Practicing a Polycentric (Post) Metropolis: A dialogue about the Milan region

Practicing a Polycentric (Post) Metropolis’ is the eighth booklet published as part of the AESOP Young Academics ‘Conversation in Planning Theory and Practice’ project whose aim is learning through conversations across generations of planners. This booklet has been conceived as a reflection grounded on the practice of planning in the context of the Milan Urban Region. The dialogue merges the vivid experience of Alessandro Balducci (Politecnico di Milano) with the sharp questions of Mario Paris (Politecnico di Milano) discussing the phenomenology of post-metropolis and the governance of polycentric urbanized territories in Lombardy. The extensive interview that is discussed in this booklet - and the reflections built around it - give the reader many insights concerned with an open and plural planning approach in processes of regional urbanization.

This booklet sets aside the task of defining contemporary cities and drawing on recent literature (Ch. 1), the cultural context and existing approaches to European cities are explored with a focus on the descriptions of urbanized territories that effectively move beyond the consolidated antitheses (Ch. 2). The booklet then concentrates on the polycentric pattern of urban regions, exploring alternative forms of centrality and the specific urbanity that marks these environments (Ch. 3). On this basis, authors propose a specific study of a set of spaces, defined as Clusters of Central Functions (CCFs), and their multi-dimensional impacts in the Lombardy Region (Ch. 4). In the conclusions (Ch. 5), the discussion moves to the governance of polycentric urbanized territories and the implications of alternative forms of centrality for public agendas.