The building, the city and the public dimension

Abstract

The critical review of modern architectu re's city arisen at sixties and seventies resulted in a recovery of some characteristic subjects of traditional models and established a new historical dimension. Within this context, the role of the public building has became one of the key in the city's conception and operation. Th e reflections on its role to articulate urban structure , its ability to characterize the public space, or its symbolic function due to the change of the classical language by the modern abstraction, therefore, have defined a the oretical corpus which has served to the practice in the definition of urban areas with higher civic and collective content. After a enough historical distance, from a critical review of this debate as well as a study and comparison of paradigmatic cases, t he article's aim is to deduce some guidelines and tools to act in the contemporary city.