B3349 - Productive Grounds

Learning outcomes

The aim of the seminar is to provide students with the cultural and operational tools to deal with a project on a territorial scale. In particular, it will focus on the reading of the complexity of places, from the perspective of both urban settlements and production areas. The aim of the course is to understand the theoretical and historical context of the territories of production, to grasp their stratifications, social and environmental problems, and to develop a perspective framework: how to re-establish new processes of synergic co-evolution between economy, production, architecture and territory.

Course contents

Through theoretical sessions, the analysis of case studies, and discussions around texts from the bibliography, three main themes will be addressed:

1/ Exploring the link between economic activities, architecture and territory.

2/ Understanding the planning tools for productive areas and their environmental and social impact.

3/ Analysing and comparing alternative planning strategies for productive areas.

Readings/Bibliography

The bibliography of reference is given below. Further readings are indicated during the seminar.

Giacomo Becattini, La coscienza dei luoghi. Il territorio come soggetto corale, Roma, Donzelli Editore, 2015.

Lidia Decandia, Territori in trasformazione. Il caso dell’Alta Gallura, Roma, Donzelli, 2022.

Carlo Doglio, L’equivoco della città-giardino, Napoli, Edizioni RL, 1953.

Patrick Geddes, Città in evoluzione, Milano, Il Saggiatore, 1970.

Pëtr Kropotkin, Campi, fabbriche, officine, Milano, Eleuthera, 2020.

Alberto Magnaghi, Il principio territoriale, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2020.

Sébastien Marot, Taking the Country’s Side: Agriculture and Architecture, Barcelona, Poligrafa, 2022.

George Perkins Marsh, L’uomo e la natura, Firenze, G. Barbera Editore, 1872.

Lewis Mumford, La città nella storia, Roma, Edizioni di Comunità, 1963.

Adriano Olivetti, Città dell’uomo, Roma, Edizioni di Comunità, 2015.

Cliff Tandy, Landscape of Industry, London, John Wiley & Sons Inc, 1975.

Teaching methods

The seminar is divided into three parts: ex cathedra lectures, reading of a text from the bibliography followed by a class discussion and the study of a case study in relation to the seminar topic

Assessment methods

Students will conduct a group analysis of a case study and reading of a text from the bibliography.

Teaching tools

The seminar slides contain mainly images, so attendance and the use of notes is strongly recommended.

Office hours

See the website of Federico Diodato