FUNDAMENTALS OF URBAN PLANNING

Course objectives

1. Knowledge and understanding: after having passed the exam students will know the introductory elements of planning in its historical, technical and normative aspects, as well as basic knowledge concerning the most important topics of urban sustainability 2. Applying knowledge and understanding: after having passed the exam students should be able to analysis territories and interpret planning tools through the analysis of a specific area. 3. Critical faculties should be developed through team work in which to apply theoretical concepts and methodological tools to case studies 4. Communications skills. The ability to communicate what was learned should be developed presenting maps and evaluating the different territorial components. 5. Learning skills. The ability to continue studying the topics should be developed providing students with teaching material and methodologies corresponding to the level attained.

Channel 1
BARBARA PIZZO Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Prerequisites
No prior specific knowledge is required.
Books
There is not one specific compulsory reading, but students can choose a book from the bibliography according to their own interests (see below).
Frequency
Attending the lectures is suggested, but it is not compulsory.
Exam mode
The final exam consists in the discussion of the subject matter. Students will be examined individually for the evaluation of acquired knowledge, on the content of the lectures and of readings - all materials are available on e-learning. Students not attending the course are required to prepare themselves autonomously, elaborating the exercise, and by choosing at least one book from those indicated in the bibliography (to be agreed on in advance), studying the teaching materials (available online at: Sapienza e-learning platform: Urbanistica_Barbara Pizzo), and deepening the topics included in the presentations through following the bibliographic references they contain.
Bibliography
Bibliographical references are intended to testify the richness and plurality of Planning approaches. Books are subdivided into 3 main groups. Each student is expected to choose a book (to be agreed on in advance) for the final evaluation. A specific lecture is dedicated at introducing each book in terms of approach, structure and content. During some lectures or seminars, further bibliographical references may be suggested as an in-depth study (and they will be reported in the slides or hand-outs of the lecture). (For the list of books, see the Italian version, above) English books and essays are available on request and can be used both by Italian and by foreign students - The final proof in Italian is compulsory. English books on Rome: Fried R. C. (1973). Planning the eternal city. Roman politics and planning since world war II. New Haven – London: Yale University Press Thomassen, B., & Marinaro, I. C. (Eds.). (2014). Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City. Indiana University Press Insolera I. (2018). Modern Rome: From Napoleon to the Twenty-First Century. Newcastle, Cambridge Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Lesson mode
The course provides lectures, seminars and an exercise. The workshop (exercise) aims at experimenting the 'translation' of theories into practices (and viceversa), and/or as the implementation of a chosen methodology among the presented ones. It foresees the following steps: 1. Reading and interpreting a spatial context through its current socio-spatial phenomena, interpreted diachronically and at different scales. 2a. Critical interpretation of historical transformations (distinguishing among causes and their effects). 2b. Critical interpretation of the planning history (visions, approaches, methods, tools introduced by Planning through time). 3a. Definition of possible scenarios and the related planning tool / or tools useful to drive the change in the chosen direction - and / or to solve a problem (also in ‘strategic’ perspective). 3b. Definition of the ‘knowledge’ to be used to deepen and to solve the questions (sectoral analyses as a result of a particular interpretation of the context and its problems).
BARBARA PIZZO Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Prerequisites
No prior specific knowledge is required.
Books
There is not one specific compulsory reading, but students can choose a book from the bibliography according to their own interests (see below).
Frequency
Attending the lectures is suggested, but it is not compulsory.
Exam mode
The final exam consists in the discussion of the subject matter. Students will be examined individually for the evaluation of acquired knowledge, on the content of the lectures and of readings - all materials are available on e-learning. Students not attending the course are required to prepare themselves autonomously, elaborating the exercise, and by choosing at least one book from those indicated in the bibliography (to be agreed on in advance), studying the teaching materials (available online at: Sapienza e-learning platform: Urbanistica_Barbara Pizzo), and deepening the topics included in the presentations through following the bibliographic references they contain.
Bibliography
Bibliographical references are intended to testify the richness and plurality of Planning approaches. Books are subdivided into 3 main groups. Each student is expected to choose a book (to be agreed on in advance) for the final evaluation. A specific lecture is dedicated at introducing each book in terms of approach, structure and content. During some lectures or seminars, further bibliographical references may be suggested as an in-depth study (and they will be reported in the slides or hand-outs of the lecture). (For the list of books, see the Italian version, above) English books and essays are available on request and can be used both by Italian and by foreign students - The final proof in Italian is compulsory. English books on Rome: Fried R. C. (1973). Planning the eternal city. Roman politics and planning since world war II. New Haven – London: Yale University Press Thomassen, B., & Marinaro, I. C. (Eds.). (2014). Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City. Indiana University Press Insolera I. (2018). Modern Rome: From Napoleon to the Twenty-First Century. Newcastle, Cambridge Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Lesson mode
The course provides lectures, seminars and an exercise. The workshop (exercise) aims at experimenting the 'translation' of theories into practices (and viceversa), and/or as the implementation of a chosen methodology among the presented ones. It foresees the following steps: 1. Reading and interpreting a spatial context through its current socio-spatial phenomena, interpreted diachronically and at different scales. 2a. Critical interpretation of historical transformations (distinguishing among causes and their effects). 2b. Critical interpretation of the planning history (visions, approaches, methods, tools introduced by Planning through time). 3a. Definition of possible scenarios and the related planning tool / or tools useful to drive the change in the chosen direction - and / or to solve a problem (also in ‘strategic’ perspective). 3b. Definition of the ‘knowledge’ to be used to deepen and to solve the questions (sectoral analyses as a result of a particular interpretation of the context and its problems).
  • Lesson code1010655
  • Academic year2025/2026
  • CourseSociology
  • CurriculumCittà e Sostenibilità
  • Year3rd year
  • Semester1st semester
  • SSDICAR/21
  • CFU6