The “Greater Number” participates in the city 50 years later?

Abstract

This discussion paper deals with the participation in the exhibition entitled The “Greater Number”. This exhibition was the ghost stage of the Milan Triennale XIV in 1968. A scenario that could be perceived as an inverted “amarcord” today. The exhibition was organized with the Italian architect Giancarlo De Carlo in a leading role. The “Greater Number” defined the construction details, invited prestigious speakers, attracted international participants, designed the physical space, and called on the media. However, it did not take place. It was absent and occupied, a priori, by a citizen’s movement, by a generalized and crystalline discontent on an international scale. In the face of the tangible crisis of May 1968, we now find the “intangible” one of May 2020. This is when the debate on The “Greater Number” and “participation” in the city arose again 50 years later.