LABORATORIO DI PROGETTAZIONE URBANISTICA A - L

This laboratory aims to introduce students to the study of urban planning and give them the theoretical and methodological basis of the discipline to help them interpret the urban and territorial phenomena and to guide them to comprehend and practice urban design through an approach to city design for parts, which is different from the architecture building or the rational comprehensive urban design.

Students are given a method that, contrary to architecture, does not make use of units of concept, of time and place but stems from a collective action, is the outcome of encounters and clashes and spreads along the fourth dimension, the temporal one. This method relates to relations, not to objects. Basic knowledge is first imparted through frontal lessons on the theoretical foundations of the urban project with reference to international literature, and then students are involved in elementary exercises to read and interpret parts of cities with different characteristics. Starting from the hypothesis illustrated above, in the second part of the course, a project is elaborated and inserted within a strategy to define some scenarios, to face and solve the spatial problems that emerged during the analysis phase.

Strategy means the predisposition of some interrelated actions even about different levels of reflections; scenario means the formulation of hypothesis on the future transformations and their possible consequences; conceptualization means the effort of abstraction out of the “problem solving” logic to value the general implications of the issues faced; projectual action means the representation in an appropriate scale of interventions that modify the physical state of places.

The skills acquired can be applied to the urban planning and design of more just, equitable, and sustainable cities and territories, in accordance with Goals 10, 11, 13, and 15 of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

According to the Dublin Descriptors (DdD), passing the exam certifies the acquisition of the following learning outcomes:

DdD_1 Knowledge and understanding: knowledge and understanding of the fundamental theoretical and methodological principles of urban analysis, urban design, and urban planning. Proficiency in the use of cartography, information systems, and digital databases.

DdD_2 Applying knowledge and understanding: ability to apply knowledge and skills to the analysis of urban and territorial spaces, the development of urban planning strategies, the definition of the typological, functional, regulatory, and spatial characteristics of urban, peri-urban, and rural areas, as well as the design of the formal and functional, qualitative and quantitative relationships that characterize urban contexts.

DdD_3 Making judgements: ability to develop analytical and operational tools suitable for the critical interpretation of different urban fabrics and urban projects, formulating independent and well-founded evaluations of their strengths and weaknesses.

DdD_4 Communication skills: ability to communicate, present, and discuss urban analyses, strategies, and urban projects through the use of representation tools and specialized software.

DdD_5 Learning skills: ability to work and communicate autonomously in analytical processes and design decision-making, developing competencies that support the continuous updating and further advancement of disciplinary knowledge.

The course is organized in lessons ex cathedra, direct experiences, meetings, seminars, workshops and, possibly, study trips.
A final workshop can be organised.

Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

In order to access the final exam of the Urban Planning Laboratory, it is necessary to attend at least 70% of the classes.

The course content is articulated in line with its objectives.
In the first part of laboratory lesson are dedicated to the analisys of the urban and territorial system, the relations that link urban and territorial trasformations to the theories and the tools of urban planning.
In the second part of the course, frontal lessons are dedicated to the “discovery” of the urban phenomenon in its actuality and to the transmission of the tools of the urban analysis in already
urbanized areas with different characteristics: historic fabrics, recent suburbs, urban sprawl. In the third part of the course the focus is on the conceptual definition of Urban design making reference to the culture of the most important European countries and, in particular, to Italy and France.
The dynamics of elaboration, production and governance of urban design are put in evidence through the study and analysis of some case studies. The design experience is developed on an area of adequate dimensions and position within a urban system of one or more Sicilian cities and leads to the elaboration of the urban design.

1. AA.VV., Cerdà. Città e territorio, Institut d’Estudis Territorials – Università di Catania, Barcellona, 2002. [5-8, 13-14, 18-25]

2. G. ASTENGO, voce Urbanistica, Enciclopedia universale dell’arte

3. G. DATO (a cura di), L'urbanistica di Haussmann: un modello impossibile?, Officina, Roma 1995. [7-34]

4. G. DEMATTEIS, C. LANZA, Le città del mondo. Una geografia urbana, UTET, Torino, 2011, cap. 2 pp. 35-56 e cap. 3 pp. 57-81, cap. 11, pp. 179 – 203 e cap. 13 pp. 217 - 225

5. P. GABELLINI, Tecniche urbanistiche, Carocci, Roma, 2001

6. B. GABRIELLI, Il recupero della città esistente : saggi 1968-1992, Etas libri, Milano, 1993, [257-272]

7. K. LYNCH, Progettare la città. Milano, Etaslibri, 1990

8. P. INGALLINA P. (2001) Il progetto urbano, Franco Angeli, Milano, cap. 1, pp. 29 – 63

9. D. MANGIN, Ph. PANERAI, Projet urbain, Editions Parenthèses, Marseille, 1999, cap. 4 pp. 83 – 100 e cap. 7 pp. 139 – 162.

10. S. MUNARIN, V. MARTELLIANO (a cura di), Spazi, storie e soggetti del welfare. Sul ruolo delle politiche del welfare state nella costruzione della città, Gangemi Editore, Roma, 2012. pp. 9 - 24, 75 - 88, 131 - 142.

11. F. C. NIGRELLI, Percorsi del Progetto urbano in Francia e in Italia 1960-1997, Officina Edizioni, Roma, 1999, cap. 4, pp. 212 -241, conclusioni pp. 271 - 281

12. Ph. PANERAI, J. CASTEX, J. DEPAULE, Isolato urbano e città contemporanea, CittàStudi, Milano, 1981

13. C. RATTI con M. CLAUDEL, La città di domani. Come le reti stanno cambiando il futuro urbano, Giulio Einaudi editore, Torino 2017, cap. 1 pp. 5 – 12, cap. 2 pp. 13 – 19, cap. 3 pp. 20 – 29, cap. 4 pp. 33 – 40, cap. 5 pp. 41 – 50, cap. 7 pp. 65 - 74

14. M. RONCAYOLO, La città. Storia e problemi della dimensione urbana, Einaudi, Torino, 1988, cap. 1 pp. 11 – 24, cap. 2 pp. 25 – 39, cap. 4 pp. 55 - 66

15. B. SECCHI, Prima lezione di Urbanistica, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2000

16. B. SECCHI, La città dei ricchi e la città dei poveri, Laterza Editore, Bari, 2013

17. B. ZANON, Territorio, ambiente, città. Vol. I: Temi, esperienze e strumenti dell’urbanistica contemporanea, Alinea Editrice, Firenze, 2008

Further readings – a selected bibliography:

18. AA.VV. Projets urbains en France, Le Moniteur, Paris, 2002

19. P. COLAROSSI e A.P. LATINI, La progettazione urbana. Vol. 2, ilSole24ore, Milano, 2008, cap. 4 pp. 433 – 473, cap. 5 pp. 475 – 566

20. P. COLAROSSI e A.P. LATINI, La progettazione urbana. Vol. 3, ilSole24ore, Milano, 2008, cap. 3 pp. 94 – 158

21. Ch. DEVILLERS, “Il progetto urbano”, in in Rassegna di Architettura e urbanistica, “Progetto urbano in Francia”, n. 110/111, ed. Kappa, Roma 2003, pp. 43-54

22. F. D’ORSO, Ecoquartiers, t. 2, ed Snal, Paris, 2014

23. B. HUET, “Il progetto urbano e la storia” in Rassegna di Architettura e urbanistica, “Progetto urbano in Francia”, n. 110/111, ed. Kappa, Roma 2003, pp. 38-42

24. P. LA GRECA, Interventi nella città consolidata: casi francesi e italiani a confronto. Documenti del DAU n. 14, Gangemi Editore, Roma, 1996

25. C. MORENO, Vie urbaine et proximité à l’heure du Covid-19, Et Après? n. 30, Éditions de L'Observatoire, Paris, 2020

The questions for the oral exam will focus on the topics covered during the course, the description of the intermediate exercises, and the urban project developed.

Examples of questions:

• Identify and briefly describe the settlement of urban spread in Fig. 1.
• Identify and briefly describe the areas affected by non-residential settlements in Fig. 1.
• Classify the road network in Fig. 1, using 3 levels: primary (transit), secondary (distribution), and local (access).
• For the assigned city, calculate the urban standard (green spaces, parking, public interest, and schools), both current and the potential missing amount, based on the current population (see the table), sufficient to ensure compliance with the minimum quantities indicated in Decree 1444/68.
• What is meant by “progetto urbano”?
• Describe the French experience in urban transformation processes.
• What is a masterplan?
• How does the urban project relate to strategic planning?
• What is “urban analysis”?
• How are Big Data changing cities?
• What is meant by urban welfare?
• How can the city respond to the problems posed by global warming?
• What is the “15-minute city”?
• What is meant by spatial justice?