The city across time

The Conference will offer a diachronic and interdisciplinary account of the formation of the city and of the radical
changes this process produced in the life of communities, in terms of their social, economic and political relations,
relations on the territory – between the city and the ‘countryside’ and between the metropolis and small centres –,
the forms of production and circulation of goods, the development of long distance trade, in the regulation of social
relations and the law. The city favoured the specialization of labour, generating a close and structural
interdependence between all the social and productive components within and outside the urban space, and played
an important role in the development and dissemination of knowledge and know-how. But urbanisation also
increased social inequalities and imbalances, sometimes giving rise to social tension and conflicts and requiring ever
tighter forms of central coordination. Relations between the city and the State will be also analysed, as well as the
economic role played by public institutions and private categories and households from the earliest formative stages
to the present day. The attraction exerted by urban centres over a growing population has led to making them
particularly sought-after destinations by migrants, to which different responses have been adopted in different
historical, socio-economic and political contexts, either creating new identities and multicultural situations or
amplifying clashes and contradictions. Lastly, cities will be also looked at as potential risk factors, in terms of health,
built landscape, and environment protection. Drawing on this comparative long-term analysis, we shall raise
questions and debate on which future we might imagine for our cities. For the program click HERE

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