Urbanistica e pianificazione: tra interdisciplinarità e autonomia

The chapter reconstructs the formation and gradual emancipation of urban and territorial planning at the Politecnico di Torino from the mid-1960s onward. Beginning with Cesare Bairati’s initiative and the creation of the Institute of Territorial Programming and Design, it traces the aggregation of new forms of knowledge – economics, sociology, statistics, law, traffic theory, geography – within and beyond the traditional framework of architectural education. The role of figures such as Giampiero Vigliano, Luigi Mazza, Carlo Alberto Barbieri, Agata Spaziante, and Giuseppe Dematteis was crucial in shaping a planning culture closely linked to public action and local institutions. Particular attention is given to the transition from the Institute to the Department of Territory, the 1986 inter-university alliance with geographers, and to later developments including doctoral training, national research programmes, and a planning degree launched in 2001. In Turin, planning achieved autonomy through interdisciplinarity and through its capacity to produce knowledge relevant to collective decision-making.