Il giro del giorno in ottanta mondi. Sfide della pianificazione nella cooperazione e nei Paesi emergenti

Playing with the title of Almanacs of Cortazar (“Around the day in eighty worlds”), the paper is an opportunity to try to identify and underline a number of issues and challenges that involve the urban and regional planning in the contexts of international cooperation and in the emerging regions. In fact, it is clear that it is mostly of a diverse set of experiences from which we didn't learn too much so far: both concerning the enhancement of the actions in the international arena, and in the orientation of the Italian universities' educational offers, even if they are largely present and active in the international scene. In this framework, the reflections elaborated by some international experiences, propose some ideas: on the one hand, emphasizing the crucial role of planning in this type of contexts, and, on the other, trying to clarify in what ways it is possible to act to do better. After an excursus on the ways to look at the variety of the contexts of the co-operation initiatives from all around the world, the paper focuses on a number of dimensions considered relevant at this stage for the Italian schools of planning. In particular, the emphasis is on actions in the areas of planning of the Italian Universities for the development cooperation and/or in favor of the emerging Regions, recalling the opportunity of a) engaging with the community of practices, b) introducing a more critical approach to the theories of planning and a simultaneous attention to training c) developing the research agenda informed of the work from the international context. Finally, it is suggested to try to redefine the goals of development (taking more seriously, for example, those of the Millennium) and, also with clear purposes and directions of relations with emerging countries. At the same time, it is a priority also a profound rethinking of the way of capacity building and the various subjects involved in international projects. Here the Universities seem to be more reliable of the NGOs and the International Agencies, and, for this reason, it is considered very useful to open more and more space for discussion and debate on these challenges for planning and planners.

Lle esperienze e le conoscenze messe in gioco nelle attività di pianificazione urbana e territoriale all’interno delle iniziative internazionali – sia nelle aree della cooperazione sia nei Paesi emergenti – non rispondono a un solo genere. La numerosità e varietà delle iniziative, molto spesso sostenute, guidate o accompagnate dalle Università italiane, però, se da un lato conferma la ricchezza e il valore di queste esperienze per la ricerca e la formazione dei soggetti coinvolti, dall’altro non sembra facilitare l’accumulazione di conoscenze esperte, né, tanto meno, tradursi in una qualche formulazione di un’offerta didattica degli Atenei capace di interloquire con una domanda di profili professionali con competenze appropriate al lavoro in questo ambito. Oggi, in un contesto di globalizzazione, occorre guardare ai cosiddetti Paesi della cooperazione o emergenti, in modo appropriato ai tempi e alle sfide che attendono i planner delle Università italiane (e, forse, ancor più i formatori di planner) entro il generale allargamento dei confini delle nostre attività, ma, anche, dell’ambito di provenienza dei nostri studenti.