LEARNING OUTCOMES

The purpose of this course is to develop a critical awareness of the processes regulating the formation, development and transformation of the modern and contemporary city.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

In particular the student should:

• acquire a knowledge of the main urban theories that have contributed to the formation and codification of a practical understanding;

• develop good skills to interpret the processes of formation and transformation of the city in relation to changing social, economic and technological conditions;

• acquire a knowledge of the main instruments of control and space regulation, and related formal languages.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures, practical exercises, guided tours.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course outlines a possible itinerary in the history of the western city, which has an ideal beginning in Greek polis and Roman civitas and a conclusion in the sprawl of Los Angeles, the symbolic end of the "decline of the West". The European city of the nineteenth and twentieth century forms the core of this itinerary.

The course is divided into two parts:

• The first part is about some urban theories and their progressive consolidation in elements of doctrine through some exemplar plans and urban projects.

• The second part concerns specific reference to the Italian case, the national and regional legislative codification process, and the definition of the instruments of control and space regulation.

The course includes a practical exercise carried out in groups of up to 3 people, on a part of urban territory, agreed with the professor. The aim of the exercise is to test, through a case study, urban theories learnt during the lectures. The exercise consists of a reading of the context (to recognize the elements of the image of the city) and the subsequent evaluation of the plans.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

In addition to the slides of the lectures, we recommend the following texts.

A classification of the main urban theories:

F. Choay, Utopia o realtà, Einaudi, Torino, 2000 (ed. or. 1965).

B. Secchi, La città del XX secolo, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2005.

A reconstruction of the Italian urban planning events of the Second World War:

V. De Lucia, Se questa e una città, Donzelli, Roma, 2009 (ed. or. 1989).

A picture of the main urban planning techniques:

P. Gabellini, Tecniche urbanistiche, Carocci, Roma, 2001 (in particolare la seconda parte “Gli strumenti”).

A reading of the urban context (for the first part of the practical exercises):

G. Cullen, Paesaggio urbano. Morfologia e progettazione, Calderini, Bologna, 1976.

K. Lynch, L'immagine della città, Marsilio, Venezia 2006 (ed. or. 1964).