By Pier Vittorio Aureli

The Project of Autonomy: Politics and Architecture Within and Against Capitalism radically rediscusses the concept of autonomy in politics and architecture by tracing a concise and polemical argument about its history in Italy in the 1960s and early 1970s. Architect and educator Pier Vittorio Aureli analyses the position of the Operaism movement, formed by a group of intellectuals that produced a powerful and rigorous critique of capitalism and its intersections with two of the most radical architectural-urban theories of the day: Aldo Rossi’s redefinition of the architecture of the city and Archizoom’s No-stop City. Readers are introduced to major figures like Mario Tronti and Raniero Panzieri, who previously have been little known in the English-speaking world, especially in an architectural context, and to the political motivations behind the theories of Rossi and Archizoom.