Maurizio Carta's 'Sette lezioni di rigenerazione urbana' rethinks urban planning

Urban planner Maurizio Carta, professor at the University of Palermo and director of the Augmented City Lab, has published 'Sette lezioni di rigenerazione urbana' with LetteraVentidue. The 617-page book, out at the end of June 2025, proposes a shift from conformative to performative urban planning, coining the term 'urbanogenesis.' Carta defines urban regeneration as a 'biopolitical act' rooted in biological metaphors from the 1990s, rejecting value extraction and rent. The book targets a broad audience, including non-specialists, and draws on European and Italian case studies. Carta critiques Milan as a 'repelling magnet'—a laboratory that attracts but also repels students and workers, highlighting gentrification risks. He advocates abandoning traditional masterplans in favor of performative, incremental, and adaptive planning tools. Art and culture are deemed crucial but must move from participation to co-responsibility in governance. Palermo is not examined in the book, but Carta notes the city's focus on its 23 km coastline, with €80 million allocated for the southern coast cleanup and participation in Reinventing Cities for a former chemical plant. Palermo's appeal to digital nomads also shapes its regeneration strategy.