No. 23 (2020): Exploring the intermediate scales: practices and experiences from no-institutional territorial dimensions

Nowadays, in the urban studies field, we experimented with a lack of effectiveness in the explanations based on consolidating paradigms for several dynamics ongoing on European territories. In this issue of Ciudades, we propose a reflection about scales as an analysis tool for planners and researchers in the contemporary city. Among them, we focus on those intermediate scales (sub-regional, inter-municipal, and district/neighborhood) as 'giusta distanza' (adequate dimensions). This scale is needed to detect (i.) trends in the transformation of the post-metropolitan territories (ii.) weaknesses in their development patterns and (iii.) new interpretative figures for phenomena that would not be visible in the analysis based on conventional scales. Therefore, different contributions will support the debate on the effectiveness –and the risks– related to the images and descriptive readings of the contemporary urban spaces based on these "meso" or intermediate dimensions, disconnected from the current institutional borders. This task is even more relevant at this moment, in which urban and regional planning deals with the governance of urbanized regions and the transformation of extended metropolitan areas.