Under the guidance of Toshiko Mori and Domus, Harvard's plans for the “new” Perugia

Thanks to the work of students from Harvard's Graduate School of Design, led by architect Toshiko Mori — who was guest editor of Domus alongside Steven Holl in 2023 — the city of Perugia has become an international urban laboratory. After a week of exploration and meetings, the Advanced Architecture Studio group concluded the field research phase dedicated to the Perugia in Cross Roads project, which aims to rethink the city based on its spatial and social connections. This project emerged from a meeting between the Municipality of Perugia, Mori, and Domus, fostering collaboration between the administration and Harvard. The US students, who had the opportunity to carry out site visits and meet representatives of local associations and students from the University of Studies and University for Foreigners of Perugia, worked on regeneration proposals for the area between Montegrillo and Montemorcino, passing through the strategic urban and environmental development area of Parco dei Rimbocchi, as identified by the Municipality.

“Here, we address the issue of the relationship between a compact centre and the many inhabited areas that comprise it, each with its own identity that should be enhanced,” said Toshiko Mori. ‘The real issue is how to create connections based on sharing and collaboration, and how to work with the spaces between micro-cities to allow the population to express themselves. This approach could be used as a model in other areas.’ For Mayor Vittoria Ferdinandi, ‘what Mori, Harvard and Domus are offering the city is a gift’ as well as a new opportunity for collective imagination. Domus editorial director Walter Mariotti shares this idea, expressing the magazine's pride in ‘having contributed to the creation of a project of such high cultural and educational value’, which he says confirms Domus' role as ‘not only a point of reference in journalistic reflection and criticism, but also a facilitator of strategic relationships and projects between organisations, institutions and universities’. The results of this combined approach to territorial analysis, architectural vision and landscape design will be presented in December and published in the final issue of Domus for the year.