ASSURB’s Early Days

ASSURB was created in 1977 after the first students graduated from the then-new graduation course in “Urbanistica” (Town Planning) which was established at the Venice Architecture University (Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia, today IUAV University or, in Italian, Università IUAV di Venezia) by a decree of the President of the Republic in 1970 (decree no. 1009/1970) and actually activated at the beginning of the academic year 1971-1972. It was a full-cycle 5-year grade providing academic education and professional training for town planners, including regional planning, whose employment was conceived in the public administration rather than as freelance planners or employees in private planning offices. At that time, in Italy the regional administrations were established shortly before and there was an expectation to create important regional planning offices in each of the 20 administrative regions, in addition to municipal planning offices at least in the medium and larger towns and cities.

This expectation did not lead to the creation of jobs for planners in the public administration. On the contrary, graduates in architecture and civil engineering continued being preferred over planners. This created frustration in many newly graduated planners and put the whole creation process of an independent planners profession at risk. So, a number of young graduates, with the help of some university professors, decided to create an association of planning graduates to advocate for the planners’ cause and defend the colleagues in the many situations where planners were rejected during job interviews. The association was created on 18^th June 1977 under the name “Associazione nazionale degli urbanisti” (National Association of Town Planners) with ANU as its abbreviation at that time. The admission criteria were very strict: only graduates in “Urbanistica” were allowed to become members of ANU. These strict admission criteria still exist today, they have only been adapted to the changes that the many presidential and ministerial decrees issued since 1970 had imposed over the years on the graduation courses as the following list shows.

1. In 1982 (presidential decree no. 806/1982), the grade name was changed to “Pianificazione territoriale e urbanistica” (Regional and Urban Planning) or, in short, PTU with a higher number of mandatory subjects and now two distinct study focusses (urban planning and regional planning) which however continued leading to the same university grade. This reform was implemented starting from academic year 1984-1985.
2. In 1993 (ministerial decree of 19^th July), the grade name was changed again, to “Pianificazione territoriale, urbanistica e ambientale” (Regional, Urban and Environmental Planning) or, in short, PTUA and the course duration was shortened from five to four years, the study focusses abolished and the universities were granted more autonomy to shape their curricula. This reform was implemented from academic year 1994-1995.
3. In 1999-2000 (ministerial decrees 509/1999, 4^th August 2000 and 28^th November 2000), the Bologna Process was implemented in Italy. The former five and four-year grades were articulated into two “classi” (classes): a three-year BSc (“laurea”, grade) in “Urbanistica e scienze della pianificazione territoriale e ambientale” (town planning and spatial and environmental planning sciences), which received class number 7, and a two-year MSc (“laurea specialistica”, specialised grade) in “Pianificazione territoriale, urbanistica e ambientale”, which received class number 54/S. This third reform was implemented from academic year 2001-2002.
4. In 2004-2007 (ministerial decrees 270/2004 and two decrees of 16^th March 2007), the system of grade classes was reformed again by introducing some changes to the course subjects and by redefining class numbers and names: the BSc is now called “laurea triennale” (three-year grade) in “Scienze della pianificazione territoriale, urbanistica, paesaggistica e ambientale” (Spatial, urban, landscape and environmental planning sciences) and the two-year MSc “laurea magistrale” (master’s grade) in “Pianificazione territoriale, urbanistica e ambientale”. This fourth reform was implemented from academic year 2008-2009.

The original grade (Urbanistica) and the subsequent two reform grades (PTU and PTUA) are usually referred to as the old-order grades (“lauree del vecchio ordinamento”) while the post-Bologna grades (“7”, “54/S”, “L-21”, “LM-48”) are referred to as the new-order grades (“lauree del nuovo ordinamento”). To be admitted as a full member, a candidate must have one of these seven grades who all refer to spatial planning.

ANU becomes ASSURB

To reflect the changes in the university grade nomenclature, ANU decided in the late 1990s to change its name by adapting it to the university grade’s name at that time. The new Statutes, voted by an extraordinary general assembly concluded on 31^st December 2000, have established the new name “Associazione nazionale degli urbanisti e dei pianificatori territoriali e ambientali” (National Association of Town, Spatial and Environmental Planners) and its new official abbreviation “ASSURB”.

Die discussion about the name of spatial planning and planners is long-lasting in Italy. Traditionally it was referred to as “urbanistica” for the discipline and “urbanista” for the professional. The term derives, like in other Romance languages and even in some non-Romance languages as a loanword, from Latin urbs indicating the physical city, opposed to civitas indicating the institution. Unlike in French or in Spanish, where “urbaniste” (French) and “urbanista” (Spanish) refer to the whole planning profession, including rural, regional and generally spatial planning, in Italian the debate about finding a ‘better’ term is still ongoing.

As explained above, in 1982 the Italian government decided to adopt the term “pianificazione”, meaning “planning”, but added two different adjectives: “territoriale” and “urbanistica”. It is unclear whether the old noun “urbanistica” is now replaced by the compound (noun-adjective) expression “pianificazione urbanistica”, i.e., referred to the urban, built-up part of the environment, or by the whole expression, i.e., including also regional planning. This is also relevant to be able to correctly translate the terms in other languages. Should “pianificazione urbanistica” be translated as “urban planning”? Probably yes. But, then, what about “pianificazione territoriale”? Does it only refer to the wide-area planning, which is usually translated into English as “regional planning”? Probably yes, above all if considering the content of the 1982 presidential decree which established the two different study focusses. And the old noun “urbanistica” how should it be translated? Probably as “town planning” in English and “Stadtplanung” in German, as English and German used these terms before “spatial planning” and “Raumplanung” was introduced.

The struggle for professional recognition of Italian planners — town, urban, regional, spatial or whatever — led by ANU alias ASSURB continued over the years. On many occasions, ANU/ASSURB obtained important victories in administrative courts allowing planning graduates to practise their profession, despite the fact that the architects’ and civil engineers’ lobbies were very powerful and systematically sought to prevent planners from working. According to Italian laws on professional practice, there are two kinds of professions: regulated and non-regulated professions. Regulated professions have professional “ordini” (orders) or “collegi” (colleges), which are similar to the professional chambers in other countries, of which a professional must be a member in order to practise their profession. Regarding spatial planning, the issue was a dispute whether it was a regulated or a non-regulated profession. The planners argued that it was a non-regulated profession because spatial planning has never been limited (in Italian professional law the term “riservato”, reserved, is used for this) to a specific professional chamber, order or college. On the other hand, architects argued it was a regulated profession, reserved for architects, because some regional laws had defined professional fees for spatial planning services along with architectural services. But actually no law or decree has ever defined planning as one of the competences of architects. Civil engineers had no specific argument in favour of having competences in planning, except for the fact that they were actually making plans in the past.

Professional Chamber

This led the Italian spatial planners to the conviction that it was necessary to create an own professional chamber (“ordine”). Two attempts were made in this direction. The first one in 1985, with the help of the Italian government that presented a bill to parliament, and the second one twelve years later in 1997 when three single MPs presented a new bill to parliament. Both bills were never discussed, so no specific professional chamber for planners was created. Nevertheless, ASSURB (at that time still “ANU”) continued its actions for a general professional recognition. The idea of creating a common higher education framework in Europe in the same period (1998-1999), now known as the Bologna Process, resulted in a complete reorganisation of the entire system of initial education. In Italy, this process was accompanied by a major reform of the professions, including planners, architects and engineers, among others. ASSURB was able to put forward the planners’ views at a number of meetings at the relevant ministries. The main goal of creating an own professional chamber was not achieved, but the former “Ordine degli Architetti” (Chamber of Architects) was reorganised into four different sectors: Architecture; Spatial planning; Landscape; Con­ser­va­tion of architectural and environmental goods. Also its name was changed into “Ordine degli Architetti, Pianificatori, Paesaggisti e Conservatori” (Chamber of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Con­ser­va­tion­ists), in short “OAPPC“. The reform was approved by presidential decree no. 328 of 5^th June 2001—ANU had changed its name to ASSURB just five months before.

In Italy, to become an individual member of a professional chamber, it is necessary to pass a professional qualification State exam (“esame di Stato per l’esercizio della professione“). The State exam for architects had existed since 1926, after the common Chamber of Architects and Engineers was established by Law no. 1395 of 24^th June 1923 and three Royal decrees (no. 2102/1923, 2909/1923 and 2537/1925) had defined the requirements for admission. State exams for planners, landscapers and conservationists, instead, were introduced only by the 2001 reform which led to the first exams in 2002 and to the first admissions to the corresponding three sectors in the new OAPPC in the same year.

Nevertheless, many disputes between planners and architects continued. Architects, especially those who used to work in the Planung sector before the reform, pretended to also have a formal recognition of their competences in spatial planning. This was rejected, for instance, by a decision of the Italian Council of State (supreme administrative court) in 2008 ending a legal dispute that had lasted for years. As a result, it has been accepted that “old-order-grade” architects should be enabled to continue working as planners even without being members of the specific planners’ sector of the professional chamber, while new-order-grade architects definitively are not. They are obliged to first pass the specific State exam in spatial planning and apply for membership in the specific chamber sector. However, often this rule is not respected and, especially in Central and Southern Italy, architects continue working as planners even without satisfying the legal requirements pushing planners out of the job market because often they are considered ‘incomplete’ professionals.

Post-Reform Planners

In any case, the 2001 professional reform has finally given spatial planners the right to practise their profession without any legal uncertainty or fear of legal challenges. In addition, since 2002, when the reform came into force, spatial planning is a regulated profession according to the Italian Civil Code. This means that in order to practice the profession as a free-lance planner or a planner in a private planning firm, a professional must be a member of the professional Chamber and listed in the spatial planning sector. For planners working in public administrations other rules apply: during the recruitment procedures, some administrations require Chamber membership (which may later be abandoned), other administrations require only having passed the State exam or even only holding the university degree. A planner who is a Chamber member has also the right to use the professional title “pianificatore territoriale” (spatial planner) if they hold a master’s degree in planning und have passed the specific State exam for MSc planners, or the professional title “pianificatore iunior” (junior planner) if they only hold a bachelor’s degree in planning und have passed the State exam for BSc planners. Planners who only hold a university grade in planning theoretically are not permitted to use these professional titles and must theoretically limit themselves to their academic title, i.e., “dottore in …” followed by the name of the grade or grade class. “Dottore” means “Doctor” and refers in Italy generically to university grades, while the international Doctor title, awarded after a PhD examination, is traditionally translated as “dottore di ricerca” (research doctor).

Immediately after the reform came into force, ASSURB still had to defend the spatial planners’ interests because, once approved the decrees, a kind of war of interpretation began. The most debated questions were if architects still can make plans, if the planners’ competences set out in the decree should be considered as exclusive competences or not, if architects who have passed their State exam before the reform should automatically be listed on all four Chamber sectors or only in that of the architects. But also interpretations that went more in detail, such as those regarding the competences in the field of strategic environmental assessment, which a post-reform decree has exclusively assigned to planners, or competences in cadastral procedures, energy certification and much more. Here, ASSURB has succeeded in ensuring that these interpretation disputes have generally been decided in favour of the planners.

After the planners have obtained their professional recognition, thanks to ANU/ASSURB, and after the planners’ competences have been consolidated, once again thanks to ASSURB, currently the association is experiencing a decline in membership. This can be explained by the fact that Italian planners have become convinced that they no longer need a strong community to promote or defend their interests, or to efficiently exchange professional experience. This of course is a wrong perception. Spatial planners, their competences and spatial planning as an independent discipline are continuously threatened by counter-reform attempts who aim at substantially abolishing spatial planning as a profession and “reconduct” the competences in spatial planning under the umbrella of architecture. This was the case in 2020, when the then-president of the National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Conservationists proposed exactly this and a discussion arose in all 105 provincial chambers. It became soon clear that the initiative was not much more than electoral propaganda, and after the proponent, the then-president of the Council, was re-elected only very narrowly to the new Council, he has de facto withdrawn his proposal. A few weeks ago, more or less the same proposal has been presented once again, this time by the provincial Chamber of Rome, and is already making big waves among experts and in specialised journals. It is interesting to note that the provincial Chamber of Rome will have their elections in September 2025.

Last update, 28^th July 2025