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Talks and Poster Presentations (without Proceedings-Entry):

V. Capresi:
"The newly founded Libyan rural centres - architecture and urban design (1934-1940 / 2009)";
Keynote Lecture: International Planning History Society Conference, ITU Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul; 2010-07-12 - 2010-07-15.



English abstract:
Session: "Urban design in the Thirties under Italian fascism. Comparative perspectives on urban forms and ideologies in Italy and the Colonies"
The paper proposes a comparative analysis of the historical and current urban and architectural forms of the new rural centres built in Libya, on the costs of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, during the fascist occupation.
The historical period of reference dates back to 1933-34 when the building of the first centres had started -- marking the beginning of the construction activity in Cyrenaica for the political, religious and administrative control of the territory -- until 1940, with the project for the last centre, which remained unrealised due to the outbreak of the Second World War.
Some of the major common urban and architectural design characteristics of these rural centres will be critically analysed, such as the square as a principal design element, the use of porticoes, for the delimitation and definition of the perimeter of the villages, the access road, as the generating element of the plan, the church, as the most important building for the organisation of the space.
The aim of the paper is to propose a critical interpretation of the urban and architectural mechanisms which generated the rural centres. From one side considering them as the basic element for the physical organisation of the territory, on the other side, as places for the identification and social encounter of the rural communities and finally as the material expression of the political power.
The paperīs ultimate goal is however to propose an overall overview of the current state of use of this architecture. What happened to these centres when the principal symbolic meaning, associated to the relative political historical connotation, has ended? How much the forms of the rural centres influenced the territorial development of Libya? The paper will be illustrated by a comparative presentation of historical and contemporary pictures in order to highlight the re-use of the colonial centres from the Libyan population.

German abstract:
Session: "Urban design in the Thirties under Italian fascism. Comparative perspectives on urban forms and ideologies in Italy and the Colonies"
The paper proposes a comparative analysis of the historical and current urban and architectural forms of the new rural centres built in Libya, on the costs of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, during the fascist occupation.
The historical period of reference dates back to 1933-34 when the building of the first centres had started -- marking the beginning of the construction activity in Cyrenaica for the political, religious and administrative control of the territory -- until 1940, with the project for the last centre, which remained unrealised due to the outbreak of the Second World War.
Some of the major common urban and architectural design characteristics of these rural centres will be critically analysed, such as the square as a principal design element, the use of porticoes, for the delimitation and definition of the perimeter of the villages, the access road, as the generating element of the plan, the church, as the most important building for the organisation of the space.
The aim of the paper is to propose a critical interpretation of the urban and architectural mechanisms which generated the rural centres. From one side considering them as the basic element for the physical organisation of the territory, on the other side, as places for the identification and social encounter of the rural communities and finally as the material expression of the political power.
The paperīs ultimate goal is however to propose an overall overview of the current state of use of this architecture. What happened to these centres when the principal symbolic meaning, associated to the relative political historical connotation, has ended? How much the forms of the rural centres influenced the territorial development of Libya? The paper will be illustrated by a comparative presentation of historical and contemporary pictures in order to highlight the re-use of the colonial centres from the Libyan population.

Keywords:
italian colonialism, new towns, libya, fascism

Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.