Programma

rottura forma urbe is an ambiguous and provocative proposition.
In contrast to Severan's similar and better-known forma urbis, whose intention was to 'outline' the shape of the city of Rome in stone from the architectural elements that made it up, rottura forma urbe counterpoints the destabilising action of disruption.
That it is the disruption that shapes the urbe may sound controversial. And yet, the inhabited territory often looks like a fragment. The disruption, the fracture and what is deformed and hardly recognisable, is the epitome of the urban condition. But here, by disruption, even before the fragment and what breaks the idea of the urban figure, we are referring to the parts of the territory that are 'broken' due to a collapse.

In the urbanised territory, disruption is discontinuity. It is perturbation that, as a-functional to current development, offers eccentric perspectives. It is a heuristic device (Graham, 2011) capable of producing a gap in knowledge as well as in experience. It is a "transformative place" that opens up new possibilities of being and living. It is a space within which a paradigm shift can be inscribed. It is often marginal, and if it is not marginal, it generates marginality. It is urban because it cannot be otherwise. It is revealing of local and planetary relations. Disruption is a lens through which to reinterpret inhabited territory.

The approach of rottura forma urbe is not 'problem-solving'. On the contrary, the position is learning from what is commonly identified as a 'problem'. Disruption is interpreted as an inversely problematic condition because it reveals the structure but also the contradictions and fragility of the present urban condition.

The object of rottura forma urbe are the disruptions of the geography of the Roman urban and beyond. Those disruptions that have to do with infrastructure, including environmental infrastructure such as soil and water. Also included are disruptions resulting from climate change.

The sphere of rottura forma urbe is NO-CITY (www.no-city.org), that is, the diffuse urban condition. The disruption is ubiquitous and manifests itself in any urban gradient, from the centre, to the periphery, to the dispersion, to hinterland and the fragments of the geography of the Roman urban.

Testi Adottati

Graham, Stephen (2011) Disruptions. In: Gandy, Matthew [ed.] Urban Constallations. Berlin: Jovis, pp. 65-70.

Haraway, Donna (1988) Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14, 3, pp. 575-599.

Modalità Erogazione

The course is structured in 2 stages plus 1. 1. READING AND GEOGRAPHY A first moment is devoted to familiarising oneself with the disruption. A series of lectures will be devoted first to the figure of the fragment, then to some famous disruptions in the Roman context and beyond. At the same time, a first geography of the present distruptions in Rome will be drafted. Known and lesser known cases of different sizes will be catalogued, and criteria for reading and taxonomy will be established. The individual participants, possibly organised in groups, will be asked to choose a disruption, to redesign it, to give an account of the collapse and the agents that generated it, to understand and redesign the effects on the territory, the interdependencies that it implies and/or implied, to investigate the human and non-human practices that it supports. Each disruption will be brought back into local, regional, supra-regional and planetary geography, depending on the relations that the disruption or 'broken' territory has or had before the collapse. 2. INTERMEZZO An intermediate stage of the course involves inhabiting the disruption in a very short time, but which implies staying. Living leaves marks (Illich, 1972) and implies actions, even if they are totally ephemeral. The act of inhabiting will be documented by the participants in a free form. 3. MODIFICATION A second moment is devoted to modification. Each previously observed disruption will then be the subject of a modification project. The motion is to make the disruption more habitable. Rather than the hypothesis of restoration, the participants are encouraged to reflect and elaborate on ways of enhancing the disruption together with hypothetical extensions and/or replications. The reinterpretations, even minor ones, of the different disruptions subjected to modification will compose a heterogeneous landscape of amplified disruptions, places within which to know and experience change with respect to the continuous and the ordinary. Each participant is asked to produce an original A4 essay of about 500 words. The essay is a reflection on a topic that will emerge during the course and should integrate the stimuli provided by the theoretical framework and the exploration of the territory as well as a basic text to be chosen from a selection.

Modalità Frequenza

Compulsory attendance (at least 75% of hours) Attendance is compulsory in accordance with the regulations.

Modalità Valutazione

The evaluation is made on the basis of the individual short essay and the results of the project exploration. During the examination, argumentation skills and coherence of the analyses and projects produced will be considered (also in view of the proposed frontal lessons).  In the case of an extension of the COVID-19 health emergency, all provisions regulating the methods of carrying out teaching activities and student assessment will be implemented. In particular, the following modalities will be applied: distance teaching and examination while, as far as possible, several key moments of the course (e.g. introduction and workshops) will take place in presence ensuring, however, that safety distances are respected.