Radical design and AI
Keywords:
Radical Design, AI Urbanism, Urban Theory, Architectural Design, Artificial Intelligence
Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between the Florentine Radical Design movement and AI Urbanism using a qualitative, historical-critical, comparative approach. The study examines whether theoretical categories currently associated with artificial intelligence in urban design can be traced back to Radical Design research from the 1960s and 1970s. The findings reveal significant continuities in the conception of the city as a process, the redefinition of the architect's role, and the relationship between computation and design, proposing a genealogical interpretation of AI Urbanism as the evolution of a broader transformation in design culture.
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- Branzi, A. (1984). La casa calda: Esperienze del Nuovo Design Italiano. Clup.
- Caprotti, F., & Liu, D. (2020). Platform urbanism and the Chinese smart city: The co-production and territorialisation of Hangzhou City Brain. GeoJournal, 87, 1–15.
- Cortiços, A. (2025). Artificial intelligence in architecture: Transforming cities and buildings. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202505.0736.v1
- Crawford, K. (2021). Atlas of AI: Power, politics, and the planetary costs of artificial intelligence. Yale University Press.
- Cugurullo, F., Caprotti, F., Cook, M., Karvonen, A., McGuirk, P., & Marvin, S. (2024). The rise of AI urbanism in post-smart cities: A critical commentary on urban artificial intelligence. Urban Studies, 61(6), 1168–1182.
- Dantzig, G. B. (1947). Maximization of a linear function of variables subject to linear inequalities. In T. C. Koopmans (Ed.), Activity analysis of production and allocation (pp. 339–347). Wiley.
- ElKousy, A. A. G. (2025). The impact of artificial intelligence on architecture. International Journal of Science and Research Archive, 15(3), 848–851. https://doi.org/10.30574/ijsra.2025.15.3.1812
- Floridi, L., Cowls, J., Beltrametti, M., Chatila, R., Chazerand, P., Dignum, V., Luetge, C., Madelin, R., Pagallo, U., Rossi, F., Schäfer, B., & Vayena, E. (2018). AI4People—An ethical framework for a good AI society: Opportunities, risks, principles, and recommendations. Minds and Machines, 28(4), 689–707.
- Gill, P. E., Murray, W., & Wright, M. H. (2008). Numerical linear algebra and optimization. SIAM.
- Harris, B., & Batty, M. (1993). Locational models, geographic information and planning support systems. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 12(3), 184–198.
- Kitchin, R. (2014). The real-time city? Big data and smart urbanism. GeoJournal, 79(1), 1–14.
- Kolarevic, B. (2003). Architecture in the digital age: Design and manufacturing. Taylor & Francis.
- Le Arti. (1973). Sull'architettura (Numero monografico, nn. 11–12).
- Luque-Ayala, A., & Marvin, S. (2020). Urban operating systems: Producing the computational city. MIT Press.
- Macrorie, R., Marvin, S., & While, A. (2021). Robotics and automation in the city: A research agenda. Urban Geography, 42(2), 197–217.
- Navone, P., & Orlandoni, B. (1974). Architettura radicale. Documenti di Casabella.
- Nawaz, M., & Rasool, S. (2025). The role of AI in architectural evolution: A survey on smart cities and intelligent design.
- Nebuloni, R., & Rossi, M. (2017). Progettazione parametrica e generativa: Strumenti e prospettive. XY digitale, 1(4), 55–70.
- Safransky, S. (2020). Geographies of algorithmic violence: Redlining the smart city. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 44(2), 200–218.
Published
2026-06-30
How to Cite
Bua, L. (2026). Radical design and AI. AND Journal of Architecture, Cities and Architects, 49(1), 30-37. Retrieved from https://and-architettura.it/index.php/and/article/view/707
Section
Articles
Copyright (c) 2026 Author(s)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
