Rome. The Centre(s) Elsewhere

Rome: The Centre(s) Elsewhere is the result of a Berlage Institute postgraduate studio led by Pier Vittorio Aureli and Martino Tattara, in collaboration with Gabriele Mastrigli. The book proposes both the definition of a new urban strategy for the city of Rome and a critical framework through which to understand the city’s history. Going beyond the grandeur of the past and the uncertainty of the present, Rome: The Centre(s) Elsewhere offers a project for the city’s possible future by reclaiming the greatest and yet currently neglected asset of its urban structure: the consular roads system. The book is a critical and concise pamphlet about urban design and the project of the city. It represents an attempt to gather into one approach the issues of large-scale design, political thinking, and urban history. The publication is based on a research at the Berlage Institute Rotterdam entitled Rome: The Centre(s) Elsewhere, which took place during the 2008–2009 academic year. The research was presented first at The Berlage Institute in Rotterdam then in an international conference and an exhibition entitled Rome: The Centre(s) Elsewhere, held at the Casa dell’Architettura from 9 June to 7 July 2010 and organized as part of the Festa dell’Architettura of Rome 2010. Together with being co-curator of the research exhibition, Gabriele Mastrigli is author of the exhibition design.