The city, its confines and features are difficult to define with certainty today, the definition changing depending on what we mean by the terms ‘city or metropolitan area’. Wikipedia defines the city as an urban centre coming under a single administrative authority. An urban area, on the other hand, is a wider stretch that spills over into other administrative districts. An urban area whose outer urban belt makes up one continuous urban expanse and whose economy pivots around a central urban nucleus is loosely called a metropolitan area. A metropolitan area with more than 10 million inhabitants is called a mega-city. A chain of metropolitan areas makes up a megalopolis, but at this scale we also talk of geographical regions.
In this kind of urban setting, mobility, architecture and sustainability all come together, components of the wider, more complex discourse. At the centre, however, is always concern for society, in other words, man and the extent to which his decisions regarding the future are sustainable.
Another question is key: the new direction taken by the automotive industry’s R&D effort that is set to change the urban scenario in coming years and one of the most important players of our Economy. Like architecture, car manufacturers have bought into the pressing issue of sustainability and energy efficiency. Scenarios we once thought belonged to a distant future today seem much closer.
We have interviewed a series of key people in their respective fields of urban planning, architecture or mobility, to get their views on these issues and understand whether and how these sectors can dialogue.
Nicola Leonardi
Digital
Printed
The “Quattro Acque” Park
Italo Rota
The project to build a hydropower plant at Campolattaro in the southern Italian province of Benevento is designed to deliver 600 MW and be a strategic...The Missing Link to High Touch Architecture
Park Associati
An archaeologist of the future intent on writing about architecture of our times would be lucky indeed to chance upon works by the Park practice. It w...Restoration and Restructuring of Covered Market
Corvino+Multari
In every city there are places that embody the essence of an entire urban community, down the centuries distilling the very soul of the place.For Regg...