prof.lauramontedoro

Education

She graduated at the Polytechnic of Milan in 1995 and obtained a Master in History of Art at the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy of the University of Genova (1995-1998). From 1998 to 2004 she worked on a research fellowship (on "Project and history of the metropolis", lecturer in charge Giancarlo Consonni) and since 2004 she is a permanent Researcher in Urban Design. In 1997 she dealt with strategic issues and localization choices in wider area contexts, as a consultant researcher for Centro Studi PIM (Metropolitan Area Inter-municipal Planning), contributing to the implementation of various reports including the one on Localisation framework, innovation and development issues of services to the citizens in Milan and the municipalities of the belt and System of services to citizens in the Province of Milan.

In the same period, she took part in seminars and international research and specialisation courses on the theme of urban history, landscape architecture history and history of contemporary art (Palladio Institute in Vicenza, International University of Art in Florence, Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Benetton Foundation – Research and Studies, Domus Academy).

The structure of her training process, with a number of forays in various fields of research, mirrors her persuasion that urban and architectural design is fed by the complexity of an incessant relation with the exploration of other disciplines.

Research

Urban design and landscape architecture are the themes of her research activities, branching out in four main areas of interest:

· a critical approach to the history of the twentieth century as to the ideas and practice of a few prominent figures of Italian Rationalism

(with her studies on Mario Pucci and with the essays: Lingeri, Terragni e Bottoni in corso Sempione a Milano. Due interpretazioni del rapporto casa-città. 1933-36, 1953-58, Ronca, Cremona 2004, and Inattualità di Edoardo Persico, Rebecchi Ceccarelli, Modena 2004).

The complete register of the drawings by Mario Pucci kept at Piero Bottoni Archives is currently being published and a monographic volume on his works is in preparation.

· the analysis of significant experiences of the period after the second world war in the field of urban planning, with particular reference to the suburbs of the fordist city

This is the area concerned by her research on Piero Bottoni e l'Ina-casa a Brescia: un dialogo con la storia e con il paesaggio (Piero Bottoni and Ina-casa in Brescia: a dialogue with history and woth the landscape), in La grande ricostruzione. Il piano Ina-Casa e l’Italia degli anni ’50 (edited by Paola Di Biagi, Donzelli, Roma 2001); the initiative La città razionalista. Urbanistica e architettura a Modena 1931-1965. Quattro incontri, una mostra, un itinerario (The rationalist city. Urban planning and architecture in Modena 1931-1965. Four meetings, an exhibition, an itinerary), Modena, May-June 2003, conceived and organised with Andrea Costa, with the volume La città razionalista: modelli e frammenti (Rfm Panini, Modena 2004).

A study on urban development in the city of Bari in the twentieth century is currently under way.

· the elaboration of a few contemporary experiences of urban planning

She is currently coordinating the research La cultura come motore delle trasformazioni urbane. Progetti europei a confronto (Culture as the driver of urban transformation. Comparing European projects), a comparative study of urban regeneration phenomena induced by cultural policies. She has also dealt with the exploration of culture and history of the public space in the Iberian area, in particular with the drawing of an atlas of Esperienze significative di disegno urbano in Spagna, 1976-2006 (Significant experiences of urban design in Spain, 1976-2006) and the investigation on settlement trends in contemporary Portugal, studying and editing Nuno Portas works in Italian.

· commenting about the opportunity to "make the city" in today's metropolitan contexts

Within the theoretical research aimed at investigating the modes and reasons of settlement trends in relation with economic and social changes, she devotes attention to a few specific critical elements of urban life, editing the volume Lo spazio pubblico nell’età dell’iPod (Public space in the iPod era), a collection of essays exploring some crucial issues of the management of transformation in the city and in the territory.

Lecturing activities

Since 2005 she is in charge of the III year Laboratory of Urban Planning and lectures on Landscape at the biennium of the Master of Arts at the faculty of Civil Architecture.

She has been co-supervisor of numerous dissertations on the theme of Urban Planning for the recovery of large disused industrial areas (Areas of the former Cemsa Isotta Fraschini in Saronno, Falck areas in Sesto San Giovanni).

In the framework of her lecturing activity she promoted several meetings, conferences and seminars with particular reference to documentary films as a tool for site knowledge and to the relation between architecture and the cinema.

Active already since 1995 as honorary fellow in the Laboratory of Urban Planning, from 1998 to 2004 she was a temporary lecturer at the Faculty of Civil Architecture and at the Faculty of Architecture and Society of Milan (History of Urban Planning; Environmental reclamation and revitalisation, urban and territorial; Representation of the territory and of the environment; Landscape architecture; Urban planning).

Since 1990 she holds conferences and lectures at Università Popolare, for the Municipality of Milan, for the Centro per l'Architettura of the city of Milan, for the Foundation of the Register of Architects, for Italia Nostra association.

Published works

· L. Montedoro, Apocalittici o disintegrati? Metamorfosi della città contemporanea, in «L’ErbaMusica», n. 48, year 13, June 2004 – January 2005 , pp. 130-141.

· L. Montedoro, Bibliografia sul QT8, in Le case nella Triennale. Dal Parco al QT8, edited by G. L. Ciagà e G. Tonon, Electa, Milano 2005, pp. 168-178.

Currently being published

· L. Montedoro, Diritto al cielo: l’edificio alto e la città nella ricerca di Piero Bottoni, in L’edificio Alto, edited by G. Leoni e A. Trentin, Federico Motta Editore, Milano 2008.

· L. Montedoro (edited by), Lo spazio pubblico nell’età dell’iPod, Bruno Mondadori Editore, Milano.

· N. Portas, Scritti sulla città. Scritti sulle città, edited by L. Montedoro, Milano 2008.