Architecture, Cultural Identity and Productive Landscapes. Regenerative proposals for the Green Silk Roads

This paper analyses the complex cultural and historical heritage, as well as the architecture of landscapes that define identity and the natural environment. The aim is to define strategies for regeneration and sustainable tourism along the Silk Roads, strengthening the role of architecture and the rural and historical landscape as a strategic interface between cultural identity, heritage conservation and environmental sustainability. In the international context of Samarkand, an emblematic crossroads of the ancient Silk Roads, the research investigates how adaptive reuse practices can guide the regeneration of brownfield sites, marginalised areas and productive landscapes, transforming them into catalysts for the green economy and cultural tourism. Through a comparative perspective, the study examines several Italian cases of former textile industrial districts and Sicilian rural landscapes, where rural linguistic elements bear witness to the link between architecture and landscape. These spatial systems, once connected to production and seasonal migration, are now reinterpreted through design approaches based on material authenticity, spatial continuity and ecological resilience. By bringing Mediterranean and Central Asian contexts into dialogue, this paper proposes a transdisciplinary framework for architectural and landscape regeneration based on shared values of memory, craftsmanship and environmental responsibility. The aim is to promote a model of sustainable tourism that preserves the spirit of the place whilst fostering local development and intercultural cooperation along the Green Silk Road.