VITTORIO GREGOTTI: URBAN DESIGN BETWEEN CHINA AND ITALY

The book explores two emblematic urban interventions by the Italian master: Bicocca in Milan and Pujiang New Town in Shanghai. Through a critical reading of his theoretical approach and a comparison of projects developed in vastly different contexts and scales, the volume highlights how Gregotti addressed the challenge of urban cosmopolitanism at the beginning of the 21st century, seeking a balance between modernisation and cultural roots.
As part of the ambitious Chinese plan One City, Nine Towns (2001), Gregotti designed Pujiang, the “Italian town” for 100,000 inhabitants. Rejecting decorative stereotypes, he proposed a rigorous urban grid, enriched with canals and green walls, where Mediterranean identity interacts with Shanghai’s lilong and shikumen. The central east-west axis, only partially completed, stands as a testimony to a still-relevant but unfinished vision. In parallel, in Milan, Gregotti transformed the former industrial area of Bicocca into a residential and cultural hub. The recovery of the former Pirelli buildings is combined with new urban landmarks such as the Arcimboldi Theatre, anticipating the principles of the 15-minute city. Here, too, urban design is conceived as a connective fabric rather than an iconic spectacle.
The exhibition and the accompanying book offer an urgent reflection on the role of urban design between globalisation and identity. Through original drawings and models, an operational methodology emerges—one grounded in the critical interpretation of site-specific history.
Gregotti leaves us with both a warning and a lesson: architects need not strive for forced originality, but rather act upon anthropogeography, aware that it is the very physical form through which history manifests.