Variazioni sul tema del 'possibile' a partire da rischio, emergenza ambientale e pianificazione / Variation on the theme of 'possibility' related to risk, environmental emergency and planning

This reflection catches the explicit reference to the word ‘possible’ – to the concept of ‘possibility’ – of three pavilions of the xiii Biennale of Architecture of Venice: those of Japan, Denmark and Italy. The concept can be used to talk about the International Expo which will be held in Milan in 2015, at the centre of a wide critical debate already. The main issue at stake is the environmental one, and a critical approach to the role of environmental question within planning theories and practices frames the argumentation. It is related to specific questions such as environmental risk and emergence, including that of food, which is also the topic of the Milan Expo, whose title in fact is “Feeding the World”. The starting point of this contribution is the perception of some sort of ‘incommensurability’ between urban and territorial problems, and the solutions which are foreseen and presented, questioning about the origin and meaning of this incommensurability. In particular we wonder: which is the nature of this incommensurability, where does it reside? Does it has to do with the scale used to foreseen the solutions (commonly the local scale), while most (if not all) of the problems have a transnational/global dimension? In this sense, can it be considered as a lack of proportion or balance between problems and solutions, or much more on the way in which they both are presented, and their discourses constructed? Can it be considered as a ‘scalar trap’? The choice of focusing on local communities and ‘common goods’ can be actually a way of threatening the problems highlighted? The word ‘possible’ represent a particular key to inquiring these questions; moreover, from this reflection, something about the meaning and sense of the recourse to the word ‘possible’ can be pointed out.