The seven lives of "Space & Society"

This article must be quoted as follows:
Di Giovanni A. (2003), "The seven lives of Space & Society", Planum. The Journal of Urbanism, no. 7. vol. 2/2003, pp. 1-12.

In the issue that wrapped up the historic series of the periodical, titled Space & Society. A Longitudinal Section through the Review (published by Maggioli and edited by Francesco Samassa), Sara Basso concluded an interesting thematic survey of the magazine by rereading some of the editorials in a wide-ranging essay titled "The Editorials of Giancarlo De Carlo". In this essay, which opened with some brief observations of a general character about the "independent and personal" nature of the editorials, Basso made a first attempt at a comparative reflection by combining observations on the form and content of the magazine with some brief comments that recreated the biographical, intellectual and professional profile of its editor. The result was a significant cross section through the developing themes, interests and perspectives of the review as seen from De Carlo's editorials.
This exposition was backed up by a preliminary operation of "periodization", with the survey being organized around the review's structure and the way it was run, on the one hand, and the identification of the prevalent themes in the various cycles of its life on the other.
The four phases the essay identified had greatly different time-spans during the more than twenty-year duration of the magazine's life. The first three phases, which saw the magazine's launch and the definition of its structure and contents, covered the first half of this period (from its birth in 1978 as an independent periodical down to the end of the eighties), with a careful reconstruction of the labour and effort that went into building up the editorial project. The last period comprised the issues published over the last 12 years, which reflect a substantial stability in the review's philosophy and its editorial structure. The closure of the historic series of "Space & Society" has now prompted us to carry out a different and complementary task, by presenting users of Planum with an anthology of passages taken from the editorials in which Giancarlo De Carlo tells the story of "Space & Society".
So we shall avoid re-presenting a reflection on the aspects of "Space & Society" that in all these years the reader has been able to appreciate in its editor's leading articles, rendered aware by De Carlo himself that some of them may well have been (though only in part) responsible for the magazine's vicissitudes.
We shall recall only some of them: the purposeful character of the editorial, its openness and its engrossing, participatory style; its concern for relevance to world events as being closely bound up with an attitude of inescapable social and professional responsibility (with the firm conviction of the need for an architecture and an urban planning – against war – that would collaborate with full awareness and without arrogance in the construction of the environment); its capacity and tenacity in proposing and sustaining "difficult" and "eccentric" viewpoints – though pertinent to the disciplines of architecture and urban planning – about contemporary events in the world; the lucid far-sightedness with which it foreshadowed right from the very start scenarios that are now contemporary; the freedom evident in its intellectual attitude, in contrast with the editorial panorama: the incisive and often estranging character of the reflections; the polythematic and transdisciplinary approach; the restraint of the editorial composition and literary style – with texts and images closely integrated – always capable of serenely restoring the enthusiasms of an original and difficult intellectual adventure. So in retracing the passages of this brief anthology, we are seeking to recompose the fabric of a story that, through certain episodes contained in the editorials, has constantly updated and involved, with "proud modesty", whoever was interested in the successes and difficulties, the changes and choices of continuity of the magazine in the course of its "nine lives".

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Number 6 of 1979 opened by "informing the readers that Spazio e Società has changed its publisher for the third time", while De Carlo responded with modesty and pride to those who claimed
"that the magazine is frail – and it certainly is, financially speaking – [De Carlo says] but it might also be argued that having gone through three lives already, it has the vitality of a cat which, as we know, has nine lives."
("Spae & Soceity", n.6/1979, p.3)

From this time De Carlo's metaphor of a cat's numerous lives, presented for the first time here with a quick touch and a fleeting formulation, never had time to be forgotten by the editor or readers. It cropped up just two years later in announcing yet another change of publisher. This event, and the subsequent one, was accepted and interpreted in all its dramatic harshness, but (as in subsequent cases) with pride and the purposeful conviction of one who sees a crisis as the opportunity and condition for a cultural renewal conceived and conducted with stubborn determination that were never sated.
Perhaps, however, some foreshadowings of the event are actually embedded in the difficult birth of "Space & Society", which was presented with the new Italian series in January 1978.

"The story of our magazine's name is not very long but already rather intricate. It first appeared in Italy on June 1975 as sub-title of "Espaces et Sociétés", the magazine edited by Henri Lefebvre and Anatole Kopp. Under this heading two numbers were issued: they were essentially collections of essays from the French edition plus a few Italian contributions. In 1976, realizing it was useless to translate essays addressed to a public quite capable of reading them in the original, the promoters of the magazine decided to form an editorial staff and start a thoroughly new programme. After this changeover, the heading of the magazine was reversed: "Spazio e Società" became the title and " Espaces et sociétés " the sub-title - toned down in the background of the title-page as more faint was the consonance in ideology and interests between the Italian and the French editions. Under the new title two other numbers were issued, among increasing publishing difficulties which eventually proved utterly paralysing, so that at the beginning of 1977 it was decided to discontinue the publication. Now, after one year devoted to the arrangement of a more viable operating structure, we are starting afresh with a new series opening with number 1. From now on the name will simply be "Spazio e società" with no sub-titles. (...) The new editorial staff is backed by an advanced and competent publisher able to ensure to the magazine a long and sound life in terms of continuity, punctuality, circulation and capacity of fulfilling the commitments to the readers. (...) [Anyway] the Magazine will go through the same fluctuating, itinerant, inclusive route through which all good architectural designs go. [Therefore] (...) any evaluation should be deferred until the Magazine actually takes shape and discloses its real essence."
(n.1/1978, pp.3-8)

It was, however, necessary to wait some time to be able to formulate a judgment of the "substance" of "Space & Society", since the first three years of its life were experimental in their approach and spent progressively defining the review's main guidelines and organization.

"The magazine is thus entirely changed except for its basic contents, transferred to the new series from the last two numbers of the former series. As to contents, it is perhaps needless to state them (...) because editing a magazine is similar to developing an architectural design and becomes meaningful only through a process of fluctuations alternating between goals and proposals. "
(n.1/1978, p.4)

The first results looked encouraging: "As from the second number we may say that the magazine has got off to a fairly good start. It came out punctually - this also goes for the future - was immediately and evenly distributed in bookshops and newspaper kiosks, reached readers in all the Italian regions and in many foreign countries. The subscription campaign also seems to be responding well and we hope will improve in the future because the magazine is independent and its progress - like the length of its life - depends on the number of its regular readers. Even the press seems to have taken an interest in the first number: in fact many newspapers and magazines dealing with architecture or not, have noted it and discussed its presence and role in the present architectural scene. More important however than the number of notices are the reasons for this interest, because they all recognize the existence of the gap which our magazine is trying to fill." (n.2/1978, p.3)

From the start, however, enthusiasm was accompanied by concern over the "way of compensating the inevitable slowness of a quarterly and, on the other hand, of opening contacts with a widening group of collaborators, preferably outside the "field" and thus yet to discover. The problem of readability abroad is still critical, especially considering the interest with which the first number was received in many foreign countries. (...) As we said, the magazine has got off to a good start, so we hope it may develop its programme for a long time. Readers will be informed of the itinerant course of this development just as if it was a project in which they are directly involved."
(n.2/1978, p.4)

Today we should probably describe De Carlo's attitude in terms of "transparency". An attitude that emerged right from the start was his immediate willingness to create an open-ended relationship with readers, seeking to engage them in active collaboration with the cultural project under way. At the same time, the appeal to take part in the magazine's life was ignored at a number of points, producing a frustrating situation of difficulty that was openly and regretfully pointed out ten years after the first optimistic invitations: "our review is going through a difficult period. This is primarily due to economic and therefore publishing reasons, but also to the weak support that comes from our readers. Which means that we can't count on enough people buying the review in bookstores or subscribing, but also - and more to the point - that not enough people feel concerned about the themes our review has been developing in the last ten years. Themes that for the most part are independent, disinterested, and not celebratory. If Space & Society shouldn't make it at surviving it will be due to carelessness, not simply for its scope but possibly for the world's destiny." (n.45/1989, p.4)

This urging not only to foster but to spread the review (these are the two aspects of the "contribution" requested) was repeated on various occasions and also early in the life of "Space & Society", in the first attempts to take stock of the magazine's achievement. In this phase, the success and progress in defining the review's role and objectives jarred with the observation of financial and organizational difficulties that were to prove persistent over the years, to the point where they can now be seen as practically "structural" for an "independent" review (which "Space & Society" always was, founded on voluntary contributions and produced on a craft scale, without outside support.

"This issue - the fourth of the new series concludes the first year of " Spazio e Società ". The cultural balance seems rather positive. Most of our initial aims have been adjusted and now we begin to see more clearly the outlines of the gap we would like to fill up. (...) The economic balance is, however, less encouraging. Sales of the first three issues did not reach the expected levels, and subscriptions have not been so plentiful as to guarantee, an elated survival. Many banal yet hampering difficulties - such as poor distribution, mail delays, suspicious restraints on newspapers acknowledgements - may be overcome in the future. The most relevant contribution, however, may only come from the review's public. Readers who believe that " Spazio e Società " is a useful tool which should go on operating for a long time, who agree with the intention of looking deeper into the present state of architecture, who want to back cultural actions that do not play the game of the economic and bureaucratic power – that's to say, very likely, most of our actual and potential readers - can lend an all-important helping hand by increasing the review's diffusion."
(n.4/1978, p.3)

The editorial, already quoted, that opened S&S 6/1979 in a certain sense signalled the first evident crisis of "Space & Society", marked by the change of publisher from Mazzotta to the Sansoni firm. Now began the third life of "Space & Society". The first change of publisher (and it was the same for the following ones) was a deeply felt experience, as suggested by the metaphor, far from banal, of the cat's lives, which seems to subtend a concern for the review's development in almost existential terms, as also appears partly from De Carlo's own words.

"The transitional labours were so long as to cause delays in our quarterly schedule. The time, however, wasn't lost: it was used in gaining insights into the oddities of the publishing machine and, most important, in protecting the magazine - this earthen vase - from being smashed by those iron vases of budgets. In the end, Spazio e Società was saved and we may now, with some peace of mind, make our acknowledgments. First of all we would like to thank the publisher Mazzotta for allowing us to issue five numbers, which were all important to give a precise shape to the magazine, so that we needn't make any change in the format of coming numbers. We are also thankful to the new publisher, Sansoni, for backing our cultural program and granting the financial and technical resources to further develop it. The magazine's survival is now ensured for two years at least. We are rid at last of doubts, at each appearing number, about the possibility of issuing the next already prepared. We feel more at ease with contributors as they may rely on a punctual, exhaustive and selected publication; and also with subscribers who support the Review, as they may rely on receiving all the numbers they are entitled to. What will happen two years from now is hard to tell, considering all the problems harassing independent periodicals whose purpose is not that of providing an outlet for advertising investments or of opening breaches to the hegemony of a political power. At the most, we can say that two years from now, eight more numbers of the magazine will be published, so that if readers keep following us in an active way - directly participating in the debate we'll continue to propose - the magazine may have a longer and richer life. And, should its peripatetic fate strike again, perhaps it will easily find other supporters caring for its survival, as quickly as it happened in this occasion."
(n.6/1979, pp.3-4)

The critical moments of the review were accompanied by serious commitment to reviewing the contents and the organization of the editorial staff, with a constant, rigorous self-criticism.
The problem of contributions to the review cropped up a number of times, necessitatine: "a bit of reorganization in order to make the editorial work more effective and to improve the net of relationships with both the Italian and the European readers. Thus, from now on, the editing board - formed by those who daily work at making the Review - will be supported by a group of [new] correspondents (...). More correspondents are expected to join this group in the future."
(n.12/1980, p.2)

However, the problem that always continued to plague "Space & Society" was the inadequate circulation of the review, despite the changes of publisher. ""Spazio e Società" is poorly distributed and unavailable in many towns. Subscribers receive their copy rather late and sometime they do not receive it at all. The readership potential is instead quite high, as is proved by the attention shown by those who follow the magazine. So, the publisher should be urged to improve the distribution while meetings should be promoted in the architectural schools and the most popular bookstores all over Italy to advertise the magazine and step up the sales." (n.14/1981, p.5)

Financial difficulties also placed yet another sever constriction on the review's production which, all the same, in harmony with its initial principles, was to remain "independent" and for this reason devoid of subsidies. The meeting of contributors to "Space & Society" held in June 1981 provided an opportunity to present and discuss this, together with the other difficulties mentioned that were hindering the review's development.

"To prepare each issue - from assembling the materials to the translations, from editing to page layout, and following the printing process, from checking the proofs to the binding - the editors have the meager budget of three millions and a half of lire. This very serious constraint prevents us from commissioning any kind of "special article" or even from having an editorial team adequate to the requirements. So, "Spazio e Società" has to rely on the willingness of the contributors to publish on a "different" magazine. To intensify this willingness "Spazio e Società" has to become more and more relevant and engaging." (n.14/1981, p.5)

The review's outlook, always active and never submissive, enabled it to cope with the various setbacks by continually raising the stakes of the objectives it set itself in each phase, as emerges clearly also in the next and very important change announced at the start of the eighties: "with the coming issue our review is undergoing another change, beginning the fourth of the seven cat's lives we anticipated. It will be sponsored by a new publishing venture, it will open to a wider field of contributions, it will become totally bi-lingual and it will be distributed in areas it didn't reach yet."
(n.15-16/1981, p.2)

"From now on and for at least twelve issues in the next three years, "Spazio e Società" will be published jointly by the Sansoni Editore Nuova, Florence, and the MIT-Press, Cambridge, US. According to the agreement, the magazine is entirely bilingual (parallel Italian and English texts). An editorial group in Cambridge will prepare one of the four yearly issues: for 1982, this issue will be the next one, n. 18. The distribution area of MIT-Press includes all the English speaking countries, plus India, Scandinavia and Japan. The other countries remain in the area of Sansoni Editore Nuova. (...) The new formula of the magazine has implied a change in its format. In a way we are sorry of this change. We rather enjoyed the challenge of making a close-packed architectural magazine which avoided the usual wasted blank spaces and still was clear and readable. Many reasons however led us o enlarge the format: the necessity to print parallel Italian and English texts without crowding the page; the desire to stop the booksellers' propensity to keep small sized publications under the counter, and the hope that larger pages will attract more advertising."
(n.17/1982, p.4)

Once again, however, the change of publisher provided an opportunity to take stock of the review's activities. The aims of the stocktaking concerned above all the assessment of the coherence of the project relative to the current conditions.

"In the Editorial of issue n. 1 we said that we would follow a fluctuating, wandering and inclusive route, as is the case for any good architectural design. Four years later, looking back at the sixteen issues thus far published, we may say this is exactly what happened. Instead of following a pre-conceived "line" we shot probes in many directions from the launching pads of our assumptions, trying to define a "field" encompassing the complexity of contemporary architectural issues."
(n.17/1982, p.5)

"The first issue of "Space and Society" - edited in the Usa - (...) is also the eighteenth issue of an older magazine, "Spazio e Società". For "Spazio e Società", No. 18 represents another stage in its maturity as it becomes completely bi-lingual and extends its base across the Atlantic towards a new architectural community. (...) [The new American editorial board is] thus fortunate to be both at a beginning and also already on a path: to be able to examine themes more specifically American in the context of an established set of perspectives." 
(n.18/1982, p.5)

This was the sense of the new, short-lived collaboration with the MIT-Press, which came to an end two years later for reasons outside the will of "Space & Society" and generating yet another shake-up in the magazine's life.

"With this issue, the fourth life of our magazine is ending. A fifth one will begin with the next: another step towards the seven lives of a cat of sound constitution we predicted for Spazio e Società in June '79. A change has occurred in the editorial arrangements, since MIT Press in reassessing its involvement in architectural magazines, finally decided to give up Spazio e Società among others. Our thanks go to Julian Beinart, Doreen Berenice Pienart, Antonio Di Mambro and Edward Robbins for their intelligent cooperation over the last three years during which they entirely conceived and edited issues n. 18, 22, 26. We would also like to thank G.C. Sansoni Editore Nuova for confirming its confidence in the magazine by the decision - courageous, as times go - to keep on publishing and distributing it in every country. (...) No change instead will occur in the international approach of the magazine, which will remain bi-lingual, nor in its research trend which will continue to develop along multiple yet convergent lines." (n.28/1984, p.4)

The changes that had affected the review until this point also find correspondence in the occasional anomalies that affected its periodicity, though it was substantially regular.

"We've always tried to avoid double issues; in fact this is only the second since the magazine was started. The first (15-16, September / December 1981) heralded a complex change in the publishing venture; the present one follows a similarly complex change in the organization of technical aspects of the magazine's production and distribution. As before, this double issue again coincides with a modification in the structure of the magazine and an enrichment of the editorial content."
(n.31-32/1985, p.6)

In this phase "the magazine goes its way with some success and a few difficulties. The success can be inferred from the fact that more and more people throughout the world seem willing to contact "Spazio & Società" to discuss the issues it tackles and submit for publication interesting writings and material. The difficulties are mostly connected with the problem of improving distribution, of coping with editorial costs, of securing decent advertising and of getting through the barrier erected by the various architectural mafias between the magazine and its potentially large audience."
(n.31-32/1985, p.6)

So once again the appeal was renewed to readers and subscribers "to help us in spreading the magazine and using it to speed up the desirable recovery from the current architectural confusion."
(n.31-32/1985, p.6)

Shortly after, however, the review underwent another change, "to enter its sixth life, which we hope will be long and particularly intense as it is the ripest. What happened was that Sansoni Editore Nuova, caught in the general crisis currently plaguing the Italian publishing sector, was forced to stop the publication of most of its periodicals, including "Space & Society". This we regret very much, and - in spite of the frequent distribution difficulties we and our readers did suffer – we'll warmly remember our long and friendly cooperation with the old and distinguished Florentine firm. On the other hand, we are very happy to announce that from now on "Space & Society" will be published by the SAGEP, a rather young Genoese publisher cleverly directed and efficiently run, particularly versed in the architectural field, as its rich booklist testifies. The metamorphosis has been this time rather easy, and we feel the time is past when changes seemed somewhat alarming as well as stimulating. The magazine has by now a definite role of its own, quite unique in the international architectural field, and it can rely on the support of a widespread current of opinion. In fact, as soon as the first hints of impending changes were abroad, we received many alternative proposals. The decisive support came however from "Genova Architettura", a new association whose aim is to further the discussion of Genoa architectural and town-planning issues, and whose first concrete step towards this purpose was to enable the publication in Genoa of "Space & Society". (...) So [the magazine] will carry on its manifold research with an additional stimulus: the direct attention of a city particularly interesting because it is undergoing a deep crisis - like so many other cities - but - unlike most other cities – is aware of it and seems willing to overcome it by rediscovering its traditional qualities."
(n.36/1986, p.4)

Three years later, yet another "double issue completes yet another cycle in the life of Space & Society. With the next issue, it will have left Genoa and returned to Florence - the journal's home in the third and fourth cycles of its peripatetic life - to be produced by a new publisher, "Le Lettere". We of the editorial staff are happy to be on the wing again. A change of air is good for everyone, and especially for architectural magazines. But at the same time, we're sorry to be leaving Genoa, sorry to be forced into producing a double issue, and even sorry about the change of scene. But what else could we do? In Genoa the review never found the right soil to put down roots in. And this is all the more regrettable because (...) Space & Society could have given her a chance to be directly engaged in the contemporary debate on architecture and urban design with a voice of her own. But the chance has been missed and so all that is left to us is to wave goodbye and thank our publishers, SAGEP, who brought out twelve issues, the group of "Genova Architettura" which made the attempt at a transplant possible, the local institutions and industries (our sponsors) who helped us survive in the first two of our three years there, the architectural students in the city who are well on their way to becoming architects, and who may well nurse memories - stimulating? regretful? of the meteor whose passage across their skies they witnessed."
(n.47-48/1989, p.4)

De Carlo considered this the sixth life of the review; be that as it may, the following passage clearly reveals the orientations for the future, aiming to avoid subjecting further strains and frustrations at "Space & Society".

"As for our sixth life, we can only suppose that the review – like a cat – still has more than one in reserve. Our own feeling at present is that we’ll have neither time nor desire to face yet another new cycle after this one and, were we ever in this position again, we’d take it as proof that the world in its present state doesn’t want us. So we’d like to pack all our remaining lives into this new one we’re embarking on and live it long and intensely, with a certain optimism.”
(n.47-48/1989, p.5)

Andrea di Giovanni