Il progetto urbano nella Scuola di Ingegneria di Roma: da Giovannoni a Nicolosi e Gorio
In: U+D urbanform and design: 15, 2021
DOI: 10.48255/J.UD.15.2021.017
Urban design at the Engineering School of Rome: from Giovannoni to Nicolosi and Gorio
The reflection upon the most significant figures involved in teaching urban morphology at the Engineering School of Rome constitutes a chance to
consider the role fulfilled today, and in the future, by urban design in the education and profession of the architect-engineer. Such reflection must
necessarily spring from certain observations on the identity of such hybrid position – a question that brings us back to the origin of the two disciplines and the multitude of knowledge upon which these were founded – and on its competence in elaborating contemporary urban design, at a time when increasingly specialized and sophisticated technical and scientific knowledge is required to define and motivate planning choices. At the beginning of the 20th century, urban design had progressively been transferred from civil engineers to sanitary and social engineers (the latter essentially fulfilling the role of technicians for administrative bureaucracies), and then again to Giovannoni an “integral” architects, characterized in this regard by a vision of the city as a historical and environmental organism, as well as to Piacentinian architects, creators of monumental episodes related to the transformation of the city
in its key points. In the aftermath of the Second World War, with an emerging urgency of rebuilding, urban design became subject for urbanists (architects or engineers, self-employed and in many cases scholars), led by a realist vision of the city as vital space for mankind and communities. Nicolosi and Gorio represent two outstanding examples of such educational, academic and
professional path. Today, more than ever, it is deemed necessary to shape professionals able to merge technical and economic components with
historical, environmental, cultural, and social aspects characterizing the city, with the goal of finding synthesis in urban form and space.
Keywords: Urban design, Teaching at Faculty of Engineering in Rome, Gustavo Giovannoni, Giuseppe Nicolosi, Federico Gorio