The transformation of the city through urban plans: the Urban Planning Archives Network, RAPu

Abstract

The Urban Planning Archives Network (RAPu) is a digital archive of the Italian urban plans since the national unification. This paper describes the phases of its realization, and the results and potentials for both urban planning research and practice. The main phases of the digital archive’s formation process are the topic of the first section. The second one suggests a monographic approach to single cities town planning experiences as essential to strengthen an inductive supported “internal history” of urban planning. Then, the features of the archive of the Public Works’ Ministry –the main source for RAPu digital collection– are considered, while in the fourth section the potentials of RAPu to nourish original researches are illustrated. The fifth section discusses some recent periodisations of Italian urban planning that have their starting point in the planning documents and their characteristics. Finally, the necessity of a contemporary urban planning rooted in the internal history of its own technical knowledge and free from the “tyranny of the moment” is argued.

Key words: Urban plans, town planning history, Italy, urban planning, archives.