Macrosessione 2. Adattabilità sul lungo periodo e in circostanze normali

Macrosession 2. Cities’ adaptviness in the long term and in ordinary circumstances.

Committee: Chiara Devoti (Politecnico di Torino – DIST), Filippo De Pieri (Politecnico di Torino – DAD), Marco Pretelli (Università di Bologna).

Reporting: Luca Mocarelli (Università di Milano Bicocca).

The issue of adaptiveness of cities looks really promising if tackled from a long-term perspective and, most of all, releasing it from the category of crisis or catastrophe. What seems worth investigating is the adaptability of cities to structural changes, that is, the way in which cities face "normal" circumstances. In other words, how cities experience, manage and cope with large-scale processes that can last for decades. The question might be addressed for any historical period on different aspects, through case studies or comparative approaches, but also by re-interpreting of phenomena.

More specifically the macrosession will include (but it will not be limited to):

Sequential processes.

Many of these processes have a sequential character, as in the case of industrialization and the following de-industrialization. What is important should be to understand if a city is able to manage successfully. If it is successful, is it an individual or a shared process? In such cases, what are the reasons that may be attributed to such success?

Rules. Adaptation vs restriction

Forms of common and collective living in cities imposes the respect of rules, established by administrations and powers (civil, religious, military, …). In the long historical perspective, such rules have been perpetuated, variated, abolished or on the contrary even restricted, originating processes of adaptation or fluctuation among adaptiveness and inflexibility that can be observed in an investigation of the longue durée.

Palaces in the form of a city as models of resistance and crisis response.

This topic looks at architectures that host a community life. “Palazzo in forma di città” retrieves Baldassarre Castiglione's well-known definition of the ducal palace of Urbino, but the chronology of reference is very broad: from the Cistercian monasteries to Le Corbusier. The theme is therefore universal, it also involves political strategies and a series of protagonists, from communities to architects and clients: therefore, not only cities and territories but also people and society.

Housing.

How can housing organization and social uses of housing spaces adapt (or resist, or fail to adapt) to slow or sudden changes affecting the broader social, economical or cultural context? The question might be addressed for any historical period and by focusing not only on domestic environments but also on their immediate surroundings, investigating the changing boundaries between the spheres of the private, the public, and the collective.

Historic city and the uses of heritage.

The Faro Convention has imposed a profound revision in the relationship between citizenship and architectural heritage; to this a further substantial change has been added by COVID-19 prevention measures. The culture of preservation is already experiencing changes in the ways of using heritage (the introduction of Green Pass for access to museums, the need to maintain a distance, since last August, is one such change). This section aims to take stock of these changes.