UniverCity: the relation among urban systems and university settlements

The study of University settlements is not a new issue but urban planners and designers rarely faced this theme deeply. Considering the huge literature regarding all urban themes, from the greatest to the minor, this fact could sound strange. Maybe it is related to opportunistic behavior to face the problem only when it is necessary to solve it. The choice of the structure of a University settlement should derive from a careful analysis of the existing possible alternatives. However, usually, it happens that a Municipality and a University have a precise idea of the dimension of spaces they need, but they have a vague idea about which kind of relation they want to create among citizens and: students, professors and researchers. Settlement models help to govern this specific relation. The following passage is the design of the shape of spaces, the definition of interactions among open, covered and inner spaces, the relations among public and private spaces.