The theoretical grid. An antifragile strategy for Rome post-COVID mobility

Mobility represents a central issue for sustainable urban planning and regeneration processes in large cities, concerning the impact on environmental quality, equity, social inclusion. However, the pandemic has strongly affected mobility trends, influenced by international and national social distancing measures and new “safe” lifestyles. Thus, many cities have been adopting mobility emergency strategies for urban resilience. In this context, as a result of a research developed in the framework of a collaboration between Roma Tre University and Sapienza University of Rome, the paper proposes an “antifragile” strategy for “post-covid Rome”, adaptable to other European metropolitan contexts, based on an integrated approach to urban planning and mobility. The research methodology is articulated in three phases: the analysis of the main scientific references related to urban resilience and antifragility concerning the relations between urban form, ways of living and mobility models in pre and post-pandemic scenarios, the study of the main ongoing practices in European cities and the proposal for an antifragile strategy for the city of Rome based on the theoretical grid. The theoretical grid is an urban grammar that proposes a model of reorganization for the city based on elementary urban units and defines an integrated strategy for the reorganization of mobility, the reconfiguration of local flows and the regeneration of public space. This grammar is declined in different ways according to the different urban fabrics. In the case of Rome, it is declined for four “cities”, the historical city, the consolidated city, the modernist city, the peripheral urban fringes.