Planning Studies Centre
Home page
Aims and Activities

Versione italiana


Aims
Activities
Resources and contributions
Educational activities
Conferences and seminars
Reserach findings
Repertory of Planology and PSIS
Library
Publications
Organs



  AIMS

The Planning Studies Centre is a non-profit research institute, with a predominant orientation towards the promotion of research in the field of integrated, socio-economic and territorial planning.

It has the legal form of an Association, established by public action in 1965, (subject to articles 14-42 of the Italian Civil Code). Article 5 of its own statute prohibits the involvement of the Centre in any activity other than those for which it has been constituted, that is non-profit activities.

In pursuit of its fundamental goal: the development of the "Planning Sciences" or "Planology", the Planning Studies Centre has resolved (Article 2 of its statute):

01:: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"to establish means for scientific and cultural cooperation, in all its forms, between experts in economic, social, and territorial studies, in order to promote theoretic and methodological research in the field of integrated, socio-economic and territorial planning;

 

02 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

to perfect, extend and propagate empirical research of a socio-economic/territorial nature with medium and long term perspectives, enriching relations between this form of projective research and planning studies, and enriching relations between scientific research, innovation, economic development and the quality of life;


03 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

to provide public planning bodies, at national as at international and regional levels, and also all interested bodies whether private or public, with medium and long-term frames of reference that might offer a rational basis for the analysis of the relative coherence and efficiency of the choices and decisions open to those same bodies;

 

04 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

to study ways of using, in integrated public planning, automated information systems, and advanced methods of data management and techniques of evaluation".
   



  ACTIVITIES

 

01:: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Il The Planning Studies Centre, in pursuit of its objectives, carries out the following cultural activities of study, research, coordination and international cooperation (Article 3):

"it promotes study and research of its own initiative and under contracts with governments, and public and private bodies, be they Italian or based abroad, provided they conform with the objectives set out in article 2;

02:: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
it promotes and supports reunions, meetings, symposiums, conferences, debates, seminars, study-courses and any other form of collective scientific activity that might secure the fulfilment of its non-profit objectives;

03 :: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
it carries out educational activities – organising specialised courses, publishing material for studies and for direct application, directing experiments and guided visits - in particular for the staff of central and local State Administration in Italy, and in countries with which Italy and the organisations for international cooperation are developing programmes of technical assistance and/or of scientific and cultural cooperation;

04:: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
it researches and promotes the scientific and technical collaboration with institutions and public bodies in their own programmes of activity;

05:: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
it produces and distributes publications that contribute to the attainment of its institutional ends;

06:: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
it effects cultural and scientific agreements, in their most appropriate forms, which serve the pursuit of its social objectives".

    
   



  RESOURCES AND CONTRIBUTIONS

Since 1965, the year of its foundation, the Planning Studies Centre has carried out research in conformity with its institutional ends with the contributions of (or in contract with) various national and international organisations.

Included amongst the international organisations, within the network of affiliations of the United Nations: the UN-DIESA, New York; the UN Centre for Housing, Building and Planning, New York; the UNDP, New York; the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Geneva; the ILO, Geneva; FAO, Roma; UNIDO, Vienna. Other international organisations include: the OECD, Paris; the Commission for the European Communities, Brussels.

Included amongst the national organisations: the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (The National Research Council, Italy); the National Science Foundation (USA).

Included amongst the Italian governing bodies: the Ministry for Economic Planning and Budgeting; the Ministry for Finance; the Ministry for Foreign Affairs; the Ministry for Industry; the Ministry for State Shareholding; the Ministry of Transport; the Ministry for Special Intervention in the Mezzogiorno; the Ministry of the Environment.
Other Italian public bodies include: the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno, ENI, ENEA, EFIM, ISPE, ISCO, FORMEZ, SVIMEZ, etc.

Included amongst the public regional bodies are those representing the Regional States of Lazio, Marche, Friuli and Venezia Giulia, Puglia, Sicilia, Molise, and the Municipality of Rome, etc.

Since 1992 the Planning Studies Centre has promoted the institution of a network of scholars and study centres on a European and international scale, by means of which it participates in various initiatives and research programmes in the field of planning science.

The Planning Studies Centre has existed exclusively and always from the contributions of its members and, above all, from resources deriving from its research activities which are carried out on the basis of contributions from, or contracts with, the above-mentioned international or national bodies.

The researches of the Centre have been funded by various contributions of the institutions indicated above. However, given the scarce availability of contributions for 'free' research on the the planning methodology, a good part of such research has been implemented, in the course of time, through the voluntary work of associates and other interested scholars.


   
 



  EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

The Planning Studies Centre has made several attempts to develop training and educational activities in the field of Planology. Some projects already worked out in this direction but later abandoned are being relaunched anew, in connection with the availability of the new site of the Centre. The Planning Studies Centre has however provided study grants in the past (not on a regular annual basis) for one year courses held at the Centre offered to young scholars from developing countries, and also to young Italian and other European scholars interested in Planology.

In 1991 the study grants were put on a stable footing with a precise programme (The Individual Study Programme, PIS ) that lasts nine months, for which a Statute has been elaborated, and which will lead to a Post-Graduate Diploma in "Planning Science".

In 2003 the Planning Studies Centre has organised a Master on Strategic Plannning and Evaluation in the Public Domain.

Numbers on the so-called PIS are still very limited. In 1992 the PIS was coordinated with a study grants programme of the CNR.

In 1995 the Planning Studies Centre sponsored - in cooperation with the Department of City and Regional Planning of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) and the School of Urban and Regional Planning of the University of Southern California - a summer course (during the month of June) in Rome on the "Development and Conservation Strategies for Larger Cities". This course will be institutionalised and occur every year.


    



  CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS

In the course of its activities the Planning Studies Centre has organised and is organising all types of conferences, symposiums, and seminars on scientific themes touching its fields of interest or within the range of its research activities.

In the past, the Planning Studies Centre has promoted some important study meetings on the subject of econometrics applied to the planning process. Contributors to the Centre's seminars have included - amongst many others - J. Benard, M. Brown, F. Caffe', C.W. Churchman, A. Conrad, B. De Finetti, B. De Jouvenel, Y. Dror, R. Frisch, G. Fua', N. Georgescu-Roegen, S. Holland, E. Jantsch, L. Johansen, L.H. Klaassen, J. Kornai, O. Lange, W. Leontief, J. Lesourne, S. Lombardini, J. Malinvaud, R. Meier, G. Myrdal, H. Ozbekhan, A. Peccei, H. S. Perloff, F. Perroux, L. Rodwin, R. Stone, and J. Tinbergen.

In 1965 the Centre played the role of Secretary General to the 1st World Congress of the Econometric Society (Rome, 1965).


    



  RESEARCH FINDINGS

Research findings
The Planning Studies Centre researches have been always documented in the "Research Reports" Series. Some of them are summarised in the section "Research Findings".

Reports and activities
The activities of the Planning Studies Centre form the object of Annual Reports, made by the Directive Council of the Assembly of Members.
There is a publication (RA/86.1) which gathers together the series of annual reports of the Directive Council from 1976-1985, and another that collects those from 1986 to 1990 (RA/91.2).
In 1976 and in 1985, the President of the Centre, Prof. Franco Archibugi compiled two reports each coinciding with turning points in the life, and in the institutional growth, of the Centre:
Report on the Planning Studies Centre 1976 (on the activities carried out since its foundation to 1975 and on prospective activities) - (RA/76.1, II edition);
Report on the Planning Studies Centre 1984 (on the activities carried out from 1975-1983 and on activities in prospect) - (RA/84.1, II edition).
All these reports are available on request.


    
   


  REPERTORY OF PLANOLOGY AND PSIS

The Centre is constantly updating a "Repertory of Planology", in which publications, contributions, documents etc. are listed, which are considered particularly significant for the understanding of the developments (and roots) of Planology.

Some of the publications listed in the Repertories are available as Planology Reprints, and sometimes contain an original introductory note which puts its importance and significance into context.

The publications of the Planology Repertories are articulated in four categories (the publications may be included in all four categories):

I. Repertory of Planology Methodology
II. The PSIS Repertory
III. Repertory of the Basic Inter- and Multi-Disciplinary Strands of Planology ("Map of Planology")
IV. The Planning Studies Centre Repertory of Special Research

The four repertories are provided with a common alphabetical index by author.

I. The Repertory of Planology Methodolog

This is articulated in three series:

1. A list of works considered fundamental in the history and evolution of planology.

2. A list of works and contributions by figures whose work is considered to be particularly significant for the developments (and roots) of Planology.

3. Documents, "historic" or recent, produced by international, national, governmental and non-governmental agencies, bodies etc. which are considered particularly significant as a testimony to conceptions and practical experiences in the field of Planning.

II. The PSIS Repertory
The PSIS Repertory coincides with the taxonomy of the PSIS itself (see above). It gives rise nevertheless to particular bibliographical collections, for each possible subject in the PSIS taxonomy, with ad hoc classifications. Often these bibliographical collections are published by the Centre in the "Bibliographical Listings of the PSIS" (see the section on the Centre's Publications below).

III. Repertory of the Basic Inter- and Multi-Disciplinary Strands of Planology ("Map of Planology")

This Repertory collects the most significant writings concerning the basic inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary strands of Planology as indicated in the "Map of Planology" which has been constructed by the Centre as an Introduction to Planology itself.

The inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary strands identified (56 in total) are preceded by four original strands, which are relative to the problems of general epistemology, and to the relationship of planology with the four original disciplinary areas: political science, sociology, economics, and ecology.

IV. The Planning Studies Centre Repertory of Special Research

n the course of their research, the Centre's various study groups, assigned to each research project, collect articles, essays and parts of books, which are considered particularly important for their research. This gives rise to the Repertory of Special Research for each research in course.


    
 



  LIBRARY

In the course of its activity the Planning Studies Centre has built up a specialised library of the Planning Sciences which - at least in Italy - represents a somewhat rare, if not unique endowment. The volumes and collections of journals have been selected over time according to criteria of high specialisation in the field of Planology. Yet a prominent part of the scientific documentation proceeds from exchanges arranged with research foundations and scientific institutions, especially abroad, which have cultivated analogous or very closely related fields of interest (Planning Sciences).

Particular attention has been devoted to documentation on development planning by official international organisations, especially of those in the network of affiliations of the United Nations, and of official governing bodies constantly confronting planning problems: those of Eastern, as well as Western, Europe and the "Third World".

The library and its system of documentation are closely coordinated using the same criteria, Taxonomy, and management methods of the PSIS (the Planning Sciences Information System), developed by the Planning Studies Centre and subsidised by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR (Italian National Research Council).


    


  PUBLICATIONS

The Planning Studies Centre has to its credit a number of publications issuing from its own activities. In the past "Catalogues of Publications" have been published. Presently are active the following series:

Research Reports
The Planning Studies Centre publishes a series of "Reports" in which the major findings of the research work are reproduced, in the hope of giving them a broader, yet still restricted, circulation. A first series covers the years 1979-1983. A new series was launched in 1985. The titles are shown in the Catalogue of Editions (published every six months).

Symposia
These are the proceedings of conferences, meetings, and seminars, which were promoted by the Centre or in cooperation with it. They are usually a collection of papers presented in that occasion, edited by a member of the centre.

Works by Prof. Franco Archibugi
Since 2000 the Centre publishes a special series in which a number of publications by Prof. Franco Archibugi are reprinted, which were written during his longstanding role as Director and Chairman of the Centre. These are mainly researches conducted with funds from the National Research Council, but also from other institutions.

Bibliographical Listings of the PSIS
The Centre also publishes a special series of booklets of a documentary and bibliographical nature through the Planning Sciences Information System (PSIS), carried out with contributions from the CNR (Italian National Research Council).


    


  ORGANS

The Planning Studies Centre has an associate membership category for public administration, state institutes and agencies; regional, provincial and municipal governments and their consortiums; associations, corporations, private companies; and various other bodies, as well as individuals interested in the objectives and activities of the Association.
There are two categories of associate members: sponsor members and ordinary members, with different associate roles.

The Centre is directed by a Directive Council nominated every three years by the Assembly of members (who also nominate the auditors of the accounts).

The Directive Council nominates in its turn the President and Vice-Presidents, an Executive Committee and a Secretary General.

The Directive Council of the Centre for the period 2007-2009 is composed as follows:

Prof. Franco Archibugi, Presidente
Dr.ssa. Gemma Arpaia
Prof. Enzo Bartocci
Prof. Mario D'Eramo
Prof. Annalisa Cicerchia
Prof. Maurizio Garano
Prof. Giuseppe Las Casas
Prof.. Pietro Merli-Brandini
Prof. Antonio Saturnino
Prof. Francesco Zaccaria, Revisore dei Conti
   
 




       
Aims and Activities Education Conferences Research
PSIS Publications Site Home page