Images of the Future from the Past： The Metabolists and the Utopian Planning of the 1960s

During the 1960s, many changes reshaped the economy, the society and the arts. The Cold War, the Space Race, the construction of a new middle class in most western societies led by the postwar economic prosperity with unprecedented urban growth followed by severe environmental problems fostered the design of spectacular urban utopian cities and mega-architectures. In those years, Japan was the source of highly influential bold and visionary urban and architectural ideas which relied on advanced technology. These ideas were conceived on the thought that cities could be seen as gigantic but impermanent entities able to transform itself according to an organic process of adaptation of its elementary components. This paper briefly revisits and critically discusses the legacy of the iconic mega-strnctural projects of Japanese Metabolist Movement and other visionary architects and planners of the 1960s, such as Paolo Soleri, Buckminster Fuller, Archigram. It attempts to enlighten the continuity with contemporary innovative and experimental urban models and ideas for the society and the city of the future, such as the Smart Cities, Eco-Cities, Green Urbanism, whose design is led by concerns related to climate change, the necessity of energy efficiency, the improvement of urban landscape and the valorization of depleted natural resources.     

The Industrial Heritage and the New Architecture： Teaching, Researching, Designing the Place Identity

The new architecture may provide unusual opportunities for the abandoned areas involved by former industrial processes, both in the city centers and in the landscape. In fact, it may create new centralities and give new collective function for deprived areas. The case study of the architectural and educational project for a new museum park devoted to the technique and the science in the Apennine＇ s landscape near Parma （Italy） may give an interesting point of view about the role of the teaching and the research of the architecture in the former industrial heritage, and to avoid the abandonment and the pauperization of the territory around.