Retoriche urbane al tempo della pandemia

Abstract

The urban problems that the pandemic poses are not new problems, they have been the object of urban planning reflection since the founding of the discipline with the industrial revolution. The policies of growth and development have thus become an opportunity for the accumulation of wealth for small groups, while the negative effects on the environment as well as social inequalities have not been (and do not constitute) a source of concern. The time has come to question the ethics of doing and governing architecture and urban planning, Covid-19, like the current environmental crisis, does not require generic answers but precise field choices. The considerations in this text address several topics. First of all, the relationship between pandemic, environmental crisis and inequality. This problematic interweaving has repercussions on the organisation of cities and processes of urban “neo-colonialism” that fail to recognise the complexity of the urban phenomenon in the world. Finally, the association between the pandemic, the environmental crisis and the city, which presupposes urban visions and shared projects, but appears increasingly directed towards marketing strategies, to the detriment of governance practices.