A. Papers in progress

1. A. G. Calafati, P. Veneri "Re-defining the Boundaries of Major Italian Cities", UPM-Department of Economics, Working Papers, n. 342, June 2010.

Abstract and Download (pdf 208 KB)

This paper puts forward and corroborates the thesis that the current legal boundaries of Italian major cities ought to be expanded to make them coincide with the cities de facto that have emerged as a consequence of the peculiar Italian teritorial revolution of the past decades - characterised by widespread processes of 'territorial coalescence.

B. Research Projects

1. Structure and Perforances in Third Italy's Cities

This is an on-going interdisciplinary research project on the relationship between "structures" and long-term "performances" of cities, focusing specifically on Central Italy. The research group aims at building a meta-model to be used to identify development scenarios for the cities of Central Italy - most of them small and medium-sized ones and amidst a difficult social and economic transition

Th first research results have been summarised in a book which is in print (see Summary - but in Italian)

(Research Project funded by MIUR)

2. Urban Identity and Economic Development in the Marche Region

(Research Project funded by Fondazione Cariverona and Università Politecnica delle Marche

2. A. G. Calafati (in collaboration with F. Chelli and P.Veneri), The Territorial Units of the Urban Audit Data Set: An Empirical Exploration

In the Urban Audit data set the European urban system is conceptualised in terms of 'cities' (cities de jure) and 'larger urban zones'. Both 'cities' and 'larger urban zones' are defined nationally. The paper explores the implkication for a comparative analysis of this way of conceptualise the European urban system.

3. A.G. Calafati, On Territorial Capital

The paper is an exploration of the conceptual foundations of the category of 'territorial capital'. The paper attempts to establish a link between this category and the traditional 'theory of capital'.

4. A.G. Calafati, Cities in the European Policy Framework

This paper focuses on the changing role of cities in the EU's policy framework sinche the publication of the European Commission 's communication Towards and Urban Agenda in the European Union - and on the implications of the paradigm of 'territorial competition' for the long-term economic development of European cities.

5. A. G. Calafati, Urban and Regional Development in Eastern Germany after the Reunification

This research project focuses on the strucutural changes that have taken place in Eastern Germany's cities after the political-administrative re-unification of 1989-1991. The central why-question is what kind of development potential is associated to the current socio-economic structure of Eastern Germany's cities