URB&COM – Retail and Urban Planning Lab
URB&COM works within consolidated urban areas and suburban territories and it develops activities related with academic research and consultancy focusing the transformation and management of those spaces. The main field relies on the process of modernization of the retail sector and all those other activities which often interact with the retail, as the cultural and creative ones, touristic, etc. and their territorial effects in terms of economic development and attraction power.
Recently, the Laboratorio increased its research interests involving other kind of phenomena, as networks of food production-distribution and the impact of IT in consumption practices. Other research activities rely on: (i) regulative processes related with the localization of retail activities at different scales, (ii) active policies for the re-activation of urban retail, also within actions and programs of urban regeneration and (iii) assessment and benchmarking focuses within the national and transnational framework.
Since 1998, URB&COM braces academic research activity with the technical and scientific support to public institutions, local governments, public agencies and private actors in setting up strategic and design guidelines, and the Laboratorio acts as services’ provider and consultant.
URB&COM is the only Italian academic structure that focuses the relationships between planning and retail with a technic-scientific approach based on urban planning, geography and economy, with a strong involvement in education, research and applied research. Principal profiles and skills within the Laboratorio are:
- Creation of interpretative analyses and thematic maps through GIS software aimed at defining the distribution of urban and suburban retail poles (definition of catchment areas, profiling customers’ behaviors, recognition of urban densification of retail services, etc.)
- Innovation in data collection (methodologies, analysis and surveys) about urban activities related with tertiary sector, aimed at using them to set up actions of urban regeneration and improvement of local economies and retail systems.
- Support regional and local government drafting (a) strategic and regulatory tools for urban retail services and other tertiary activities and (b) planning guidelines aimed at integrating the localization of retail activities within the processes of territorial governance.
Latest researches
Latest researches
I Dehors nel post pandemia_7 febbraio 2023 Cesena – 1 dicembre 2022 Trento
The role of urban retail in the construction of the contemporary compact city: Lisbon and Barcelona_30 novembre 2022_Politecnico di Milano
Comune di REGGIO EMILIA_Studio e redazione di indirizzi per il rilancio delle attività economiche urbane del centro storico_novembre 2022-ottobre 2023
Comune di GENOVA_Supporto tecnico-scientifico alle politiche del commercio, della mobilità e della rigenerazione urbana_ottobre 2022-ottobre 2023
Comune di BERGAMO_”Redazione della componente commerciale del nuovo Piano di Governo del Territorio”_settembre 2020-giugno 2023
COMUNE DI BRESCIA_Mappatura e Indirizzi strategici per attività economiche urbane dei quartieri extra DUC_ottobre-dicembre 2022
La dimensione territoriale del PNRR_18 ottobre 2022_conferenza_IUAV Venezia
Logistica e paesaggi del commercio online_Trasporti&Cultura_n. 62-63_17 ottobre 2022_Politecnico di Milano
Regione FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA-Informest_PNRR Borghi Progetto pilota_borgo Castello di Gorizia_CLUSTER-MANAGER_settembre-dicembre 2022
Latest seminars
Latest seminars
I Dehors nel post pandemia_7 febbraio 2023 Cesena – 1 dicembre 2022 Trento
The role of urban retail in the construction of the contemporary compact city: Lisbon and Barcelona_30 novembre 2022_Politecnico di Milano
La dimensione territoriale del PNRR_18 ottobre 2022_conferenza_IUAV Venezia
Logistica e paesaggi del commercio online_Trasporti&Cultura_n. 62-63_17 ottobre 2022_Politecnico di Milano
Distretti del commercio e Rigenerazione urbana_15 settembre 2022_Modena-Vignola
PNRR e servizi di prossimità. Quali le sfide a scala regionale?_7 settembre 2022_AISRE Milano
Di.Te – Post-Covid: i cambiamenti e le trasformazioni di città e territori_6 settembre 2022_AISRE Milano
I dehors nel post pandemia. Dall’occupazione di suolo al progetto di spazio pubblico_12 luglio 2022_Roma
RIGENERAZIONE URBANA e PNRR_28 giugno 2022_Lugo (RA)
Research team
Since 1998, URB&COM braces academic research activity with the technical and scientific support to public institutions, local governments, public agencies and private actors in setting up strategic and design guidelines, and the Laboratorio acts as services’ provider and consultant. The team involves several experts: Corinna Morandi, Agathe Dessuges, Stefano Di Vita, Giorgio Limonta, Mario Paris, Filomena Pomilio, Andrea Rolando, Luca Tamini.

Corinna Morandi

Andrea Rolando

Luca Tamini

Agathe Dessuges

Giorgio Limonta

Mario Paris

Filomena Pomilio
