De commercii evolutione: dialoghi romani sui centri commerciali e sul futuro degli spazi pubblici

The presentation of the issue number 51 of Transporti & Cultura was held in Rome, after the doctoral seminar “Architecture as a hybrid container: public space in all-inclusive buildings” organized by Professor Alessandra Criconia within the PhD Program “Architecture Theories and Project”. The volume “Shopping centres, the new squares” offered some authors of the issue and guests invited for the occasion, the opportunity to discuss a very topical issue, to which multiple dynamics and problems of the contemporary city are connected. The seminar was attended by Orazio Carpenzano, Alessandra Criconia, Laura Facchinelli, Luca Tamini, Massimo Ilardi, Emiliano Ilardi, Carlo Cellamare, Marco Falsetti, Giusi Ciotoli and Alessandro Lanzetta at the Faculty of Architecture of Rome Sapienza in Fontanella Borghese. In spite of its great centrality within society today the theme of the shopping centre has not been – with few exceptions – continuously investigated by scientific literature. In this sense, issue 51 of the magazine and the Roman meeting mark an important step in understanding a phenomenon that is still evolving, which has profoundly changed the way of experiencing the city and the businesses that take place in it.