Morphogenesis and Town Perception

Department of Architecture (DiDA), University of Florence, Italy

Abstract: Recognizing forms, and giving them meaning, depends on our ability to dynamically connect these forms to something jealously preserved in ourselves, in our memories: genetic memories, cultural memories, personal memories. The meaning we attribute to the things we hear is constructed in the perception of the same things we felt through our inner, and sometimes impenetrable, mnemonic identity. When this process of interpretation of feelings causes internal reactions, these reactions are called emotions. When between the self and the forms that appear in front of it, the shapes connect like mirror images, this relationship is called empathy. The aim is to understand how form (morphology) and flow (ecology) intertwine, and how these complex relationships interact with human perception, emotion and cognition. But what is the form and relationship between the shapes resulting from the co-evolution between the place and the interaction with cognitive tools and human sensitivity? What are the places of the multiple complex identities in which the dynamic dialogue between land and water unfolds?