Beyond the "zone": towards strategies for reterritorializing business sites

vendredi 20 octobre 2023
à 14:00
Soutenance de thèse de Federico Diodato
Università di Bologna

Federico Diodato (OCS/AUSser doctoral student) will present his doctoral thesis entitled "Productive land. Beyond the ‘zone’, towards strategies for reterritorializing business sites.” This thesis, prepared under the joint supervision of the University of Paris-Est and the University of Bologna, was carried out under the guidance of Sébastien Marot (HDR, OCS/AUSser) and Giovanni Leoni (Unibo), with co-supervision by Andrea Borsari (Unibo) and Éric Alonzo (OCS/AUSser).

Jury members
Giovanni Leoni, Professore ordinario, Università di Bologna, (thesis supervisor)
Sébastien Marot, Professeur des Écoles nationales supérieures d'architecture, Ensa de Paris-Est, (thesis supervisor)
Andrea Borsari, Professore ordinario, Università di Bologna, (thesis co-supervisor)
Éric Alonzo, Professeur des Écoles nationales supérieures d'architecture, Ensa de Paris-Est, (Thesis co-supervisor)
Daniela Poli, Professore ordinario, Università di Firenze, (examiner)
Laura Centemeri, Research Associate, CEMS-EHESS/CNRS, (examiner)
Rapporteurs
Lidia Decandia, Professore ordinario, Università di Sassari, (reviewer)
Federico Zanfi, Professore associato, Politecnico di Milano, (rapporteur)

Abstract
For 70 years, planning tools for areas dedicated to productive activities (industrial zones, economic activity zones, etc.) have produced spaces that are disconnected from the physical and social specificities of the territory and have contributed to reducing land to a production medium primarily subject to market logic. Today, we can see that these tools are not fit for purpose in terms of their objective: regional development. The aim of this thesis is to consider an alternative approach that would enable the development of planning tools capable of establishing a relationship that maintains and enhances regional resources.

Faced with the inadequate development of productive activities for the sustainable development of the territory, the thesis proposes to trace the genealogy of the “territorialist” approach, which aims to establish a synergistic relationship between production and territorial resources. An “eutopic” approach of returning to the territory which, by taking into account the inseparable link between social and environmental challenges, makes it possible, on the one hand, to reestablish a relationship with natural resources and respect their ecological cycles and rhythms, and, on the other hand, to identify elements of a response to the social crisis.

Following a critical introduction to the relationship between productive activities and territory, the argument is developed in four parts:

The first three parts take a genealogical approach and show how the concepts behind this approach have evolved and transformed, adapting to different contexts and answering the question of why and how these theoretical transfers came about. Finally, the fourth part of the thesis traces the influence and original development of this approach in France today: the aim of this last part is to open up strategies for envisaging a productive system capable of developing the territory over the long term.

Federico Diodato will soon be presenting his doctoral research at Ensa Paris-Est.