Renderings of public spaces in the Marconi district

Polymnia Futura – Sustainable urban regeneration in Polignano a Mare

An urban regeneration proposal for Polignano a Mare that combines sustainable mobility, public spaces and new residential neighbourhoods: Special Mention at the Europan 18 European competition.

2025 · Polignano a Mare, Apulia · Urban regeneration · Sustainable design · Public & Commercial Architecture

A city regenerating from its connective tissue

Polignano a Mare is one of the most iconic towns on the Apulian Adriatic coast: a spectacular historic centre overlooking the cliffs, a steadily growing tourism economy, and increasing pressure on urban infrastructure. Like many medium-sized towns in Southern Italy, Polignano faces a structural contradiction: the historic centre attracts visitors and investment, but the neighbourhoods beyond the railway line (the areas along Via Lepore, the Distretto Marconi, and the areas around the station) remain cut off from urban life, with fragmented public spaces, car-dependent mobility, and a built environment that fails to engage with the surrounding landscape.

Polymnia Futura, Barberio Colella Architetti’s proposal for the Europan 18 competition, addresses this divide with a systemic vision. The project does not focus on a single building or a single plot, but on a system of relationships: mobility, public green spaces, residential densification and connections between neighbourhoods. The strategy revolves around the concept of ‘mobility hubs’, interchange nodes combining public transport, soft mobility, proximity services and social spaces, distributed along an axis linking the railway station to the historic centre and the new Villa Pinocchio urban park.

The masterplan envisages the transformation of the Distretto Marconi into a low-density residential neighbourhood with high energy standards, integrated with a new urban park and connected to the cycle and pedestrian network. Via Lepore becomes an axis of sustainable mobility with a new intermodal hub. The railway station opens up to the landscape with an outdoor leisure area along Viale Trieste. Each intervention is tailored to the scale and character of the existing town: rather than imposing an alien urban model, it reactivates the potential of places already present within Polignano’s fabric.

The proposal received a special mention at the Europan 18 competition, an accolade recognising the quality of the strategic vision and the coherence between contextual analysis and design solution. The team, comprising Barberio Colella Architetti with Angelo Figliola and Khaled Jamal, brought complementary expertise in architectural design, urban planning and mobility analysis. Polymnia Futura demonstrates that urban regeneration in Southern Italy is not merely a question of funding, but of project quality: the ability to interpret a territory, identify the right levers and propose a concrete alternative to growth through expansion.

Renders & Photos

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Technical specifications

Location: Polignano a Mare, Apulia, Italy
Year: 2025
Client: Europan 18 (European architecture and urban planning competition)
Typology: Urban regeneration, masterplan, sustainable mobility
Status: Concept – Europan 18 special mention
Designers: Barberio Colella Architects (Maurizio Barberio, Micaela Colella), Angelo Figliola, Khaled Jamal
Awards: Europan 18 special mention

Technical drawings

Polignano a Mare Urban Regeneration Masterplan

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How can a tourist town in Apulia be regenerated beyond its historic centre?

Apulian tourist towns operate at two speeds: the historic centre is being enhanced, restored, and attracts investment and visitors. The neighbourhoods around the station, the suburbs beyond the railway line, and the residential neighbourhoods built in the 1960s–1980s remain stagnant, with residual public spaces, transport reliant entirely on road vehicles, and no proper connection to the heart of the town. European and state funds provide resources, but without a coherent urban plan, those resources result in isolated interventions that do not alter the city’s structure. Polymnia Futura demonstrates that a different approach is possible in Polignano a Mare: viewing the area as a system, identifying strategic focal points (transport, green spaces, densification) and proposing a gradual transformation, tailored to the scale and identity of the place.

Frequently Asked Questions

Europan is the most important European architecture and urban planning competition for designers under 40. Each edition presents real sites in European cities and asks teams to develop visions for urban transformation. Winning and shortlisted projects often enter a phase of dialogue with local authorities regarding implementation. The Europan special mention awarded to Polymnia Futura at Europan 18 means that the proposal was recognised by an international jury as a credible and high-quality vision for Polignano a Mare.

A mobility hub is a physical location where multiple modes of transport (buses, bikes, car-sharing, pedestrian paths) converge, integrated with proximity services (shops, co-working spaces, storage facilities). In a town like Polignano, where the distance between neighbourhoods and the historic centre is short, mobility hubs serve to make alternatives to private cars a viable option: if you can find a bike station, a bus stop and a service point within a 5-minute walk from home, the car becomes less necessary.

An urban regeneration masterplan that includes transport, public spaces and residential densification has costs that vary greatly depending on the scale and degree of transformation. For a project such as the one proposed in Polignano (which focuses primarily on the redevelopment of existing spaces and light densification) construction costs typically range from 5 to 15 million euros in total, largely fundable through European funds and equalisation planning instruments. Design costs for the masterplan and detailed designs amount to between 5% and 8% of the total project cost.

Polymnia Futura addresses this issue by designing spaces that function 12 months a year, not just during the tourist season. The urban park, mobility hubs and leisure areas near the station are designed with residents in mind: those who live in Polignano all year round must have access to high-quality public spaces, alternative modes of transport to the car and proximity services. Tourism benefits from a better-organised city, but it is not the sole beneficiary.

Barberio Colella Architetti, based in Bari, received a special mention at Europan 18 for Polymnia Futura’s proposal for Polignano a Mare. Both founders are architects with PhDs and have participated in international urban planning and architecture competitions. The practice combines deep roots in the Apulian region (knowledge of local urban dynamics, regulations and supply chains) with a design vision validated at European level.

Polignano a Mare is subject to landscape restrictions (Apulia Regional Landscape Plan, PPTR), historic centre restrictions (Superintendency), and municipal planning regulations. A regeneration project in the areas beyond the railway line faces fewer historical and landscape restrictions than the town centre, but must still comply with the PPTR for coastal areas and with municipal planning regulations regarding density, building heights and urban standards. Direct knowledge of these restrictions, typical of a practice rooted in the local area, is a concrete operational advantage. ---

Is your town or local authority considering an urban regeneration project?

Polymnia Futura demonstrates that the quality of the project is the decisive factor in urban regeneration, not just the availability of funds. If your local authority or organisation is working on an urban regeneration plan, we can discuss the most suitable project strategy for your context.

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