City morphologies

between the ideal and the real

Abstract

Giulio Carlo Argan’s concern with the ideal city surprises those who are accustomed to thinking about the urban dynamics of the modern city. This is due to the fact that he understood the importance of the ideal scheme in the visual conception of the city. In this sense, based on Argan’s work, we aim to understand the role of the ideal, both in the morphology and transformation of cities, and in correspondences with the notion of typology and, therefore, with the thought of the beaux arts. In addition, we aim to compare the bibliography, first to follow his steps and argue that the ideal scheme always accompanies the real city, even admitting its sensitive possibility, a trait that brings us closer to the study of Poetics. Secondly, to complexify some of the notions already mentioned and seek their historical meanings, decomposing concepts implicit in the author’s argument. Finally, to problematize the notion of city at the end of the 20th century, and thus expose the relationship between it and its ideal scheme, in order to question its relationship with history. In general terms, the relevance of this article relies on elements that are being worked on in ongoing research, which affect the construction of theoretical architectural thought.