Flexibility in City Planning: A Theoretical Approach

After approximately fifteen years of observation and research on the topic of flexibility applied to urban studies and urban planning, the paper focuses on a synthesis of the arguments developed.This text is not intended as an invitation to embrace flexibility either as a paradigmatic assumption or as a guiding principle for actions on the city. Rather, it should be regarded - more modestly - as a synthetic outcome of several lines of work the author pursued across three distinct experiences: (i) as a researcher, (ii) as a scientific consultant for public administrations in the preparation of planning documents, and (iii) as a local administrator.These three domains of activity have shaped the production (as author and co-author) of contributions belonging to three main categories: (a) scientific publications—articles in international and national journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings at both international and national level; (b) proposals for urban plans and environmental assessments at the municipal scale; (c) administrative acts with direct effects on land-use regulations and/or public utility.The approach to flexibility presented here unfolds across three domains: A) the study of the city as a mutable and adaptive object. B) the urban plan as a tool of governance, assumed as an open instrument. C) a holistic approach to planning.