EUR, cultural itineraries (original) (raw)

EURA Conference

As clearly stated by the Conference's proposal, after a decade of European urban and spatial policies, it seems the time now for a deeper reflection on their influences in spatial and urban planning practices in the EU countries. A brief survey on what concerns Italy allows us to observe that EU planning intervention has affected practically all the levels of territorial government, through many dimensions of what is first and foremost a material innovation, triggered as if by contamination by the arrival on the scene of the new institutional player.

EURACHEM - the first ten years

2012

Part 1 of this history of EURACHEM deals with the development of the initial idea and the early consultations within Europe that led to definition of its aims and objectives, cumulating with its formal establishment in July 1989, followed by the signing of the MoU by sixteen countries by the end of 1990. Part 2 will describe the subsequent developments. Foreword This history of the first ten years of EURACHEM must by its nature be a personal one, since I have been so closely involved in its creation and development that I would find it very difficult to write it in any other way. The development of EURACHEM has depended upon the efforts and ideas of many people. I hope that their invaluable contributions will be brought out as this history unfolds, but I apologise that if, due to oversight or lack of completeness in my research, I have omitted to include some important stages or contributions. I have been fortunate to have access to two important sources of information, first the wo...

Universal Exposition Rome 1942 (E42): Possible Meaning of Orientation Architectural Instrument of Personality Cultus, Imperialism and Deception

Universal Exposition Rome 1942 (E42): Possible Meaning of Orientation Architectural Instrument of Personality Cultus, Imperialism and Deception?, 2021

This essay is a first preliminary version of a paper that I intend to publish as an article in an architectural-historical journal or a relevant collection of papers. This paper is about the urban project of the ‘Esposizione Universale di Roma’ (also known as EUR or E42), the ‘city’ that was created to stage the World’s fair of 1942 in Rome under the fascist regime of dictator Benito Mussolini. Much has already been written about it, in particular about its architectural style, but I believe that I can contribute some new ideas as to its original urbanistic design. I have three new hypotheses, which are interconneted and rather speculative in character. The first is that the whole layout was oriented on Mussolini’s residence. The second is that it was also oriented on Tunis or the ancient city of Carthage. And the third is that the whole project for the universal exposition was secretly meant for the (symbolical) honouring of the ‘Duce’ and his imperial ambitions, and that under the guise of peaceful international cooperation it was in a sense a trap for the international community to implicitly contribute to these imperial ambitions. Unfortunately, I am not able to substantiate my arguments with hard evidence, but I wil try to make them plausible by circumstantial evidence and comparison. If there is any truth in my ideas, they demonstrate that the plan for E42 was even more megalomanic than it already appeared to be and that the aspect of personality cult of the leader was even stronger than it already seemed.