Construction sites as modern ruins: an aesthetic and touristic phenomenon

Fabrizio Federici explores the aesthetic and touristic appeal of construction sites, comparing them to ancient ruins. He recounts an 1828 anecdote by Stendhal about an English gentleman who mistook workers repairing the Colosseum for its builders, highlighting the similarity between unfinished and decaying structures. Federici notes that since the 1990s, construction sites have become objects of aesthetic admiration and guided tours, exemplified by Berlin's Baustellentourismus in the 1990s and 2000s, where the landscape of cranes and ruins (including the Berlin Wall) offered a visual power often unmatched by completed projects like Potsdamer Platz. In Italy, he cites the 'Incompiuto Siciliano' (Sicilian Unfinished) and the Città dello Sport by Santiago Calatrava in Rome as examples of 'infinite construction sites' that evoke both sublime feelings and anger over wasted public money. These modern ruins, like ancient ones, may still be repurposed for new uses.