The city-territory: large-scale planning and development policies in the aftermath of the Belice valley earthquake (Sicily, 1968)

This article examines a particular case of post-disaster planning: the 'city-territory' of the Belice Valley. As a consequence of an earthquake which devastated a depressed rural area of western Sicily in 1968, town planners, supported by special post-disaster legislation, undertook a planning experiment aimed at redeveloping the disaster area and promoting its social and economic transformation. The Belice Valley plan became an experiment in socio-economic engineering, and the idea of combining reconstruction and development was associated with a particular spatial layout: the 'city-territory'. Based on archival research, this work examines this planning idea, its roots and its outcome. I will argue that, despite its peculiarities, the 'city-territory' idea was deeply rooted in the Italian and international culture and practices of the day, which were particularly favourable for large-scale planning and development policies. I will also demonstrate that the attempt to realize this plan for a 'city-territory' was hindered by a radically transformed context and by a general crisis of industrial development policies. This case study, therefore, attempts to shed light on a key issue of 1960s and 1970s international planning culture and practice, and illustrates some of the reasons for its partial failure.