“Towards an useful urban analysis in researches” or “Why creating figures is not a synonym of drawing”

1. “Toward an useful urban analysis in researches”
or
“Why creating figures is not a synonym of drawing”
Summary
1. Towards a coherent representation of the contemporary build environment (a. Elements; b.Relations)
2. Creating figures: a step more
3. An example: Studying clusters of central functions
4. Why Figures?
Mario Paris – E-mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP
Seminario de formación doctoral “PRODUCIR CONOCIMIENTO ESPACIAL”, Jueves 19 de octubre - Sala de Juntas (ETS de Arquitectura)

2. Research question:
Which kind of urban analysis?

3. An heterogeneous catalog of different situations in which we design
Compact urban space (centre and different peripheries)
The role of the representation!

4. An artist/cartographer represent the city
through its «monuments»
Pietro del Massaio, Città di Roma, 1472
Not an original topic

5. Cartography (maps/diagrams/schemes) as representation
Cartography «represents» the city
- Documental values
- Informational values
- Functional values
Different scopes/targets

6. Toward a coherent
representation of
the contemporary
build environment
1.

7. (a) Elements and (b) Relations
Maps as a tool for the project
Smart analysis of two factors:
Secchi-Viganò, Strategie per lo sviluppo di Liegi, 2011

8. a. Elements – Preexistences and Forma urbis: Nolli’s Example (1/4)
G. Nolli, Mappa della cità di
Roma, 1748

9. Nolli’s Example (2/4)
G. Nolli, Mappa della cità di Roma, 1748
Relationship inside/outside (edges, borders)
Tissues (morphologies)

10. Nolli’s Example(3/4)
G. Nolli, Mappa della cità di Roma, 1748
Places’ Names (toponomy)
Forma urbis (document, a process’ tale)

11. Historical analysis: Understanding the present looking at the past

12. Nolli’s Example (4/4)
Representing the city through public and private spaces (voids and wholes)

13. a. Elements – Analysis of punctual elements
Land uses
Role of every plot in the system
(neighborhood, city, metropolis, region, etc.)

14. a. Elements – Analysis of linear elements
Secchi-Viganò, Strategie per lo sviluppo di Liegi, 2011
Accessibility, etc.

15. a. Taxonomy for elements – Select and classify
Secchi-Viganò, Strategie per lo sviluppo di Liegi, 2011
Relevance of legends

16. a. Elements – Support a coherent shift from analysis to the project
Secchi-Viganò, Strategie per lo sviluppo di Liegi, 2011
Description Diagnosis and proposals

17. Are elements linked among them?
Which kind of relations?
Secchi-Viganò, Bruxelles 2040: topografia vs. topologia, 2011
b. Relations – 3S (Successions, Sequences and Systems)

18. b. Relations – Successions
E.N. Bacon, Design of Cities, 1967
Piazza S.ssima Annunziata
S. Maria del Fiore e Battistero
Piazza della
Repubblica
Piazza della signoria
Uffizi
Ponte Vecchio Thematising
FLORENCE

19. E.N. Bacon, Design of Cities, 1967
PARIS
b. Relations – Successions

20. E.N. Bacon, Design of Cities, 1967
PHILADEPHIA
b. Relations – Successions

21. G. Cullen, Townscape, 1971 – p. 8
Public Spaces
Role of perception
b. Relations – Sequences

22. G. Cullen, Townscape, 1971 – p. 99
A work on the imaginary: «A square fort every taste»

23. G. Cullen, Townscape, 1971 – p. 99
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
(La carica dei 101 or 101 dalmatas)

24. Making systems visible
Valladolid and its urban area: Centralities and poles (Source: Instituto Universitario de Urbanística)

25. A step more:
Creating Figures
2.

26. Exceeding drawings
MAPS
DIAGRAMS
SCHEMES
INTERACTIONS
- Complex ideas
- Information Overlay
- Evaluations
Valladolid, IGM. 2008
Population 1991-2011 in CyL, IUU. 2011
Collecting DATA/FACTORS
- Realities
- Descriptions
- Sectoral aspects (mobility, services, etc.)
JUST THE FIRST STEP
Taking in account:
CREATING FIGURES
(A STEP MORE)
- Reality + Future
- Interpretations
- Projects
Secchi B. (1994) Figure del rinnovo urbano, in Casabella, n. 614

27. Overlay: Informations and evalutations (the work of I. McHarg)
An ecological approach – Overlay Mapping
McHarg, Excerpts from Staten Island Study, Design with nature, 1967

28. - From geometry (Relations)
- From figurative arts (Background; Representation)
- From rhetoric (Strengthen elements of discourse)
About figures
Towards an innovative representation of urban structure
Real and possible
Current and future
Evaluations and strategies
Design tools

29. An example:
Studying clusters
of central
functions
3.

30. Metropolisation of territory(Indovina, 2007)
Growth and transformation of European cities
Elaborazione: P. Mario (Dati ISTAT), 2013

31. 1965
2005Insediamenti urbani nel nord Italia
Pervasive dimension
of urban realm
City region
(G. De Carlo, 1992; J.L. De las Rivas, 1996)
City-territory
(N. Portas, 1998)
Territorial scale

32. P. Sturla – Crossing boundaries: the aesthetics of fragments An operation of regional camouflage.
Regional Strategy: Human sensible areas (2011)
Land mosaic
(R.T.T. Forman, 2004)
Activation of a complex urban-rural
space (J.L. De las Rivas, M. Paris, 2013)
Built environment achieved a
different role within the
relationship figure-background
Exceeding consolidate
antitheses
Local scale

33. SUBURBANIZATION
2012
Elaborazione: P. Mario (Dati ISTAT), 2013
Suburbanization (J. Garreau, 1991)

34. Elaborazione: P. Mario (Dati ISTAT), 2013
Progressive growth of an economy based on services (1/3)
1971

35. Elaborazione: P. Mario (Dati ISTAT), 2013
Progressive growth of an economy based on services (2/3)
1991

36. Elaborazione: P. Mario (Dati ISTAT), 2013
Progressive growth of an economy based on services (3/3)
2011

37. 1971 - 2011
Elaborazione: P. Mario (Dati ISTAT), 2013
Tertiarization (J. Garreau, 1991)

38. MALLIFICATION
2012
Elaborazione: P. Mario (Dati ISTAT), 2013
Mallification (J. Garreau, 1991)

39. Photomontage M. Paris on Il vulcano buono: RPBW Design Mall (2009)
Monofunction
Indifference
Detachment from neighborhood
Lots of words or ‘ideologies’ to describe a heterogeneous system of new polarites
Heterotopia, Distopia, Hiperplaces Megastructure, Arcology, Cluster, Mat-building, Disconnected space, Different
space, Non Lieux, Theme park, Citadel, Field, Magnetic places, Architectural Systems, Places of cloning, Isotopia

40. InstantCity–RonHerron(Archigram),1968
Instant City (Archigram) or Manhattism (R. Koolhaas)
Urban experience as a matter of hardware
More than a problem of design
Habitat for contemporary society

41. Exceeding the “no place” rhetoric

42. Focus on clusters of central functions
Attraction and concentration
Result of several different actions and wills

43. Clusters as “large mass objects”
Two points of view:
- Dimensional Large structures for enteratiment (Usai, 2011), Large ground occupation structures (Morandi & al., 2009)
- Functional Bigness (Koolhaas, 1995). The retail/services/culture/tertiary mix
CONGESTION as positive value
Casalecchio di Reno (I), 2013 – photomontage by M. Paris

44. Focusing on productive systems, M. Porter (1998) introduced the concept of cluster
A useful and effective idea to reflect about territorial dimensions of those aggregates
- Proximity (of activities and markets)
- Relationships among functions (synergies, competitions, cooperation)
- Quality of links (material and immaterial aspects, urban and architectural design,
involvement of buffer –public?- space)
- Role of private (firms, real estate investors, etc.) and public (local and regional
governments) actors involved
- Belonging to a cluster provides to firms comparative advantages (based on production
costs) and competitive advantages (based on features of contexts and the interactions
among firms located within the cluster)
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP
M. Porter’s clusters, again?

45. Different typologies: production-oriented and service-oriented clusters (Pi-Feng & Chung Sing, 2012)
Not only Porter: recent contributions about clusters
Network-based services
Production of services distributed through
networks and consumed out of the cluster
Consumption-based services
Production of services consumed within
the cluster
- Relationships with physical and digital networks (accessibility,
visibility and logistic)
- Maximization of consumptions (of goods, services and experiences)
Effectiveness of production
and distribution of services
Innovation in consumption-
forms
Co-produced by firms and consumers
Related with hardware (goods, etc.) and
software (desires, imaginary)
Competitive
advantages
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP

46. Spatial distribution of clusters of central functions
Geography of clusters of central functions in Lombardy (Mario Paris, 2017)
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP
Aggregation of:
Retail (Prime shopping malls, retail parks, Big Boxes)
Culture (Mueseums, Cultural poles, UNESCO, Fairs, etc.)
Services (Mayor Business centres and Headquarters)
Education (Universities, research centres, etc.)
Leisure (Multiplex, Theatre, Theme parks)

47. Bicocca (Milano)
University
Retail
Leisure
Museum and Theatre
Business and Headquarters
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP

48. Clusters of central functions – Bicocca (Milano)
University
Retail
Leisure
Museum and Theatre
Business and Headquarters
Ripamonti Smart triangle (Milano)
Prada Foundation
Advanced Cultural District
(Co-working, Creative
functions, etc.)
Business and Headquarters
Fashion and Luxury
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP

49. Consumption spaces for goods, services and experiences
the size of the aggregation
a “critical mass” in functional (Intensity) and dimensional (Bigness) terms
the complexity and the dynamism of the aggregation
multi-purpose, positive congestion as a value, physical and digital together
their level of integration and time of liveliness
Attractiveness and increase of revenues
IL Centro, Arese (I), 2016
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP

50. An evolving scenario
Related with program/functions
- Selective processes of consolidation of metropolitan poles (pressure on fragile formats)
- Specialization and/or integration of the offer
- Gigantism
Related with locations
- Interest for consolidate urban areas (colonization of urban voids)
- Transformation of peripheral opportunities (regeneration of greyfields)
- Colonization of nodes (public and private transport)
Are we able to understand territorial impacts of these clusters?
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP

51. Impacts of clusters of central functions (at different scales)
Attraction of local and foreign capitals
Regeneration of greyfields
Regional scale
Retail poles in Lombardy (URB&COM Lab., 2016)
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP

52. Impacts of clusters of central functions (at different scales)
Contribution to the process of
suburbanization
Regional scale
Geography of clusters of central functions and suburban settlements in Lombardy (Mario Paris, 2017)
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP

53. Impacts of clusters of central functions (at different scales)
Contribution to new
territorializations
Regional scale
Geography of clusters of central functions and transformation of local economies in Lombardy (Mario Paris, 2017)
Mario Paris, Arc. PhD.,
Laboratorio Urb&Com, DAStU –Politecnico di Milano (I)
mail: mario.paris@polimi.it Twitter: @Dr_MarioP

54. Conclusions
4.

55. Why Figures? To produce spatial knowledge

56. 4 tips for a useful analysis in PhD research
(but also in the rest of your lives as researchers)
Sensing the place
(measuring phenomena, which context?)
Mapping
(making visible the invisible, discovering relationships)
Explaining something
(pointing out a problem and proposing scenarios)
Monitoring
(introducing the variable time, taking in account the
performances)

57. Bibliography
De las Rivas J.L., Paris M., Jiménez M. (2014) “Creating figures: why re-imagining urban structure supports a
regenerative urban model “ in Architecture MPS
http://architecturemps.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/mc_conference_paris-m_de-las-rivas-sanz-j_jimenez-m.pdf
Limonta G., Paris M. (2017) “OSM come strumento di monitoraggio dei sistemi commerciali urbani/OSM as monitoring
tool for urban retail systems” in GEAM – Rivista dell’associazione Georisorse ed ambiente, n. 145, pag. 103/108
Limonta G., Paris M. (2017) “Riconoscere e monitorare la potenziale fragilità dei sistemi commerciali urbani: una
proposta per la Regione Lombardia” in AA.VV., Atti della XIX Conferenza Nazionale SIU. "Cambiamenti.
Responsabilità e strumenti per l'urbanistica al servizio del paese". Milano-Roma, Planum Publisher, pag. 1042-1051
Paris M., De las Rivas J.L. “Spatial knowledge and regional governance: toward an alternative map of Castilla y Leon
(Spain)” in Dotti N.F. (ed.), Knowledge, Policymaking and Learning for European Cities and Regions. Brussels, Edward
Elgar Ed., In press. (Expected Feb., 2018)
Paris M. (2017) “Which kind of spatial knowledge supporting smart governance? Two experiences in Castilla y León
(E) and Regione Veneto (I)” in Territorio, n. 81, In press.
Paris M. (2013) “De los centros urbanos consolidados a los lugares de centralidad: una propuesta metodológica para
su estudio” in Ciudades, n. 16 . pag. 47/69