Urbanistica. Rivista Istituto Nazionale di Urbanistica. Nrs. 14 (1954, Anno XXIII) - nr. 28/29 Anno XXIX + nrs. 30 - 100 (September 1990).

Item Details

Torino Milano Roma, Istituto Nazionale Urbanistica, 1954 - 1990

First, near fine

All quartos (from 88 - 218 pages mostly printed on different colored stock) throughout all issues: many colored fold-out plans + loose inserts; topographic surveys and stereo-fotogrammetic images, photographs and aerial photographs. All issues with stiff illustrated wrappers. Front cover designs by Marcello Nizzoli, Max Huber, Remo Muratore, Egidio Bonfante, Giovanni Pintori. A very fine set.

- All first editions. (Some of the earlier issues have seen reprints!). Urbanistica was originally founded in 1932 by the Piemontese section of the I.N.U. (Istituto nazionale di Urbanistica) and publishing was halted during the years 1946 - 1948. Adriano Olivetti (1901 - 1960) who had become a member of INU in 1938, became member of the board of directors of INU in 1948. In 1949 he started republishing the 'rivista' and financed personally the 'rebirth' of the magazine. In 1956 he became an honorary member of the American Institute of Planners and vice president of the International Federation for Housing and Town Planning, in 1959, will be appointed president of the United Nations Casas-UNRRA relief and rehabilitation administration, created in Italy for the post-war reconstruction.

 

Bimonthly (1932-); then quarterly (1949-); semi-annual (1994-); quarterly (2003-); quarterly (2010-); semi-annual (2012-)

Founded in 1932 as a Bulletin of the Piedmont Section of the National Institute of Urban Planning, it became the Institute's official bimonthly journal in 1933. The editor-in-chief was Pietro Betta (who edited only the first three issues). Upon his death, he was replaced, from issues 4-5, by the magazine's editor-in-chief, Armando Melis De Villa, who edited the journal until issues 1-4 of 1945 (August). Issues 1-4/1945 also included a supplement containing the "Life of the Institute." Between September 1945 and March 1949, while maintaining the original numbering, it was transformed into a simple "bulletin." Five issues were published (5/1945; 6/1945; 1/1946; 2-3/1946; 4-6/1946), still under the direction of Armando Melis De Villa, who was however supported by a Steering Committee; and another eight issues (1/1947; 2-4/1947; 5-6/1947; 1-2/1948; 3/1948; 4/1948; 5-6/1948; 1/1949), in addition to a booklet (1948) containing the Proceedings of the 2nd National Congress of Urban Planning of 1948, under the direction of Mario Zocca. After the Institute's resumption of activity on a democratic and republican basis, with the approval of the new Statute in November 1949, which declared Urbanistica "the official publication of the INU" (Article 18), it resumed publication as an official journal, beginning with a new series and a new issue number 1. It immediately established itself as a key player in national and international debate, comprehensively and critically documenting urban planning activity in Italy and abroad, to the point of becoming a sort of "implicit manual." Since then, Urbanistica has reflected the INU's objective: to promote and disseminate urban planning studies, acquiring distinctive prestige among industry journals and making a significant contribution to giving Italian urban planning culture a European dimension. The journal is now classified by the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and Research in Band A, the most prestigious and valuable. The editors of the new series were Adriano Olivetti (no. 1/1949 – nos. 10-11/1952), Giovanni Astengo (no. 12/1953 – no. 66/1977), Bruno Gabrielli and Marco Romano for no. 67/1977, and Marco Romano (nos. 68-69/1978 – nos. 76-77/1984). Under the editorship of Bernardo Secchi (no. 78/1985 – no. 101/1990), the magazine changed its editorial concept and graphic design, reflecting the evolution of Italian urban planning while remaining an expression of INU's freedom of research and constructive ambition.

Special issues on: Atti del V Congresso Nazionale di Urbanistica - with 8-page English insert of the 'Italo-American city and regional planning and housing seminar' (nrs. 15/16 and 17); master plan for Milano etc (nr 18-19); A greater Fort Worth of Tomorrow by Victor Gruen - nr 20); regional planning in the Netherlands (Cesare Valle (nr. 21); announcement of death of Adriano Olivetti (11 April 1901 27 - February 1960); historical city centers in Czechoslovakia (nr. 31); Regional planning in France (nr 35); Regional planning in Great Britain (36/37); Regional planning in Germany (38); Historical centers: research and problems (42/43); city traffic (44); a long term scheme for regional planning in Italy (49); Venice (52); Bologna - Rome (54/55); urban and transportation developments in Japan…

 

Contributing authors: Carlo Aymonino, Erwin A. Gutkind, Giovanni Astengo, Richard Neutra, Frederic Osborn, Victor Gruen, Ludovico Quaroni, Manfredo Tafuri, Leonardo Benovolo, Alessandra Pozzi...

'Urbanistica' was not only a leading magazine in the field of urbanism in Italy and the major postwar industrializing countries, but also a resource for Italy's best examples of graphic design in the fifties and sixties with front cover designs by Marcello Nizzoli, Max Huber, Remo Muratore, Egidio Bonfante, Giovanni Pintori and many publicity designs by Dante Bighi, Gino Boccasile, Ezio Bonini, Aldo Calabresi, Studio Lucini, Remo Muratore, Marcello Nizzoli, Bob Noorda, Danilo Nubioli, Albe Steiner, Heinz Waibl, Bruno Monguzzi, Giovanni Pintori, Studio Testa, Vera Quaranta and others.

Text in Italian with some summaries in French and English.