ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part discusses the fundamental context for understanding the Italian case. It describes the Italian discourses, which can be categorised into three main strands: the Italian postwar architectural debate on a changing urban condition; the political debate on higher education reform during a period of centre-left government and reformism; and the counter-debate of the students protesting inside and outside Italian universities and factories. In common speech, ‘town-and-gown’ and ‘ivory tower’ are interchangeable labels that attach a sense of exclusivity to the institution of the university. Together, they encapsulate an idea of friction with and necessary detachment from the university’s surroundings that convey the sense of the university as an enclave hosted within foreign territory. A central ambiguity of the university expansion of the 1960s is located at the intersection between a desire for urbanity and its rejection by a retreat into the countryside.
