Ricerc@Sapienza

This paper discusses the relationship between the various concepts of territorial descriptions and the different policy approaches to the concept of metropolitan areas. The aim is to show that we need a radical rethinking of the theory and methods of analysis of the urban phenomenon, in order to make them functional to the necessities of new concepts for a new urbanization and development. The paper is divided into three parts. First, I focus on the constituent characters of the concept of metropolitan area, showing the relations between these, the characteristics of capitalism and the inspiring approach of the development policies in that period; subsequently, I discuss the set of changes that have made the concepts of cities and metropolises too far apart from the spatial pattern of urbanization, making necessary not only technical and methodological adjustments but an overall rethinking of the scientific approach that produced them. The contribution ends by recalling some new theoretical perspectives, discussing the mainstream urban theory and calling for a substantial rethinking of the categories of interpretation of urbanization, with inevitable consequences on the concept and methods of identification of metropolitan government spaces.