2 SCENARIOS FOR A LAND NAMED LOMELLINA is the result of a research that has studied peculiarities, dynamics and potentialities of the part of the Pianura Padana enclosed by rivers Po, Ticino and Sesia, which is called Lomellina.
Exploring different directions, the work intends investigate a territory where, at the same time, the dichotomy between urbanisation and country sides is still strong and signals of changing are quite clear.
Looking at this land we agree with the definition used to describe it as [...] ambiti a perdurante e relativamente vitale connotazione agricola con popolazione stagnante o in continua diminuzione, pur nel quadro di un certo ricambio della popolazione insediata. In questi territori una contenuta, ma significativa produzione edilizia tesa a rispondere a crescenti consumi abitativi di una popolazione benestante o a nuove esigenze tecnico-produttive delle attività agricole, convive con una forte dismissione di preesistenti edifici rurali. (A. Lanzani, 2003).
But going across the landscape and discovering different materials which built the Lomellina today, other traces become relevant and testify how much the land is changing:
quarrying in cultivated areas, urban development alongside the main roads, new productive and commercial areas, new activities that mix farming and tourism, new rules and programs to protect the environment are all signals we had recognized and used to describe the territory.
This work asks what would be possible future scenarios for the region named Lomellina, what are the opportunities for habitable spaces, for the agricultural activities, the natural resources and the population living in the area, and what consequences the planned interventions that could influence the future development can be.
The work fits into the contemporary debate using the term SCENARIO as a tool to research and as a skeleton-key for the investigations. Exploring the territory and its materials at several scales, we describe 2 different ways of development using plans, policies and projects we selected, enquired and interpreted for.
2 scenarios for Lomellina are fruits of conjectures expressed using the sentence what would happen if : what would happen if some interventions, and the reactions they may cause, defined specific transformations, permanences and aims for spaces and stakeholders involved.

- AGRO-TECHNOLOGICAL SCENARIO: In this scenario we describe a possible way of development where farming would increase its competitiveness by crops diversification, responding to energy demand using renewable resources, and where towns alongside the main roads for the logistic platform in Mortara, would experience the creation of new settlements for industrial and tertiary activities.

- TOURISTIC-RESIDENTIAL SCENARIO: In this scenario we describe a possible way of development where agriculture would take care of consolidation, management and protection of the natural resources, focusing on quality certificated rice production and forestry and where both favourable values and fast connections towards outside cities, would generate housing development.

The 2 scenarios are neither previsions nor predictions; we conceive them as instruments for planning and comparing actions and reactions. The need to mix different disciplines had leaded us through many and several sources and forced us to look at the problems using different points of view.
The results are starting points, two theoretical elaborations to raise considerations, questions and more proposals for the Lomellina future, two evaluating tools for plans, policies and projects that will act on the territory, two constructive ideas about socio-contemporary resources and demands.