Pirelli and the City of the Future
The Debate on Urban Development in the Pages of Pirelli Magazine and the Programmes of the Pirelli Cultural Centre
Pirelli, the City, a Vision. The second episode of our story exploring the bond between Pirelli and the city focuses on the debate surrounding urban development, which in the 1950s and 1960s saw the company promote key moments of research, discussion and cultural dissemination.
We begin with Pirelli magazine, a major literary phenomenon that came out on newsstands from November 1948 to April 1972, almost once a month. With contributions from leading writers and journalists of the time, and images by the most famous illustrators and photographers, the magazine played a vital role in the international cultural debate, embracing the humanistic, technical-scientific and social spheres. It chronicled the sweeping economic and social transformations of the period with analyses and reports on cutting-edge themes. From 1953 onwards, these also included the city and its development model, which were looked at from a multidisciplinary perspective, ranging from architecture and urban planning through to sociology.
Notably, the article “Come sarà Milano?” (What will Milan be like?), which was published in the first issue of Pirelli magazine in 1953, was the first of a series of monographs on eight Italian cities. The focus was always on planning for the future—reshaping the urban landscape to accommodate the profound transformations brought about by urbanisation in those years. Industrialisation was a key driver of these changes, with the construction of new factories, the expansion of infrastructure, and the creation of modern residential neighbourhoods.
It looked at Milan, with its urban planning scheme, its business centre, and Metro project—in other words, the new face of the city. The article by Vincenzo Buonassisi, Simonetta De Benedetti and Giuseppe Forcellini appears in the contents page of the magazine as “the first comprehensive and systematic investigation on the subject”. It devoted ten pages to the urban planning scheme, with in-depth technical analyses and striking illustrations and graphic representations. A journalistic piece of great interest, it reaffirmed Pirelli’s role as a pioneering voice in the debate on the city of the future.
After Milan, the magazine went on to explore Genoa (“Come sarà Genova” – “What Genoa will be like”, 1955, no. 1), Rome (“Come sarà Roma”, 1956, no. 1), Turin (“Come sarà Torino”, 1956, no. 4), Naples (“Come sarà Napoli”, 1957, no. 4), Catania (“Come sarà Catania”, 1958, no. 3), Brescia (“Come sarà Brescia”, 1959, no. 2) and Florence (“Come sarà Firenze”, 1959, no. 6). These articles start out from the urban planning schemes and the commissions of technicians and administrators set up in those years, in order to paint a picture of the cities as they were to become. It is surprising to see how these descriptions—or projections—match the cities as we see them today. After all, it was in the 1950s that the foundations for the development of modern cities were laid.
Pirelli’s interest in the city and its models is also clear to see in some of the articles that dealt with the hot topics of those years: infrastructure (“Due aeroporti per Milano”, “Two Airports for Milan”, 1960. no. 2; “Il porto nella città”, “The Port in the City”, 1969, no. 4), schools (“La scuola nella città”, “School in the City”, 1964, no. 5), and pollution (“Di città si muore”, “Cities as a Cause of Death”, 1969, no. 11). The magazine’s editorial team maintained a constant focus on debates, experimental projects and avant-garde ideas, as we see in articles such as “Quindici nuove città” (“Fifteen New Cities”, 1962, no. 1) and “Modello per la nuova città” (“Model for the New City”, 1970, no. 5). 5).
In the following years, the debate on the city also took centre stage in the programmes of the Pirelli Cultural Centre, founded in 1947 “to increase workers’ interest in culture”. Initially hosted at the Ritrovo premises in the first factory in Via Ponte Seveso—one of the few buildings to survive the 1943 bombings—the Centre moved in the 1970s to Piazza Duca d’Aosta, inside the Pirelli Tower. As the Pirelli magazine article “Come il pane” put it, “A new and quite original formula offers the means for employees to take part in the liveliest and most vital expressions of knowledge whenever they feel the desire to do so.”
In the early 1970s, the Cultural Centre organised debates on urban planning, with in-depth analyses of sport and leisure (“Olimpiade, progettazione urbanistica e tempo libero”, “Olympics, Urban Planning and Free Time”, 20 December 1971), urban greenery (“Più verde per Milano”, “More Green for Milan”, 23 March 1972) and smog (“Smog a Milano, il punto della situazione”, “Smog in Milan, the Situation Today”, 17 January 1972), featuring prominent guests and speakers, including the mayor of Milan.
To conclude this look at Pirelli and its special bond with, and vision of, the city, we would like to point to an article by Roberto Guiducci, an urban planner, sociologist and engineer, as well as a frequent contributor to Rivista Pirelli on urban planning topics, entitled “Il valore della città” (“The Value of the City”, 1967, no. 6), with stunning photographs by Giulia Ferlito and Carlo Orsi. This realistic and pragmatic piece does not shy away from pointing out the city’s most critical issues but it ultimately conveys a sense of fascination. It ends with a quote from Aristotle: “Men come together in cities in order to live, but they remain together in order to live the good life.”
The Debate on Urban Development in the Pages of Pirelli Magazine and the Programmes of the Pirelli Cultural Centre
Pirelli, the City, a Vision. The second episode of our story exploring the bond between Pirelli and the city focuses on the debate surrounding urban development, which in the 1950s and 1960s saw the company promote key moments of research, discussion and cultural dissemination.
We begin with Pirelli magazine, a major literary phenomenon that came out on newsstands from November 1948 to April 1972, almost once a month. With contributions from leading writers and journalists of the time, and images by the most famous illustrators and photographers, the magazine played a vital role in the international cultural debate, embracing the humanistic, technical-scientific and social spheres. It chronicled the sweeping economic and social transformations of the period with analyses and reports on cutting-edge themes. From 1953 onwards, these also included the city and its development model, which were looked at from a multidisciplinary perspective, ranging from architecture and urban planning through to sociology.
Notably, the article “Come sarà Milano?” (What will Milan be like?), which was published in the first issue of Pirelli magazine in 1953, was the first of a series of monographs on eight Italian cities. The focus was always on planning for the future—reshaping the urban landscape to accommodate the profound transformations brought about by urbanisation in those years. Industrialisation was a key driver of these changes, with the construction of new factories, the expansion of infrastructure, and the creation of modern residential neighbourhoods.
It looked at Milan, with its urban planning scheme, its business centre, and Metro project—in other words, the new face of the city. The article by Vincenzo Buonassisi, Simonetta De Benedetti and Giuseppe Forcellini appears in the contents page of the magazine as “the first comprehensive and systematic investigation on the subject”. It devoted ten pages to the urban planning scheme, with in-depth technical analyses and striking illustrations and graphic representations. A journalistic piece of great interest, it reaffirmed Pirelli’s role as a pioneering voice in the debate on the city of the future.
After Milan, the magazine went on to explore Genoa (“Come sarà Genova” – “What Genoa will be like”, 1955, no. 1), Rome (“Come sarà Roma”, 1956, no. 1), Turin (“Come sarà Torino”, 1956, no. 4), Naples (“Come sarà Napoli”, 1957, no. 4), Catania (“Come sarà Catania”, 1958, no. 3), Brescia (“Come sarà Brescia”, 1959, no. 2) and Florence (“Come sarà Firenze”, 1959, no. 6). These articles start out from the urban planning schemes and the commissions of technicians and administrators set up in those years, in order to paint a picture of the cities as they were to become. It is surprising to see how these descriptions—or projections—match the cities as we see them today. After all, it was in the 1950s that the foundations for the development of modern cities were laid.
Pirelli’s interest in the city and its models is also clear to see in some of the articles that dealt with the hot topics of those years: infrastructure (“Due aeroporti per Milano”, “Two Airports for Milan”, 1960. no. 2; “Il porto nella città”, “The Port in the City”, 1969, no. 4), schools (“La scuola nella città”, “School in the City”, 1964, no. 5), and pollution (“Di città si muore”, “Cities as a Cause of Death”, 1969, no. 11). The magazine’s editorial team maintained a constant focus on debates, experimental projects and avant-garde ideas, as we see in articles such as “Quindici nuove città” (“Fifteen New Cities”, 1962, no. 1) and “Modello per la nuova città” (“Model for the New City”, 1970, no. 5). 5).
In the following years, the debate on the city also took centre stage in the programmes of the Pirelli Cultural Centre, founded in 1947 “to increase workers’ interest in culture”. Initially hosted at the Ritrovo premises in the first factory in Via Ponte Seveso—one of the few buildings to survive the 1943 bombings—the Centre moved in the 1970s to Piazza Duca d’Aosta, inside the Pirelli Tower. As the Pirelli magazine article “Come il pane” put it, “A new and quite original formula offers the means for employees to take part in the liveliest and most vital expressions of knowledge whenever they feel the desire to do so.”
In the early 1970s, the Cultural Centre organised debates on urban planning, with in-depth analyses of sport and leisure (“Olimpiade, progettazione urbanistica e tempo libero”, “Olympics, Urban Planning and Free Time”, 20 December 1971), urban greenery (“Più verde per Milano”, “More Green for Milan”, 23 March 1972) and smog (“Smog a Milano, il punto della situazione”, “Smog in Milan, the Situation Today”, 17 January 1972), featuring prominent guests and speakers, including the mayor of Milan.
To conclude this look at Pirelli and its special bond with, and vision of, the city, we would like to point to an article by Roberto Guiducci, an urban planner, sociologist and engineer, as well as a frequent contributor to Rivista Pirelli on urban planning topics, entitled “Il valore della città” (“The Value of the City”, 1967, no. 6), with stunning photographs by Giulia Ferlito and Carlo Orsi. This realistic and pragmatic piece does not shy away from pointing out the city’s most critical issues but it ultimately conveys a sense of fascination. It ends with a quote from Aristotle: “Men come together in cities in order to live, but they remain together in order to live the good life.”
