Rossi, Maddalena; Zetti, Iacopo (2019). La città di John Ruskin. Dalla descrizione del paesaggio di Dio alla natura morale degli uomini. RESTAURO ARCHEOLOGICO, Anno XXVII special issue/2019, pp. 142-147.
How relevant is John Ruskin’s thinking to city designers today? This paper explores his vision of the city as a social construct, revealing surprising links with the challenges of modern urban planning.
Moving away from traditional academic analysis, the article presents an original interpretation of Ruskin based on three key principles: the harmony between built and natural environments, where architecture is an expression of eternal plaws; a critique of pure rationalism as the sole driver of human evolution; and the concept of the city as a ‘coral work’ — a collaborative endeavour and a prerequisite for communal well-being. Rather than being a biography, this study is a theoretical ‘toolbox’ for planners, offering a fertile reinterpretation of Ruskin’s legacy to bring beauty and community back into the urban debate.