The Stable Strait Crossing System. What Developments and Opportunities?

The Strait of Messina area is affected by one of the greatest works of the third millennium: the bridge and related infrastructure that will connect the two sides, Sicilian and Calabrian. Territories will have to be reorganized with respect to the artificial welding, the stable crossing. Territorial continuity will unite two metropolitan cities that will no longer be physically separated. But how will activities be organized along the coast, settlements, ports, relations, and what initiatives will be undertaken to enhance and publicize the cultural and environmental heritage, to revitalize the two territories? Coastal facades will have to be an active part of urban regeneration and development processes, also looking at defense against hydrogeological risk and the long-term effects of climate change. This is an opportunity to be seized. The essay proposes an interpretation of the environmental, economic and social challenges that the “Bridge on the Strait” project will raise; the Integrated Plan for the Strait Area drafted in 2019 will be illustrated with a far-sighted vision, with and without a stable crossing several.