Monday, January 18, 2010

They Paved Paradise...


Ok, maybe "paradise" is exagerating things a bit...but there used to be a very nice park in this space behind the Ateneo of the University of Bari. There were benches and pathways through very old trees (including giant palms) and bushes. It was a nice space and a break from the concrete of the city.

Then the university decided that it would be a good idea to build an underground parking lot and they ripped up the trees and everything else in the park to create this giant pit. At least they're working on it now. The whole project was blocked for over a year because they hit water down there. That tends to happen when they dig down too far in Bari...being that it's on the sea and all!

This construction site has been underway for years now, I've lost count how many. Hopefully, one day they will put some trees and benches back on top of the parking lot. I'll keep you posted...


9 comments:

Luis Gomez said...

It is always sad when this kind of things happen in any city. Nevertheless your picture is wonderful it actually depicts the void in the center of a massive jungle of buildings.

Dave-CostaRicaDailyPhoto.com said...

Maybe they will replace the park on top when they are done building the underground garage.

Stefan Jansson said...

Well that's a shame. Ad it will of course take many years to grow new trees.

Ann said...

What a shame. Hopefully they will regreen the space eventually and not build a concrete and glas monstrosity on top of the car park, which is the tendency in my part of the world.

Chuck Pefley said...

Oh, so true. We don't know what we've got until it's gone. Perfect Joni Mitchell song for this scene.

Rob Siemann said...

The title is excellent! Here, we have probably the oldest building site on earth, the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. Started in 1882, and it should be finished in 2026

Patsy said...

That constrction is in Bari.they will do it good. That Joni MITCHEL Has a nice voice.

Hilda said...

Sigh. We are all paving so much of our few remaining green land, it's so sad.

VP said...

A familiar story, it already happened here. I really hope that your parking will be completed sooner than ours...