ABSTRACT

The renewed protagonism of the strategic urban projects that characterise the ‘new urban culture’ is one of the starting points for this study. The fact that unique urban projects are put into practice as a simultaneous mechanism for city promotion and regeneration or transformation, and the question marks about their eventual ‘utility’ and effectiveness, are the most specific points raised. A special attempt is made to analyse the nature of one of the categories of ‘large-scale events’, international Expositions, as an inherent force for urban change.