Generational equity in Italian urban-planning: urban standards

The paper recounts the evolution of Italian urban planning, starting from 1150/42 Act, which was restricted to the technical procedures to plan local public facilities. In order to achieve the above aim, three milestones are considered: the National Planning Act, the 765/67 Act and the Territorial Government Acts, approved by regions after the 3/2001 Constitutional Act. How does one measure the local public facilities in the General Municipal Plan (GMP)? Is the diversity of different needs of the various populations groups considered? The GMP views the population demand as a unicum, ignoring almost completely age, gender, religion and social differences. The local public facilities, also called Urban Standards, have been sized and allotted based on a hypothetical demand in the various Homogeneous Territorial Zones (HTZs). Is this a further limitation of rational-comprehensive urban planning? By a critical interpretation of the regional acts, approved after the year 2000, arise various different interpretations of Urban Standards: These range from the perspective of solely quantification to quality indicators needed to respond to the new land demand, expressed by a changed (socio-economic) morphology of the communities, defined over the past two decades. Could the performance standards make a contribution to solving the problem of the various population in anthropized territories? The paper will try to make a contribution, after a description of the current state of the art, to the disciplinary discussion.