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The Future of the City

This thematic series poses the question, how could we imagine the future of the city? Expressions like “discomposed city”, “generic city” and “segregated city” all refer to contemporary, “post-city” realities. Although these spaces are still territories of human settlement and interrelation, contemporary urban contexts can no longer be conceived of neither as spaces for communication and social interaction, nor as spaces of the public sphere. We need to explore – through the interdisciplinary contributions of architects, urbanists, sociologists, political scientists and philosophers - how the city could be re-established as the space of dialogue and communication. Several questions, related to the future of the city still call for an answer. For example: “Are there public policies that could possibly help enhance contemporary and future cities?” and “Which might be the features of a city restored to its citizens?


  1. When, as architects, we reflect on the relationship between architectural projects, cities and landscape, we must keep the urban degradation of the world we live in uppermost in our thoughts. Nowadays we live ...

    Authors: Paolo Mellano
    Citation: City, Territory and Architecture 2017 4:6
  2. How many furnitures, or houses, or urban districts, that where designed and made in the 80s are still relevant today? What clothes or shoes that period can be worn without appearing old or out of time? Everybo...

    Authors: Mosè Ricci
    Citation: City, Territory and Architecture 2017 4:2
  3. Rather than becoming entangled in the dreadful European crisis, contemporary forms of production could redefine the role of territory. The hypothesis discussed in this paper is that an acute gaze at contempora...

    Authors: Cristina Bianchetti and Michele Cerruti But
    Citation: City, Territory and Architecture 2016 3:26
  4. The article explores the difficulties and opportunities derived from the study of contemporary urban movements through the discussion of seven questions: definition of urban movements; understanding of their s...

    Authors: Oriol Nel·lo
    Citation: City, Territory and Architecture 2016 3:23
  5. The concepts of order and disorder applied to urban and territorial issues involve complex definitions. Why do cities, in spite of the effort made to give them order, even though from time to time this order has ...

    Authors: Francesco Indovina
    Citation: City, Territory and Architecture 2016 3:18
  6. This article analyses the relations between security, urban governance and democratic quality in the light of the fundamental theoretical trends and principal empirical researches present in the socio-politica...

    Authors: Mauro Tebaldi
    Citation: City, Territory and Architecture 2016 3:17
  7. Many coastal cities have recently recognized the need to adapt to climate change, given the increased frequency of disasters cause by severe weather events. Based on concepts about vulnerability and resilience...

    Authors: Andrea Ferraz Young
    Citation: City, Territory and Architecture 2016 3:12
  8. By drawing on literature from various disciplinary fields, in particular branches of geography, philosophy, urban design and planning, the article investigates the deep spatial transformations affecting cities...

    Authors: Lidia Decandia
    Citation: City, Territory and Architecture 2014 1:12