The Bologna model: origins and repercussions in the field of integrated conservation

Abstract

To promote the transition from an “old city to a new society,” between the 1960s and 1970s, Bologna, Italy, undertook a particular urban planning process for historic cities. This article seeks to understand the construction of the conservation agenda of the historic center, which materialized in a social housing policy, with solid emancipatory and anti-capitalist aspirations. Based on a literature review, the article has sought to unravel the various political and technical syntheses related to the subject of heritage restoration, particularly in post-war Italy (1945) until the 1970s. Issues have been addressed related to the state regulatory systems for land and real estate, the nature of the safeguarding policy, and the guidelines for metropolitan planning, with the historic center being its focal point.