Verso un'urbanistica di sotto

Abstract

The concluding essay reads the contributions collected in the special issue as an invitation to follow urban planning where it concretely takes place: in the in-between space among plans, projects, rules, social practices, procedures and administrative decisions. Starting from the questions that structured the Urbanpromo 2025 seminar - how to make space, who occupies space, and which mechanisms regulate space - the text highlights the role of less visible but decisive devices through which urban transformation is enabled, negotiated, evaluated or blocked. The essay proposes the notion of urbanistica di sotto as a research and action agenda focused on regulations, procedures, routines, protocols, indicators, offices, agreements, maintenance practices and situated knowledge that shape the ordinary production of urban space. This perspective does not oppose lower-level practices to strategic planning. Instead, it investigates how statutory planning and everyday implementation can work together, strengthening coherence, transparency, institutional learning, equity and public responsibility in the transformation of contemporary cities.