II - PhD Workshop

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«Are there identifiable trends in Planning Research? .... I wouldn't say so; there's actually no planning research at all!»
(AESOP, 1999) Fubini, Alex
The title of my paper is provocative; I intend to say that - at least in Italy- planning research has been extremely static over the last 40 years, with the consequence that no new trends in research have been developed. Through a discussion on the meaning of planning as a profession, on planning teaching as intended in Italy and a comparison with other European cases, derives my suggestion for a new planning teaching strategy based on a critical and theoretical formation of the student rather than on his/her practical training via professional simulation. The Italian context; «too much means nothing». Since the '60s the concept of planning reform has been linked to a wider and more comprehensive context including land and local authorities reforms, where the latter were considered prerequisites for the former to happen. Planners attributed themselves a political role (land and planning reforms are different though, being the first a political matter and the second a social, theoretical and technical one), with the consequence of impoverishing the planning profession as a whole.