Urban planning and amninistration in a provincial city in the early 20 th century

Between the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, the urban plan of a number of European cities underwent major transformations. The birth and proliferation of innovative industrial enterprises caused the previous socioeconomic structure generated by an agricultural economy to evolve. In the space of just a few years, factories, housing for workers and numerous public and private buildings for the new society were built. For the first time, the evolution and expansion of cities were planned on paper before implementation. The projects drawn up by the planners were no longer on individual building scale, but covered large areas, to the point of considering the evolutions in terms of the entire local authority area. The road network in the existing city was amplified and new buildings were built, often demolishing part of the historic town. New single-function districts were added alongside the consolidated nucleus. During this period, a series of analytical, design and regulatory tools were developed to allow cities to be developed congruently. We therefore felt it would be interesting to follow the transformation of Rovereto (Trentino) where, in just under 15 years, the presence of a large number of troops and the introduction of industrial activities created a modern rational urban aggregation in place of the previous small-town dimension.