The URBAN AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT doctoral programme offered by Politecnico di Torino issues a call for application for a Ph.D Research Fellowing on "Planning Theory", issued in memory of Professor Luigi Mazza.
Information and application details are available here
Funded By Maria Teresa Hooke
Supervisor: UMBERTO JANIN RIVOLIN -
Context of the research activity
Luigi Mazza, who passed away in 2023, was the founder of the doctoral programme in spatial planning at the Politecnico di Torino in 1989 and, in the same years, the founding editor of the scientific journal Planning Theory. This doctoral fellowship is dedicated to his memory and is intended to keep his research interests alive and tangible in relation to current events. An indispensable reference in this regard is one of his latest works, Planning and Citizenship (Routledge, 2016).
Objectives
The financial crisis of recent years has led to a strong detachment of public opinion from the idea of collective responsibility and action and from the idea of the pursuit of goals of common interest, that underlie the very notion of planning. The problems of the Covid-19 pandemic, the fiscal crisis and the further weakening of public power have taken away from planning a clear and responsible line of command that is not trivially “doing business” through urban transformations.
In Italy as elsewhere, a greater specialisation and operational effectiveness of planning would instead strengthen its social utility. Given its relationship with the formation of citizenship, its recovery of initiative could contribute to the renewal of civic culture and decision-making processes. It is a matter of building around its specific competence – the control of space for social and economic purposes – spatial models and rules adapted to contemporary needs. These are the objectives that the research programme should pursue.
Skills and competencies for the development of the activity
Awareness of the social function of territorial governance and spatial planning in the contemporary world. Knowledge of the main literature on the subject.
