport and Urban Renewal. Plans and Projects in the Florentine Area (Italy)

After a long period spent in the choice and the definition of solutions to the project, the ambitious reorganization of the public railway trasport system in the Florentine area is finally underway. It includes: a) the creation of a new urban railway undergroud connection for high speed trains, with an underground stop connecting with the central station in Florence; b) the use of preexisting railway tracks and the creation of new lines towards the activation of a metropolitan railway service within the Florence, Prato and Pistoia area; c) the creation of a new tram network. Connected to the interventions on the infrastructural network there are urban interventions dedicated to the construction of new stops, the configuration of public spaces through which the trams will pass, as well as the transformation of vast derelict areas, near to the railway tracks. The carrying out of these projects represents an opportunity for the requalification of urban fabrics and fringes, promoting the decentralization of super-local functions that are now concentrated in the cetre of Florence, and contributing in some way in the development, around the public transport system, of a more defined identity for the entire metropolitan area.