ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the debate on historical city centres, as expressed in Italian literature, presupposes from the outset the identification of different currents that have fostered it. These currents are firmly linked to a period during which diverse economical and societal struggles occurred, in such a manner that the cultural debate cannot ignore them. There is little doubt that urban heritage is of greater importance in Italian cities than in other places, with several concomitant consequences. The tentative effort made by certain architects to search for less simplistic methods of connecting to history must also been seen in this light. The emergence of landscape and identity, themes that seem prevalent today, reflects the transformations that have occurred in spatial organisation and in metropolitan life styles. Concepts, such as urban sprawl, increased consumption, global economic development and cultural standardisation, open new debates and impose the need to identify new defence mechanisms and ways of planning and design.
