The future of Italy’s industrial economy, amid metropolises and large productive provinces
Does the future belong to metropolises, or even megalopolises? Or, rather, to old provincial towns, with their artistic treasures and peaceful settings? Or to the so-called “city-states” – powerful, rich, fast-paced, attracting talent and innovation? Or to networks made of medium-size cities, invigorated by interlinked industries, skills, and human relations more attuned to a good quality of life for all? These are the questions recurring in this end-of-summer public debate, also thanks to a pointed investigation by Corriere della Sera’s Paolo Coccorese on the future of Turin as we approach 2050 and thus also on its ties with Milan above all, but also with Genoa or Bologna, its surrounding valleys’ territories and the other Piedmontese provinces looking for a new identity and new prospectives now that Fiat’s industrial hegemony has come to an end.
Carlo Ratti contributes some food for thought. Strong of his Turin roots (his Italian architecture firm is actually based in Turin, on Corso Quintino Sella, in his grandfather’s ancient villa) and extensive international experience (a teaching post at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and a leading role at MIT’s Senseable City Lab, which researches the impact of digital technologies on architecture, design and urban space planning), his argument is that, “The future of Turin is Milan, the only global city in Italy. We need to push towards an integration of the two metropolitan hubs”, while also taking into consideration a post-industrial future and its connections with another first-rate metropolitan system, Bologna. Urban planners, sociologists, politicians, corporate and cultural figures are joining in on a discussion that, albeit inspiring, remains an open debate on tradition vs innovation that could also be expanded to address other metropolitan systems across Italy.
As such, we should take this opportunity to further explore some of the issues concerning the “urban question”. Avoiding, however, platitudes, small-mindedness, the nostalgia of “the good old days” (Guido Gozzano’s ironic comment – “good things in bad taste” – inevitably comes to mind when talking about Turin) and wishful thoughts about a tourism-focused future: Italian cities, though abundant in artistic and architectural treasures, won’t be able to survive on tourism and events only. And let’s not ignore the danger of so-called overtourism (selfie-obsessed, sandal-wearing crowds invading Venice and Florence, Milan and Rome, Naples and Turin…), as well as the ephemeral nature of “great events” that harm the environment and bring no tangible benefits in the long term.
What should we be looking forward to, then? In his latest book, Urbanità/Un viaggio in quattordici città per scoprire l’urbanistica (Urbanity/An exploration journey through the urban planning of fourteen cities, published by Einaudi), Ratti argues that “the universal urban” is composed by various fragments assembled together, and points out how diversity is indeed an extraordinary form of wealth – diverse cultures, vocations, attitudes, historical roots and a future-oriented attitude.
A much-needed review of the new geo-economic maps, then, calls for a redefinition of urban and metropolitan relationships based, for instance, on the ongoing integration of productive systems, meant in the broadest sense. This is rather obvious when thinking about the so-called “A1/A4 mega region”, so nicknamed for the two motorways it surrounds, extending from the Piedmont region to the north-east of Italy and including the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions, spanning over the dense network of industrial production chains (feeding the automotive, mechatronics and robotics, pharmaceutical, chemical, rubber, aerospace, shipbuilding, agri-food, furnishing, clothing industries and so on), as well as financial businesses (Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit, BPM, Generali and UnipolSai), universities, research, training and logistics centres, and a complex network of high-tech hubs.
It’s an economic map representing the entrepreneurial, cultural and social interconnections that will held up well against the new millennium’s crises and that have already met the challenges engendered by the so-called environmental and digital twin transition and the evolution of data-driven enterprises, in our controversial times marked by the incredibly fast spread of Artificial Intelligence. Indeed, this has already significantly contributed to the growth of Italy’s GDP, the best in Europe from 2022 to today.
Interrelated relations that highlight the bonds between great and prestigious academic institutions (universities and polytechnic universities in Turin and Milan) as well as those abounding with educational skills, dotted throughout the most dynamic provinces, from the north-west of Italy to the Emilia-Romagna region and the north-east. And they also emphasise social and cultural ties, existing within collaborations built on solidarity and competitiveness between their major actors, that is, banking foundations and public-sector structures and associations.
What are the main traits of this map? It illustrates the enduring relationships between metropolitan areas (Milan, Turin, Bologna, Genoa, Venice/Mestre/Padua/Treviso), medium-sized cities and productive provinces, and it also reveals what Aldo Bonomi, a sociologist attentive to urban evolutions, terms “the metamorphosis of medium-sized cities”, amid “neo-municipalism” and “network capitalism”, promoting trends for industrial growth that, over time and accelerated by the need for international competitiveness, have conquered their own space and credibility around the world.
Stefano Micelli has analysed unique phenomena such as the rapid evolution of enterprises in the north-east – high-quality crafts businesses that have been swiftly integrated within international supply chains and are now well-equipped to play a prominent role in the ongoing backshoring process, i.e. a return to placing industrial production close to the outlet markets, meaning the national and European markets. Businesses that are socially responsible and care for environmental and social sustainability, intended not as a “decorative frill” or a clever communication and marketing ruse, but as a genuine transformational process in manufacturing as well as a competitive asset (Symbola’s analyses and the presence of several Italian enterprises at the top of international sustainability indexes are concrete evidence of this).
What we’re talking about, then, is a map representing a unique European context, and if carefully taken into account it could assist national and local decision makers in defining new industrial and fiscal policies (aimed at stimulating innovative projects) and better choices related to the service industry, investments in infrastructures, and so on. This would result in clear and forward-looking decisions for the benefit of the country and of new generations – and as such their nature must necessarily widely differ from those corporate, populist and protectionist lures that, unfortunately, still take up too much room in public debate.
What should the future look like, then? “We need to expand the territories, think bigger in terms of economic, social and civic relationships,” concludes Beppe Sala, mayor of Milan. This is it – “expand the territories”, and ambitiously plan for the future, breaking free from insular constraints and the delusions of the “happy degrowth”. And more – projects should be adapted to better reap the benefits from the production and social boons clearly visible on this map.
The “MiToGeno” project, aimed at relaunching the north-west of Italy and promoted by entrepreneurial associations Unione Industriali di Torino (Industrial Union of Turin), Assolombarda and Confindustria Genova (as mentioned in our blog from 1 August) is a case in point, just as the commitment shown by the Centro Studi Grande Milano is – an association focused on forging close relationships with the mayors of Genoa, Bergamo, Turin, Brescia and, soon, with those of cities in the Emilia-Romagna region and the north-east of Italy. An attempt to strengthen the relationships between public and private sectors that would bring fresh meaning to the words that great historian Carlo M. Cipolla used to describe the positive outlook of Italian makers, their will “to produce beautiful things that the world likes in the shadow of bell towers.”
(photo Getty Images)
Does the future belong to metropolises, or even megalopolises? Or, rather, to old provincial towns, with their artistic treasures and peaceful settings? Or to the so-called “city-states” – powerful, rich, fast-paced, attracting talent and innovation? Or to networks made of medium-size cities, invigorated by interlinked industries, skills, and human relations more attuned to a good quality of life for all? These are the questions recurring in this end-of-summer public debate, also thanks to a pointed investigation by Corriere della Sera’s Paolo Coccorese on the future of Turin as we approach 2050 and thus also on its ties with Milan above all, but also with Genoa or Bologna, its surrounding valleys’ territories and the other Piedmontese provinces looking for a new identity and new prospectives now that Fiat’s industrial hegemony has come to an end.
Carlo Ratti contributes some food for thought. Strong of his Turin roots (his Italian architecture firm is actually based in Turin, on Corso Quintino Sella, in his grandfather’s ancient villa) and extensive international experience (a teaching post at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and a leading role at MIT’s Senseable City Lab, which researches the impact of digital technologies on architecture, design and urban space planning), his argument is that, “The future of Turin is Milan, the only global city in Italy. We need to push towards an integration of the two metropolitan hubs”, while also taking into consideration a post-industrial future and its connections with another first-rate metropolitan system, Bologna. Urban planners, sociologists, politicians, corporate and cultural figures are joining in on a discussion that, albeit inspiring, remains an open debate on tradition vs innovation that could also be expanded to address other metropolitan systems across Italy.
As such, we should take this opportunity to further explore some of the issues concerning the “urban question”. Avoiding, however, platitudes, small-mindedness, the nostalgia of “the good old days” (Guido Gozzano’s ironic comment – “good things in bad taste” – inevitably comes to mind when talking about Turin) and wishful thoughts about a tourism-focused future: Italian cities, though abundant in artistic and architectural treasures, won’t be able to survive on tourism and events only. And let’s not ignore the danger of so-called overtourism (selfie-obsessed, sandal-wearing crowds invading Venice and Florence, Milan and Rome, Naples and Turin…), as well as the ephemeral nature of “great events” that harm the environment and bring no tangible benefits in the long term.
What should we be looking forward to, then? In his latest book, Urbanità/Un viaggio in quattordici città per scoprire l’urbanistica (Urbanity/An exploration journey through the urban planning of fourteen cities, published by Einaudi), Ratti argues that “the universal urban” is composed by various fragments assembled together, and points out how diversity is indeed an extraordinary form of wealth – diverse cultures, vocations, attitudes, historical roots and a future-oriented attitude.
A much-needed review of the new geo-economic maps, then, calls for a redefinition of urban and metropolitan relationships based, for instance, on the ongoing integration of productive systems, meant in the broadest sense. This is rather obvious when thinking about the so-called “A1/A4 mega region”, so nicknamed for the two motorways it surrounds, extending from the Piedmont region to the north-east of Italy and including the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions, spanning over the dense network of industrial production chains (feeding the automotive, mechatronics and robotics, pharmaceutical, chemical, rubber, aerospace, shipbuilding, agri-food, furnishing, clothing industries and so on), as well as financial businesses (Intesa Sanpaolo, Unicredit, BPM, Generali and UnipolSai), universities, research, training and logistics centres, and a complex network of high-tech hubs.
It’s an economic map representing the entrepreneurial, cultural and social interconnections that will held up well against the new millennium’s crises and that have already met the challenges engendered by the so-called environmental and digital twin transition and the evolution of data-driven enterprises, in our controversial times marked by the incredibly fast spread of Artificial Intelligence. Indeed, this has already significantly contributed to the growth of Italy’s GDP, the best in Europe from 2022 to today.
Interrelated relations that highlight the bonds between great and prestigious academic institutions (universities and polytechnic universities in Turin and Milan) as well as those abounding with educational skills, dotted throughout the most dynamic provinces, from the north-west of Italy to the Emilia-Romagna region and the north-east. And they also emphasise social and cultural ties, existing within collaborations built on solidarity and competitiveness between their major actors, that is, banking foundations and public-sector structures and associations.
What are the main traits of this map? It illustrates the enduring relationships between metropolitan areas (Milan, Turin, Bologna, Genoa, Venice/Mestre/Padua/Treviso), medium-sized cities and productive provinces, and it also reveals what Aldo Bonomi, a sociologist attentive to urban evolutions, terms “the metamorphosis of medium-sized cities”, amid “neo-municipalism” and “network capitalism”, promoting trends for industrial growth that, over time and accelerated by the need for international competitiveness, have conquered their own space and credibility around the world.
Stefano Micelli has analysed unique phenomena such as the rapid evolution of enterprises in the north-east – high-quality crafts businesses that have been swiftly integrated within international supply chains and are now well-equipped to play a prominent role in the ongoing backshoring process, i.e. a return to placing industrial production close to the outlet markets, meaning the national and European markets. Businesses that are socially responsible and care for environmental and social sustainability, intended not as a “decorative frill” or a clever communication and marketing ruse, but as a genuine transformational process in manufacturing as well as a competitive asset (Symbola’s analyses and the presence of several Italian enterprises at the top of international sustainability indexes are concrete evidence of this).
What we’re talking about, then, is a map representing a unique European context, and if carefully taken into account it could assist national and local decision makers in defining new industrial and fiscal policies (aimed at stimulating innovative projects) and better choices related to the service industry, investments in infrastructures, and so on. This would result in clear and forward-looking decisions for the benefit of the country and of new generations – and as such their nature must necessarily widely differ from those corporate, populist and protectionist lures that, unfortunately, still take up too much room in public debate.
What should the future look like, then? “We need to expand the territories, think bigger in terms of economic, social and civic relationships,” concludes Beppe Sala, mayor of Milan. This is it – “expand the territories”, and ambitiously plan for the future, breaking free from insular constraints and the delusions of the “happy degrowth”. And more – projects should be adapted to better reap the benefits from the production and social boons clearly visible on this map.
The “MiToGeno” project, aimed at relaunching the north-west of Italy and promoted by entrepreneurial associations Unione Industriali di Torino (Industrial Union of Turin), Assolombarda and Confindustria Genova (as mentioned in our blog from 1 August) is a case in point, just as the commitment shown by the Centro Studi Grande Milano is – an association focused on forging close relationships with the mayors of Genoa, Bergamo, Turin, Brescia and, soon, with those of cities in the Emilia-Romagna region and the north-east of Italy. An attempt to strengthen the relationships between public and private sectors that would bring fresh meaning to the words that great historian Carlo M. Cipolla used to describe the positive outlook of Italian makers, their will “to produce beautiful things that the world likes in the shadow of bell towers.”
(photo Getty Images)