ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the theoretical reaction that rose against the functionalist doctrine. It attempts to discuss how that deep conception of the city could be related to the present problematic of sustainability. The chapter outlines the urban research of the Italian urban designer Paola Vigano whose concept of the city as a capital of ‘embodied energy’ is further advancing the theories of Aldo Rossi and Andre Corboz. It introduces the underpinning principles of a sustainable ‘deep city’ and also outlines the way forward for developing sustainable cities in the future with heritage and history at their core. The chapter reviews the evolution of urban design theories, from modern utopia to contemporary theories of the city as renewable resource as a means to unfold the concept of the ‘deep city’. It explores the fear of a new ‘green utopianism’ reproducing the damage of the modern functionalist utopias.
