The Italian planner: insights from 20 years of planning education and practice in Italy

ABSTRACT

In Italy, urban and regional planning education is a comparative newcomer to higher education, just as planners are among built environment professionals. Through an original collection of data, this paper investigates the outcomes of 20 years of planning education and practice, paying attention to the (mis)matches between the two and to the emerging internationalization of both. How many planning graduates are there? How are they trained? What do they do? What is their professional status? Findings confirm a situation of lights and shadows, the development of a distinctive professional identity remaining imperative to ensure future relevancy for the Italian planner.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional planner
• Planning education
• Planning practice
• Internationalization of higher education
• Italy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Consiglio Nazionale degli Architetti, Pianificatori, Paesaggisti e Conservatori which provided data for the research.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The Bologna Process was launched in 1999 as an intergovernmental cooperation agreement for the implementation of a common European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It is under the Bologna agreement that nearly all EU countries agreed to convey their national systems to a three-cycle higher education system (bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral studies), with the aim of strengthening quality assurance and recognition of degrees across the continent.

2. This process started in 2018 and still has not come to an end. Our assumptions are based on draft resolutions.

3. The Italian universities currently offering bachelor’s and/or master’s degree courses in planning are: Università degli Studi della Basilicata (UniBas), Università degli Studi di Bergamo (UniBg), Università degli Studi di Catania (UniCt), Università degli Studi di Firenze (UniFi), Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi), Università degli Studi di Napoli ‘Federico II’ (UniNa), Università degli Studi di Palermo (UniPa), Università degli Studi di Padova (UniPd), Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ (UniRoma1), Università degli Studi di Sassari (UniSs), Politecnico di Torino (PoliTo), Università degli Studi della Tuscia (UniTus), Università degli Studi di Urbino ‘Carlo Bo’ (UniUrb), Università Iuav di Venezia (Iuav). Over the years degrees in planning have also been offered by: Università degli Studi di Bologna (UniBo), Università della Calabria (UniCal), Università degli Studi di Camerino (UniCam), Università degli Studi Gabriele d’Annunzio (UniCh), Università degli Studi di Genova (UniGe), Università degli Studi Guglielmo Marconi (UniMarconi), Università degli Studi Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria (UniRc), Università degli Studi di Trieste (UniTs).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST) of the Politecnico di Torino through the MIUR Department of Excellence 2018–2022 grant.