Rossi’s concept of the locus as a political category of the city

Abstract

In the 1960s, for Aldo Rossi the construction of an alternative to the capitalist city and the proposal of an autonomous architectural culture meant, above all, the constitution of a theory of the city. In the 1950s Italian architecture had been mainly a matter of increasing professionalismo (literally, professionalism). It was an attempt to link a still artisanal dimension of design and building techniques with the urgent demands of modernization created by the rapid advance of postwar capitalist development. In the 1960s, however, with the reemergence of political struggles and new social conflicts, the necessity appeared in all disciplines, including within the internal discourse of architecture and urbanism, to find a way toward cultural and conceptual renewal. Instead of simply advancing in tandem with the further modernization of architecture and the city, the need for a theoretical refoundation of architecture in relation to the city became apparent.