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Evoluzione e autopoiesi: strategie narrative e dispositivi euristici nella descrizione del territorio
Giampiero Lombardini, University of Genoa, Department of Architecture and Design
Andrea Vergano, University of Genoa, Department of Architecture and Design
Volume 13 no. 1, 2025 | Language: Italian | Section: Science in action
First submitted: 2025-6-30 | Accepted: 2025-7-31 | Published Online: 2025-12-23
DOI: 10.13125/sciter/6893
PDF (accepted version, to be edited)
Abstract. This paper aims to develop a reflection on some biological metaphors that, over time and with varying degrees of effectiveness, have become part of urban and territorial sciences. Along this path, which developed in parallel with the birth of biology, some concepts emerged that, at different moments in history, took on a strong normative and prefigurative value in shaping urban and territorial projects. These are the concepts of evolution and autopoiesis. While the concept of evolution has long been central to modern thinking, often with simplifications and exploitations that have distorted its scientific perspective, the concept of autopoiesis only emerged in the last decades of the last century, redefining some seemingly consolidated paradigms in the study of living organisms. This paper focuses on two moments in which the language of biology was used not only to build novel connections between natural sciences and territorial sciences, but also to overcome some dichotomies that constitute modern thought. The first moment considers the influences of  evolutionary theory (understood as a narrative strategy) in the study of urban and regional phenomena at the beginning of the 20th century. The second moment proposes a reflection on the concept of autopoiesis (understood as a heuristic device) and its implications in the study of social and urban organisations.
Keywords: biological metaphors; coevolution; territory of the living; autopoiesis; urban bioregion.