Architecture as a reproduction of social and spatial relations: a conceptual framework for the post-pandemic city

In The Origins of Modern Town Planning (1967), Leonardo Benevolo introduced his thesis, by which an overall social reform should take place simultaneously with an urban and architectural reform. A post-pandemic condition conceived as a post-modern instance, indeed addresses the need for a “reformation” of the conditions of the society and its material existence represented through the city and its architecture. Such a reformation, conceptually and visually aims to the structuring of a “new normality”: a reality imposed in our everyday life and culture in the last decades and just recently came to be recognized as the ultimate condition of politico-economic and socio-cultural reorganization, therefore, spatial and formal recreation. The aim of this work is to discuss the function of architecture and city planning within current changing conditions of the society. A fundamental premise, is the rendering of architecture itself as reproduction or innovation of the society’s existing physical space: the city. In this context, we will analyse the social relations within the new urban conditions (post-pandemic reality) and the individual’s relation to her/his spatial (thus, architectural) dimension. The relation between the social and the urb-architectural is never excluded by current world events, and as such is impacted by political, economic and cultural forces. Therefore, this work will propose a theoretical framework by which we can apprehend how the practice of architecture and city planning is in constant interplay with other power forces, contributing to a wider discussion on postmodern culture (Jameson, 1991). In so doing, we will address possible scenarios and new approaches towards the future of the city, by questioning the formal and spatial modalities of architecture and city planning, as determinant factors which recreate the social relations.