From Thermal City to Well-Being Landscape: A Proposal for the UNESCO Heritage Site of Pineta Park in Montecatini Terme

Thermal cities represent a valuable example of cultural heritage as an expression of territorial relationships, reflecting the interplay between the physical characteristics of the landscape and human creativity. Their cultural value was recognized with the inscription of 11 spa towns in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021. However, since the late 20th century, shifting economic and social conditions have led to a widespread crisis in thermal tourism, resulting in abandonment and degradation. So far, this issue has been primarily addressed through tourism and economic models, largely neglecting the landscape perspective. This article, instead, argues that a landscape-based approach is essential for understanding the complexity of the problem and for providing sustainable solutions. The paper seeks to answer two research questions: (i) the first concerns the role of landscape design within the conservation framework of thermal heritage; (ii) the second addresses the creation of new values and opportunities, investigating how landscape design can support a sustainable and context-sensitive transformation of thermal cities. The study adopts the Research-through-Design (RTD) methodology and takes advantage of the landscape design proposal developed for Montecatini Terme, in Italy, as an opportunity to explore the broader issue of rethinking traditional spa towns in crisis. As a result of this design and research experience, it is argued that landscape design plays a crucial role in establishing an integrated system capable of supporting the sustainable development of spa towns and recommendations for decision-makers are provided.