The city of Padua as a case study for a new urban design

This essay is the first chapter of a book presenting the result of student workshops developed within the framework of the “Architectural and Urban Composition 3” course taught on the Master’s Degree in Architectural Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Padua during the academic years of 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 (Pietrogrande is also coauthor of other four chapters in the book). The research into the planning hypotheses was carried out in several areas within the circle of Padua’s Venetian walls, recognised as strongly clashing with the neighbouring context. The city of Padua is used as a complex case study in which the analysis and proposals for a new urban design concentrate on areas that were initially affected by rapid post Second World War reconstruction, then by wide building speculation that has resulted in their organic unity with surrounding parts of the city being lost. The research presented in this book was carried out with a more general purpose in mind, that of discussing the urban image and applying the theories and techniques of building design from the point of view of a study on architectural sources as well as that of a teaching method. The idea that the transformation and protection of the urban landscape can occur according to a unitary process is the basis of the teaching experience described below, founded on 1960s studies of typological analyses specifically oriented towards the theme of public spaces and establishing relationships between these and private spaces. The assumption is in line with the main contribution of the most advanced teachers in Italy on this subject at the University Institute of Architecture in Venice during the second half of the twentieth century, the so-called "School of Venice".