1 INTRODUCTION Students, working alone or in small groups, are required to conceive a town of about 30 thousand inhabitants with a gross surface of about six square kilometres. Basically this exercise has a theoretical scope, namely to scientifically monitor, plan and design the basic relationships between urban activities and urban form. The proposals may contemplate the following: a new satellite town located in a non-urbanized site the reconstruction of an existing town, which, for some reason (for instance natural catastrophe) is deemed to have been completely destroyed. There are no constraints to the territorial location of the town. It would however be advantageous to choose a territory encountered or studied during other research activities or courses. Teachers in urban management, planning, and design are involved. Four work phases are proposed: Choice of the site and general characteristics of the town The main guidelines The urban sector The town as a whole Project methodology is two-fold: top-down and bottom-up. It will be hard to change certain general constraints, in particular those specified in phase one, after starting the project. Feedback inside each phase will, however, lead to new opportunities and ideas which, in an inverse bottom-up process, may improve project features at the upper level. Starting a project from scratch gives students and teachers a broader framework in which to conceive how a town should be without the physical constraints of an actual specific urban context. The size of about 30 thousand inhabitants requires a variety of urban sectors or neighbourhood units to be formed.

Arcangeletti e Germani, Nuova Casalmaggiore, 2007

2 SITE AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TOWN The first phase is devoted to the choice of the site, the general features and aims of the new town project. First and foremost, students should pay particular attention to planning and design, the physical aspects of the context (real or imagined) and the ensuing principal demographic, economic and social features; They must therefore describe and define: The site on which the new urban settlements are to be located and the immediate physical context (orography, hydrography, land use, analysis of former settlements, etc.) A concise explanation of the main non-physical aspects that influence the urban settlement; The geographic context in which the new town is to be located in relation to other human settlements and in particular the transportation links (railway station, freeway, water way, etc.) ; the main activities (agricultural, mining, university, industrial, harbour) and those complementary (for instance: residential, town services.) the general and economic characteristics of the population (respectively age, occupational, demographic dynamics, features, etc. and type and characteristics of the main economic activities, number of the workplaces, commuting, interrelations with the hinterland etc.); Main ratios of land occupation for the different parts of the town; General timing of the phases of planning, design and participation. In order to conclude this preliminary phase, generally after two months, students shall prepare the following outcomes: A general map of the area (plan and sections) in different scales:   1/50000 (to define the geographic location), 1/25000 (to guarantee the structural coherence of the takeover with the neighbouring context), 1/10000 and 1/5,000 (for the site of the new town); a general preliminary report, containing: a theoretical remarks on city planning and design (such a study can include one or more case studies) applied to the specific context of the project. These remarks are to be discussed with the other students of the course; a clear illustration of the physical and unphysical planning inputs emerging from the above.

3 THE MAIN GUIDELINES This phase aims to define the general, functional and formal features of the new town. They must satisfy the following main requirements: � The mobility system has to maximize the use of public transport and limit car use to longer journeys. The whole town should be easily accessible on foot � Poles of life at a variety of complementary levels should be established in order to create synergies between commercial systems and public facilities; � the morphology of the new town should be extensively monitored. Students are required to express the urban landscape they wish to develop by referring to architecture and urban examples of other authors, bibliography and by submitting original sketches. The gross territorial density in the residential areas should ideally be below 100 inhabitants per hectare. Superior densities are admissible but must be clearly motivated. The features of the new town should be extensively environmentally friendly. Public facilities should be calculated according to Italian standards. Variations are admissible but must be clearly motivated. Students are recommended to take the development of the old part of town into account with its contradictions and its related domestic urban landscape values. In particular, the following should be avoided: � Excessively innovative or bizarre elements which (for didactical purposes) could complicate the urban design; � macrostructures to lodge an entire community. This would depart from the urban dimension. References to scientific literature and iconography must be expressed. Each student is invited to develop a series of different general layout options in scale 1/25000, with details in scale 1/10000. Different concepts should be developed to give equal consideration to certain aspects: sun and wind exposure, healthiness, scenery, links with the main road system external to the town, presence of natural resources, etc. After selecting satisfactory alternatives with the help of teachers, students should design the layout, maintaining a strong coherence with respect to the following: � the project aims, and the cultural, ideological and scientific references chosen by the student; � the division of the town into units, sufficiently independent for them to be studied separately (this is compulsory if the project is done by a group of students). � size and density constraints The following aspects have to be clearly analysed: � the identification, location and general size of the main urban functions: the administrative and commercial centre, the residential quarters (differentiated by inhabitant density and prevailing social ranks), the commercial areas or streets subdivided by type of distribution (supermarkets, traditional outlets), industrial areas subdivided by type and size; other, if any, and special facilities; � the town�s principal transport network and public transport systems and the extra urban links in particular. At the end of this work phase students will have prepared the following outcomes: � Sketches related to the general shape and the neighbouring context of the new town; � A �temporary� general layout of the new town in scale 1/25000 (extended to near context), with details in scale 1/10000; � Notes describing the work done and the different project strategies, to be inserted in the final written report.

4 THE URBAN UNIT This phase, to be carried out by students individually, encompasses the study and the projects of the town units previously identified. The project is to be developed through successive projections towards a broader layout. Bottom-up ideas that emerged working on the urban sector can be taken into account in order to improve the comprehensive layout. In particular, tasks and physical choices may be modified as the architectural design aspect is further explored and further characteristics emerge. This work phase is concluded with the definition of a sufficiently structured layout to achieve the desired urban landscape and apply the proper solutions to the tasks considered in accordance with their constraints, while ensuring sufficient flexibility for it to be modified and improved by architects, constructors and inhabitants. A hierarchy of modifications of the various elements must be envisaged taking into account the features of the system of the new town, i.e. the complexity of interrelations among the various component parts At the end of this work phase students will have prepared the following: � Small sketches and axonometric or perspective views, indicating the morphology and the functions of the town. These will be enclosed in the general report � Layout in scale 1/2000 (general with context), details 1/1000 and 1/500 (map, main prospects and environmental sections); � Catalogue of the public spaces (arterial, secondary and residential streets, public squares, cycle and pedestrian paths) prepared in such a way as to highlight their features and quality; � Notes to be included in the report, indicating project motives and eventual subdivisions related to the phase of architectural implementation of the project

5 THE TOWN This phase encompasses the final arrangement of the unit projects into the comprehensive layout, correcting any incoherencies. The implementation of the main project by several of the operators involved, and the timing have to be considered. At the end of this work phase students will have prepared the following final outcomes: � Layout map of the new town inserted in the surrounding context in scale 1/25000; � Layout map of the new town and the surrounding context and mobility system in scale 1/10000; � Layout map of the new town showing the location of the various functions (public, private) and the location of quarters and zones in scale 1/5000); � Drawings of the urban sector (see previous phase), amended, if necessary; � Model of the town and the surrounding environment in scale 1/5000. � Final report, indicating the degree of attainment of initial tasks, assessment and the method for building the town and the time envisaged. The final report will include the notes prepared in the previous phases, sketches, designs, calculations of densities and standard surfaces. A synthetic description of the new city, similar to a tourist guide, highlighting the main public spaces and buildings and the best characteristics for making the city attractive, might be a useful addition.

6 CONCLUSIONS The new town projects that emerged from this exercise, completed by hundreds of students in some sixteen years of teaching experience are of a high level. Students and colleagues have expressed the following two concerns: 1. The theme is difficult for the more junior students and calls for too much study and an overly heavy load of drawing. 2. The usefulness (indeed the reality) of starting from tabula rasa is contradictory or anachronistic in the light of existing old, ultra connected urban systems. The first objection is consistent. The theme is quite difficult and requires students to be already familiar with drawing and planning tools and with an architectural language. The second objection is less consistent even though it is true that existing urban systems are highly developed, that every addition is wholly dependent upon the context and that reconstruction from scratch is rare. Nevertheless new additions, buildings or urban developments, mainly regulated by simple physical rules, are mostly perceived as being independent from the context and designed per se and in juxtaposition with the surroundings. Architects and constructors are briefed just to take the maximum advantage of the site, without being granted the chance - if only they were! - to work on the whole urban system, instead of a mere modifiable input. The opportunity of incorporating at least some bright ecological innovations will ease any doubts that the designer may feel. In the abstract planning and design of a new town, students are required to tackle the main problem at urban level and use the site for social purposes. They are called upon to create a pleasant place to live in and be seen, perhaps even a utopia. The exercise is also useful in that it requires students to change roles several times. Firstly, on selecting the site and deciding on the general feature of the town, the student represents the will of the town. Then, when reflecting on the urban landscape to be created, the town-planner, landscape-architect and architect come to the fore. Later, in the pre-final phase, making the model of town or building it, the student is the architect of a part of the city, or at least in the shoes of the various operators, who will carry on the project. In the final stages, there is a reversal to the role of urban planner, the crucial role that must be familiar. This experience seeks to give students additional technical and conceptual tools for a critical, scientific perception of existing urban development in order to understand aspects of current planning systems and design attitudes which are too often lazy or fatalistic, in order to learn to attribute high value to environmental issues, to perform their tasks in accordance with the role requirements and to make a proper use of the time variable.

Bolzano, Conti, Siliprandi, poster, 2007