Sport and City. The case of Cagliari’s new stadium (Sardinia – Italy)

The present paper represents an effort by the authors to reflect on some of the changes intervened in stadiums. The idea is to understand if, and in which terms, something ‘not new’ is actually ongoing, learning lessons from the past, when sport facilities were tightly connected with urban dynamics, and stadiums - as major ‘temples’ of to-date sports, can play again this important role. In this context, the present work represents a reflection on the main changes in the stadiums, with particular reference to the proposal of the new Cagliari stadium, both in terms of attractiveness (functions and users) and as an accelerator of urban regeneration. The goal is to understand if, and in what terms, the "new", currently in the design phase, is closely connected with urban dynamics (local and global) and what role to play to promote integration and social inclusion.