Programme

The course explores some specific issues concerning the foundation and transformation of the city in the period between the Middle Ages and the Modern Age, proceeding in chronological sequence up to the 21st Century. The knowledge acquired by the students will be specifically applied to portions of Rome's built neighborhoods (streets, squares, fortifications, palaces, etc.) considered particularly significant for urban history and whose original characteristics and subsequent transformations up to the current phase will be highlighted.
The topics of the lectures, grouped in two parts (Part 1 Prof. Scimemi; Part 2 Prof. Sturm), will be as follows:
Part 1 (professor Scimemi)
A City and Territory: THEORIES AND CASES
1. The treatises: from the models of antiquity, to the premises of the modern era, to the debates on town planning in the contemporary age
2. The palace as city
3. The villa as a territorial structure
4. The industrial city and the vertical city
5. From the Siedlung to the Megastructures
6. The Notions of ‘Environment’ and "Habitat

B City and Territory: PALINSESTS [Section on Rome: in situ lessons]
1. the Baths of Diocletian and the area of Termini;
2. the complex of San Giovanni in Laterano;
3. Castel Sant'Angelo and the Borgo Vaticano;
4. the Arenula district and its palaces;
5. the Campidoglio
6. the Via Flaminia and the Olympic Village.

Part 2 (professor Sturm)
In the specific part of the course, entitled ‘City and Territory: MODELS’, the lessons dedicated to the analysis of specific examples and models of urban history, will be supplemented by visits and inspections illustrative of the events addressed, according to the following themes:

1. Rome's urban structure and formation: the plan of Sixtus V and replicas in the modern and post-industrial age
2. The Baroque city: capitals and suburbs (Rome, Naples, Lecce, Turin, new towns in eastern Sicily)
3. The “paper city”: plans of Rome from the Renaissance to Giovan Battista Nolli
4. The Royal Palace and the City: Caserta, Savoy villas, feudal residences, European royal palaces
5. The mercantile city in the modern and post-industrial age
6. The invention of town planning: the 19th century city
7. The Sustainable City: New European Capitals of the 21st Century
8. Genius Loci: new foundations, settlements and territory in the enlarged Roman area.

Core Documentation

Key texts are listed below are (further bibliography will be provided in class).

Part 1 (professor M. Scimemi).
Françoise Choay, L'urbanistica in discussione, in Id., La città. Utopie e realtà, vol, I, Einaudi, Torino 1973 (ed. or. 1965) pp. 3-81.
Richard Krautheimer, Roma. Profilo di una città, 312-1308, Edizioni dell’elefante, Roma 1981: capitoli IX-X (obbligatori) + 1 capitolo (a scelta) tra i capitoli XI (Lo sviluppo del Borgo) ; XII (L’Abitato) ; XIV (Il Disabitato e il Laterano).

Part 2 (professor Sturm):
Joseph Connors, Alleanze e inimicizie. L’urbanistica di Roma barocca, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2005
Enrico Guidoni, L’arte di progettare le città. Italia e Mediterraneo dal medioevo al Settecento, Kappa, Roma 1992 (un capitolo a scelta)
Christian Norberg-Schulz, Genius Loci. Paesaggio Ambiente Architettura, Milano 2009 (I ed. 1979) (un capitolo a scelta)

Reference Bibliography

Kevin Lynch, L’immagine della città, Padova 1969 (ed. orig. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1960) Richard Krautheimer, Tre capitali cristiane. Topografia e politica, Einaudi, Torino 1987 Giorgio Ciucci, Manfredo Tafuri, Francesco Dal Co, Mario Manieri Elia, La città americana: dalla guerra civile al New Deal, Laterza, 1973 Leonardo Benevolo, San Pietro e la città di Roma, Laterza, 2005 Saverio Sturm (a cura di), Foligno. I palazzi e la città dal Rinascimento al Neoclassico, Quattroemme, Perugia 2020; Dominio del sacro. Immagine, cartografia, conoscenza della città dopo il Concilio di Trento, in «in_bo. Ricerche e progetti per il territorio, la città e l'architettura», vol. 12, n. 16, 2021, pp. 78-93 (n. monografico a cura di Mario Bevilacqua, Marco Folin) (monographic issue edited by Mario Bevilacqua, Marco Folin) Stefano Mancuso, Fitopolis, la città vivente, Laterza, 2023 Carlos Moreno, La città dei 15 minuti. Per una cultura urbana democratica, ADD, 2024 Franco La Cecla, Addomesticare l’architettura, UTET, 2024

Type of delivery of the course

The teaching activity will be divided into two sections: The first cycle of lessons will be dedicated to the discussion of historical-urban planning issues in their general aspects. Individual case studies that are considered exemplary in relation to the evolution of the design models for the foundation and transformation of urban space in the period examined will be taken into consideration and explored in depth. A particular space will be dedicated, in this framework, to the urban transformations of Rome, from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century. In the second cycle of lessons we intend to present the historical evolution of urban planning in Western Europe from the mid-18th century until the Second World War, i.e. from the first planning instances of the Enlightenment culture up to the birth and first developments of modern urban planning to conclude with some models of contemporary urban transformations. The aim is also to be able to provide certain skills necessary to recognize in the extreme formal complexity of large contemporary cities the more or less evident guidelines of the different design intentions which, following one another over the last two centuries, have historically contributed to determining their current configuration; in this regard, all those planning and urban design characteristics that are in continuity or in contrast to the pre-existing layout, the cultural choices, the political-economic conflicts, the differences between the initial idea and concrete realization will be highlighted. The course will deal with the most important aspects and episodes of theoretical reflection and concrete work on the city between 1750 and the immediate post-war period, in particular dealing with some large European capitals (Paris, London, Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona, ​​Amsterdam ) and some smaller and newly founded cities. Special attention will be paid to the problem of the historical origins of urban planning, understood as a scientific discipline and aimed at the organization of urban space according to the needs of industrial society in its subsequent historical phases. In light of this definition, the relationship between urban planning and city design will be discussed. An exercise will be carried out within the course, dedicated to the operational experimentation of the criteria for reading and interpreting historical traces and their evolution. The exercise will normally concern road layouts with their related fabric, with particular attention to Roman tree-lined avenues. In choosing the themes it will be possible, however, to connect the research with other teaching experiences, taking into account the eminently methodological nature of the exercises. Specific indications will be provided regarding the knowledge and use of documentary sources for the history of the city and the territory, in order to make the essential tools available to students for a first approach to historical research.

Attendance

Attendance at lectures and visits is compulsory (at the least the 75%) as well as participation in educational outings and tutorials; active participation and student interventions/contributions during the course are recommended and form part of the final assessment.

Type of evaluation

The examination, which will take the form of an oral test, will be aimed at verifying the degree of knowledge of the works and topics covered during the course, the quality of the exercises performed and the study of the assigned bibliography.

Programme

In the specific part of the course, entitled ‘City and Territory: MODELS’, the lessons dedicated to the analysis of specific examples and models of urban history, will be supplemented by visits and inspections illustrative of the events addressed, according to the following themes:
1. Rome's urban structure and formation: the plan of Sixtus V and replicas in the modern and post-industrial age
2. The Baroque city: capitals and suburbs (Rome, Naples, Lecce, Turin, new towns in eastern Sicily)
3. The “paper city”: plans of Rome from the Renaissance to Giovan Battista Nolli
4. The Royal Palace and the City: Caserta, Savoy villas, feudal residences, European royal palaces
5. The mercantile city in the modern and post-industrial age
6. The invention of town planning: the 19th century city
7. The Sustainable City: New European Capitals of the 21st Century
8. Genius Loci: new foundations, settlements and territory in the enlarged Roman area.

Core Documentation

Joseph Connors, Alleanze e inimicizie. L’urbanistica di Roma barocca, Laterza, Roma-Bari 2005
Enrico Guidoni, L’arte di progettare le città. Italia e Mediterraneo dal medioevo al Settecento, Kappa, Roma 1992
Christian Norberg-Schulz, Genius Loci. Paesaggio Ambiente Architettura, Milano 2009 (I ed. 1979)

Reference Bibliography

KEVIN LYNCH, L’immagine della città, Padova 1969 (ed. orig. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1960) Richard KRAUTHEIMER, Tre capitali cristiane. Topografia e politica, Einaudi, Torino 1987 Giorgio CIUCCI, Manfredo TAFURI, Francesco DAL CO, Mario MANIERI ELIA, La città americana: dalla guerra civile al New Deal, Laterza, 1973 Leonardo BENEVOLO, San Pietro e la città di Roma, Laterza, 2005 Saverio STURM (ed.), Foligno. I palazzi e la città dal Rinascimento al Neoclassico, Quattroemme, Perugia 2020; Dominio del sacro. Immagine, cartografia, conoscenza della città dopo il Concilio di Trento, in «in_bo. Ricerche e progetti per il territorio, la città e l'architettura», vol. 12, n. 16, 2021, pp. 78-93 (monographic issue edited by Mario Bevilacqua, Marco Folin) Stefano MANCUSO, Fitopolis, la città vivente, Laterza, 2023 Carlos MORENO, La città dei 15 minuti. Per una cultura urbana democratica, ADD, 2024 Franco LA CECLA, Addomesticare l’architettura, UTET, 2024

Attendance

Students participation is defined by our "Regolamento didattico" (at least 75% of presence of the student to the teacher's lessons). Furthermore, attendance is essential to participate in educational outings and exercises; active participation and student interventions/contributions during the course are recommended and form part of the final assessment.

Type of evaluation

The examination, which will be conducted through an oral test, will be aimed at verifying the degree of knowledge of the works and topics covered during the course, the quality of the exercises performed, and the study of the assigned bibliography.