Studio morfologico e progetto urbano

Morphological study and urban project.

In this paper I will offer a rather partial reflection on urban morphology in relation to the cities I know well as an architect who is concerned with building as much as with understanding the physical character of the places in which they exist. In this paper I will offer a rather partial reflection on urban morphology in relation to the cities I know well as an architect who is concerned with building as much as with understanding the physical character of the places in which they exist. I have a profound interest in the European city, the place where most of our work takes place, and the many lessons it holds for us to draw upon in our projects. All of our projects have a relation to the work others have undertaken in the past, we are interested in learning from the elements and structure of cities, from the examples they offer. Many European cities still have significant urban traces of Greco-Roman foundations. The Romans created new settlements or coloniae using the logic of the grid, based on intersecting cardo and decumanus. Only few of them maintain Roman foundations still legible in the contemporary urban fabric.

Keywords: Urban morphology, architecture, urban grid, European city, learning.