Università Roma Tre

rottura forma urbe is an ambiguous and provocative proposition.
In contrast to Severan's similar and better-known forma urbis, whose intention was to 'outline' the shape of the city of Rome in stone from the architectural elements that made it up, rottura forma urbe counterpoints the destabilising action of disruption.
That it is the disruption that shapes the urbe may sound controversial. And yet, the inhabited territory often looks like a fragment. The disruption, the fracture and what is deformed and hardly recognisable, is the epitome of the urban condition. But here, by disruption, even before the fragment and what breaks the idea of the urban figure, we are referring to the parts of the territory that are 'broken' due to a collapse.

In the urbanised territory, disruption is discontinuity. It is perturbation that, as a-functional to current development, offers eccentric perspectives. It is a heuristic device (Graham, 2011) capable of producing a gap in knowledge as well as in experience. It is a "transformative place" that opens up new possibilities of being and living. It is a space within which a paradigm shift can be inscribed. It is often marginal, and if it is not marginal, it generates marginality. It is urban because it cannot be otherwise. It is revealing of local and planetary relations. Disruption is a lens through which to reinterpret inhabited territory.

The approach of rottura forma urbe is not 'problem-solving'. On the contrary, the position is learning from what is commonly identified as a 'problem'. Disruption is interpreted as an inversely problematic condition because it reveals the structure but also the contradictions and fragility of the present urban condition.

The object of rottura forma urbe are the disruptions of the geography of the Roman urban and beyond. Those disruptions that have to do with infrastructure, including environmental infrastructure such as soil and water. Also included are disruptions resulting from climate change.

The sphere of rottura forma urbe is NO-CITY (www.no-city.org), that is, the diffuse urban condition. The disruption is ubiquitous and manifests itself in any urban gradient, from the centre, to the periphery, to the dispersion, to hinterland and the fragments of the geography of the Roman urban.

Graham, Stephen (2011) Disruptions. In: Gandy, Matthew [ed.] Urban Constallations. Berlin: Jovis, pp. 65-70.

Haraway, Donna (1988) Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14, 3, pp. 575-599.

rottura forma urbe is an ambiguous and provocative proposition.
In contrast to Severan's similar and better-known forma urbis, whose intention was to 'outline' the shape of the city of Rome in stone from the architectural elements that made it up, rottura forma urbe counterpoints the destabilising action of disruption.
That it is the disruption that shapes the urbe may sound controversial. And yet, the inhabited territory often looks like a fragment. The disruption, the fracture and what is deformed and hardly recognisable, is the epitome of the urban condition. But here, by disruption, even before the fragment and what breaks the idea of the urban figure, we are referring to the parts of the territory that are 'broken' due to a collapse.

In the urbanised territory, disruption is discontinuity. It is perturbation that, as a-functional to current development, offers eccentric perspectives. It is a heuristic device (Graham, 2011) capable of producing a gap in knowledge as well as in experience. It is a "transformative place" that opens up new possibilities of being and living. It is a space within which a paradigm shift can be inscribed. It is often marginal, and if it is not marginal, it generates marginality. It is urban because it cannot be otherwise. It is revealing of local and planetary relations. Disruption is a lens through which to reinterpret inhabited territory.

The approach of rottura forma urbe is not 'problem-solving'. On the contrary, the position is learning from what is commonly identified as a 'problem'. Disruption is interpreted as an inversely problematic condition because it reveals the structure but also the contradictions and fragility of the present urban condition.

The object of rottura forma urbe are the disruptions of the geography of the Roman urban and beyond. Those disruptions that have to do with infrastructure, including environmental infrastructure such as soil and water. Also included are disruptions resulting from climate change.

The sphere of rottura forma urbe is NO-CITY (www.no-city.org), that is, the diffuse urban condition. The disruption is ubiquitous and manifests itself in any urban gradient, from the centre, to the periphery, to the dispersion, to hinterland and the fragments of the geography of the Roman urban.

Graham, Stephen (2011) Disruptions. In: Gandy, Matthew [ed.] Urban Constallations. Berlin: Jovis, pp. 65-70.

Haraway, Donna (1988) Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14, 3, pp. 575-599.