Started some 20 years ago, Turin’s transformation is an opportunity to take stock of the relationship between architecture, urban layout, land use, and the character of a city in a period when, for the first time since the Second World War, the different professions involved are all once again vying to exert a predominant urban planning role. In his 1988 book La città contesa. Dagli ingegneri sanitari agli urbanisti (1885-1942) - The Contested City. From Engineers to Urbanists (1885-1942) - published by Jaca Book, Guido Zucconi describes the period immediately preceding the World War II as the moment when the architect with specialist
urban-planning know-how asserted his pre-eminent role as the designer of the city.
Context
The current revamping of Turin is nothing new. Ever since it became part of the Duchy of the Savoy, or Sabaudian, family nearly 5 centuries ago, Turin has changed both shape and vocation several times, always, however, remaining a city on a European scale. Initially a minor post-mediaeval township, it became the modern economic and cultural capital of the Duchy and seat of the Duke’s court. Later, it was for a time the capital of a reunified Italy, then a major industrial city and finally, with the new strategic plan, geared to becoming a tertiary sector hub with a strong focus on research.
It was only the first transformation, however, that grew out of a positive event. All subsequent changes were brought about by a profound crisis that undermined the city's very existence. Each time transformation was triggered by crisis in the city’s main activity, Turin being characterized since the outset as a city with one focal activity. Yet each time, however, the physical and functional voids that came about were filled by previously secondary or accessory forces that then became the new drivers of development.
Turning our attention to the morphology...
Digital
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Toti Semerano
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