Edited by Giuseppe De Luca, Carlo Pisano e Michele Talia
Discussant: Stefano Moroni, Paolo Galuzzi, Maurizio Carta, Patrizia Gabellini, Michelangelo Russo, Ivan Blečić
Many urban transformations do not occur during the “high” moments of statutory urban planning, but rather within the continuous and often overlooked layer where sector plans, regulations, procedures, and tools intersect with the actual city. It is here that urban planning takes shape: in day-to-day implementation, micro-decisions, ordinary and extraordinary maintenance, operational interpretations of rules, the use and reuse of spaces, and the compromises between control, adaptation, and awareness. This set of non-statutory action practices produces tangible effects on the quality of urban space—whether public or private—as well as on accessibility, safety, the timeline of transformations, and de facto inequalities, even when they are not recognized as a “project” in the strict sense.
The International Conference aims to focus on an “underlying urbanism” (“urbanistica di sotto”) that does not stand in opposition to institutions, but rather moves through their margins and interstitial spaces: sector plans and non-mandatory plans of an experimental nature[1], agendas[2], protocols, specifications, technical standards, authorization procedures, rules of use, informal and semi-formal practices, incremental adjustments, as well as maintenance, care, and management procedures and customs. From this perspective, the boundary between “high” statutory planning and “underground” urbanism is not a dualism, but rather a field of negotiation in which the modalities of urban transformation are continuously rethought and made possible.
The distinction is not so much hierarchical as it is one of complementarity and juxtaposition: when “underground” urbanism reinforces consistency, implementation, and coordination (multi-actor, multi-sector), it becomes a useful extension of the statutory urban plan; conversely, when it bypasses the statutory sphere, it can produce a “government by exception,” weakening institutional decision-making and generating inequalities of treatment within the urban space.
The objective of the Conference is to discuss how to make “underground” urbanism visible and coordinated: what lexicons and evidence are needed to recognize it; what skills intersect it (technical, administrative, managerial, social); and how to design tools and mechanisms that hold it together with higher planning levels from a perspective of harmonious innovation. The Conference invites contributions that bring cases, methods, and reflections to bring “underground” urbanism to light as a field of study, practice, and administrative action.
The Conference will be structured into six sessions, each coordinated by a discussant. Each session proposes a specific framework for “underground urbanism,” around which authors are invited to develop their reflections.
How to participate
Authors are invited to submit an abstract (max 500 words) by July 17, 2026, exclusively via the dedicated form at the following LINK.
Submissions must indicate the first name, last name, and affiliation of the authors, and specify the two themes/sessions to which the contribution relates, in order of preference (first choice, second choice). Abstracts received through other channels will not be accepted.
Abstracts will be selected by August 3, 2026, with subsequent notification sent via email (both in case of acceptance and rejection). Selected authors must submit their full paper by October 2, 2026.
Participation fee
The publication of a paper is subject to the payment of a participation fee of € 275.00 (€ 220.00 for INU members, € 165.00 for INU Giovani members).
The fee is per paper (not per person) and includes the publication of the paper in the journal Contesti. Città, Territori, Progetti (Class A and Open Access Journal).
The payment receipt must be sent along with the completed invoicing form. Payment details and the invoicing form can be downloaded from the download section of this page.
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