1934-2014

The death of the Milanese architect Bernardo Secchi has left a void in the field of urban theory. Chair professor at the Istituto Universitario de Architettura di Venezia (IUAV) and dean of the Faculty of Architecture between 1972 and 1982 at the Politecnico di Milano, Secchi developed a long career as urban planner – associated since 1990 with Paola Viganò –, with projects for cities like Milan (1963), Trento (1966), Madrid (1984) or collaborating as consultant in the Grand Paris, Great Brussels or Great Moscow plans. Secchi’s influence was also very significant in the academic field and as a writer, starting from a formalist and analytical approach typical of the Italian school of the 1980s – spread mainly through the magazine Casabella, which featured his articles regularly –, to which he would add sociological and qualitative aspects. The result were eleven books, among which La città dei ricchi e la città dei poveri (2013), in which Secchi argued that the battle against social inequality as reflected in the spatially unfair structure of the city must be a determining factor in any urban project.