Università Roma Tre

Course Objectives
For the formation of an architect to be complete one must develop a vision of the processes that lead to the concretisation of an idea, a project or a city plan. The complexity of local structures requires close integration between design knowledge and the ability to implement the design. This entails a chain of actions tied up with regulatory aspects, funding and economic mechanisms, as well as the impact on the community and on public opinion. City transformations and a good quality of life also depend on the continuous management of systems (from mobility to the environment) for which social demand varies considerably over time. The course sets out to:
• provide cognitive elements regarding the mechanisms behind the formation of the urban structure and relative management tools (feasibility studies, financing, marketing and communication), and systems for sizing and measuring demand for architectural initiatives and new city functions;
• prepare students to simulate an actual feasibility study for an urban project that has already been undertaken.
Contents
1) Global crisis and cities: how urban systems are analysed
- The nature of Italy’s big cities, map of “territories of excellence”;
- The territorial framework in Europe and the position of Italy’s urban system;
- The separation of the workplace and place of residence. The commuter;
- Analysis of data and of principal demographic, economic, building and social variables;
- The impact of finance on cities: credit crunch, spread ,default.
2) The way local systems work
- Industrial districts, science and technology poles, local development;
- Employment and generational change, employment and young people: North-South differences;
- Slow cities and small towns;
- Architectures for production: project review of factories, wine-cellars, office buildings .
3) The property market: the bubble and bursting bubble
- Property market segments: direct consumption market (residential, tourist); the investment market; assets of public interest; real estate services (property management/facility management);
- Funding architectural projects: project financing, real estate investment funds, leaseback property;
- How to assess residential needs and social demand.
4) Infrastructures and networks
- Commodity and people flows. What is logistics;
- Urban mobility and mobility management;
- Digital cities, broadband and the Internet, media and urban communication.
5) Social aspects of urban areas
- Social parameters of the city;
- The local impact of migratory phenomena;
- The fears of global metropolises. Security management.
6) The feasibility of urban projects
- Case studies of national and international projects.
Paper
The examination will consist of the drafting of a paper (possibly with a PowerPoint presentation) consisting in a feasibility study for a urban project likely to be rolled out in Rome, following the indications provided by the course.
The lecturer
Giuseppe Roma (g.roma@censis.it), architect and sociologist; senior advisor of Fondazione Censis (www.censis.it), secretary of the Association for Italian cities, RUR (www.rur.it). He has taught City Planning Studies at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” and given courses at Columbia University and Delft University of Technology (Netherlands). He has taught the subject Urban Management for a number of years.