Città sature

(Saturated Towns)

Abstract

What are the maximum quantities that can be allowed in a quality project? Urban plans are measured in terms of density, and saturation is density taken to its extreme—simultaneously a technical and a political provocation. Questioning this concept is useful in order first to learn to read and then to interpret full and empty spaces in towns and landscapes. Whereas the landscape restoration on the coasts of Brittany appears as a more or less peaceful operation, Western cities busy with politics of saturation—from London to Florence—encounter difficulties of various nature thereby exposing some paradoxes in sustainability.