The rebirth of cities: the book VITRUVIO 4.0 presented that tells the road show of Mitsubishi Electric

In this millennium, city architecture is asked to find solutions to new problems, which are translated into a new reduction of the Vitruvian criteria: Coherence, Utility, Beauty.

This The road show was a singular journey to discover the evolution of Vitruvian “utilitas”., in the inevitable interaction with emerging social concepts: industry 4.0 sets increasingly different projects for new families and “tribes”, who are looking for a new way of being in cities. There urban regeneration is a particularly important topic in the practice of urban planning, but it must be understood in all aspects as a policy of urban development from a green perspective, of 360 degrees. The recovery of the spaces left by the production processes and restore a new quality of the area, economic and social for damaged neighborhoods fully responds to the concept of a sustainable city, reducing the environmental impact found in buildings.

And so it was born Vitruvius 4.0 which from 2019 to 2023, with the disruption of Covid, brought forty-seven experts, journalists, sociologists, academics, artists, entrepreneurs, politicians to 13 discussion tables to try to predict the future. man’s most complex and important invention, the city; very vain comparison and discussion, always trying to focus the discussion on the reality of Italy and, above all, on the feelings of those who live there, in Milan, Rome, Naples and Florence. The authors comment:

“In 2019, at the beginning of the experience, we warned the public that we will discuss how the concept of urban regeneration has changed in the new millennium; with the post-Covid-19 recovery and as the evening progressed we realized that changes and new interpretations had already changed in light of this epidemic, the crisis of energy, war. So in this book we have tried not only to summarize and reorganize the contents of Vitruvius 4.0, but also to harmonize with today’s reality. Today the discussion on possible solutions is open and, thanks to Mitsubishi Electric, we hope that we have provided a small but important contribution.” – commented Leopold Freyrie.

“The article you will read is a work that tries to recover the spirit of those evenings. First we copied the records, and then we selected the important parts, avoiding redundancies, always with the idea of ​​making a modern book, easy to consult and not just a summary, useless. Finally , we decided to avoid having chapters that follow the sequence of events of various stages but to group them according to typology, with the intention of creating a thread of argument that is more consistent with the proposed topics. With these words we wanted to add pictures full of suggestions, those created by the artist, Marialuisa Montanari , capable of inventing “new cities” and making them seem more real than life. Images of famous buildings, images and landscapes that create new architecture, a visual response to that different perspective that must accompany us, capable of not forgetting what is already there, trying if anything bring it back into the game in a creative way.The result of this work is the book you hold in your hands. It’s definitely not the destination, if it’s the starting point.” – he explains Gianni Biondillo.

Conclude Fabrizio MajaVice President of the Mitsubishi Electric Branch: “In a historical moment marked by an ever-changing context – between the epidemic, the energy crisis and the war – thanks to thirteen meetings held over four years, we discussed and learned a lot, trying to better understand the future of our cities. These events, which included comparisons, doubts and suggestions that are really not academic and of great interest, have contributed to the minds of more than fifty people, who come from different academic and cultural fields. on that wonderful “invention” of man. We moved from Milan to Rome, from Florence to Naples, always with a select audience who followed us in our conversation, often interjecting a real urban conversation; Gianni Biondillo and Leopoldo Freyrie have summarized in this book, Mitsubishi Electric’s contribution to the open questions of living in a century of climate change and an ever-changing city.

The following discussed it, together with Leopoldo Freyrie and Gianni Biondillo: Giancarlo Tancredi, Councilor for Urban Renewal of the Municipality of Milan; Tommaso Dal Bosco – President at AUDIS – Unused Urban Areas; Federico Parolotto – CEO of MIC-HUB; Silvia Botti – Architect and journalist, Director of One Works Foundation; Sergio Luciano, Economic Director.