Allocating cost reducing investments over competing divisions

This paper examines a three-stage model of divisionalization where, first, two parent firms create independent units, second, the parent firms allocate cost reduction levels over these units, and third, the resulting units compete in a Cournotmarket given their current costs of production. The introduction of the cost reduction phase is shown to reduce the incentives toward divisionalization severely, relative to other existing models. Namely, the scope for divisionalization in equilibrium reduces as the marginal cost of the cost reducing investment decreases, and eventually vanishes. A second-best welfare analysis shows that, for any given market structure, the equilibrium investment decisions of the parent firms are socially optimal. In addition, the no divisionalization outcome is sustainable in equilibrium only if it is socially optimal.divisionalization, horizontal mergers, research joint ventures

Nel labirinto dell'ordinario. Perché rileggere "L'invention du quotidien"

L’invention du quotidien è l’opera di Michel de Certeau più conosciuta da chi si occupa della casa e della città, dei loro abitanti, del disegno e del destino dello spazio domestico e urbano. L’organizzazione in due tomi concentra nel primo l’apporto di Certeau alla definizione dell’orizzonte teorico e metodologico, la scelta e la definizione dei terreni concreti di indagine. Il secondo, opera di P. Mayol e L. Giard, sviluppa i temi dell’abitare e del cucinare, riportando il corpus di due lunghe indagini elaborate sulle relazioni di una famiglia del quartiere della Croix Rousse a Lione con lo spazio urbano, e sulle tattiche della popolazione femminile francese nella preparazione dei pasti familiari. L’obiettivo della ricerca è confutare la tesi che il consumo dei beni si realizzi iscrivendo gli utenti in processi che li rendono passivi e disciplinati da regole imposte dai beni stessi. Il testo mostra cosa produciamo su alcuni beni mentre li usiamo. Per esempio, come trasformiamo la casa e la città mentre li abitiamo, o il valore strutturante del disordine domestico nella costruzione dell’identità. L’attenzione di Certeau per l’ordinario e il quotidiano si costruisce in un periodo, in cui la Storia e le altre discipline legate alle produzioni culturali – e fra queste l’Architettura – hanno già riconosciuto la contrapposizione fra colto e popolare fra i poli di opposti capaci di operare il passaggio dal moderno al post-moderno. L’attualità di questo libro è anche nella sua volontà di discutere la legittimità dei criteri di valutazione del sapere, condizione che oggi ci interessa da vicino. L’invention du quotidien è il frutto di una ricerca che interviene nella lacerazione che la supremazia della classificazione tecnico-scientifica determina fra i prodotti di alcune discipline e le discipline stesse, con la mira di raggiungere un punto cruciale in cui tutto è frutto di una sola logica. L’autonomia del campo d’azione, però non è un criterio che può valere in assoluto, e qui Certeau, contro il sapere disgiuntivo dell’esperto, evoca gli spazi della casa e della città, che per essere analizzati devono essere colti nel loro contesto e nel loro momento storico. L’architettura, qui, torna come pietra di paragone nell’organizzazione di sistemi di sapere generalisti, contestualizzati, che riconoscono i linguaggi come modalità produttive principali del loro sapere

Nuove stazioni, periferie e città

L’infrastruttura contemporanea amplia e fa slittare il proprio campo semantico, trasformandosi definitivamente da artefatto tecnico di carattere titanico ed epico ad elemento riparatore dei tessuti urbani, flessibile, trasformabile. In questo quadro in mutazione, numerose esperienze negli ultimi trent’anni hanno affermato in Europa occidentale il ruolo dei grandi progetti ferroviari come vettori di trasformazione urbana. A quindici anni dall’avvio della prima stagione di concorsi internazionali banditi per le nuove stazioni dell’Alta Velocità in Italia, è possibile un bilancio volto non solo al semplice confronto dei risultati direttamente pertinenti la realizzazione e l’esercizio dell’opera, ma indirizzati anche a cogliere le relazioni che le nuove stazioni hanno saputo e potuto stabilire con le porzioni urbane coinvolte, in un contesto politico e di governance in cui sono ormai mutate le condizioni di attuazione e gestione dei progetti. L’evocazione dei casi di Bari Centrale, Napoli Afragola, Roma Tiburtina, Firenze Belfiore, Bologna Centrale, Torino Porta Susa, supporterà alcune riflessioni in merito a nuovi elementi che determinano l’ampiezza degli effetti decisionali della politica e dell’amministrazione sui territori, sulle capacità architettoniche di questi grandi sistemi urbani, e permetterà di leggere con chiarezza l’opposizione fra città con strategie integrate e sinergie di intenti fra soggetti diversi e altre che soffrono cronicamente della discontinuità dei processi governativi, amministrativi e politici.Developed as a trans-scale reflection that focuses on the relationship between urban peripheries, unprecedented urban transformations, railway architecture and infrastructure in the era of high-speed transport, this article offers insights on a number of contemporary Italian and European projects. By examining several representative case studies, this essay will provide a clearer context for the major changes that are re-orienting these incomparable urban operations, seen as the products of a new economic, administrative and social organization. In the new perspective of the metropolitan-cities, it is the very idea of the periphery that will be redefined, overlapping with the idea of the extended city as it replaces the countryside and urbanized rural areas. The amount and breadth of the disciplinary studies concerning the roles in governance responsibility for the transformation of public space by means of infrastructure, is a strong indicator of the relationship between the level of coherence specific to and shared by the figures engaged in the planning process and the synergy between all the actors involved, synergy which is required to ensure the success of the interventions. This context, which redefines the scope of the effects of political and administrative decisions on the territory, will create an even stronger contrast between cities with integrated strategies and a synergy of intent between different actors, and others that suffer from a chronic instability in government, administrative and political processes

L’high Line Elevated Parkway : metamorfosi di un’infrastruttura in riconversione

The reuse of the abandoned High Line Elevated Parkway, claimed and partnered by the association Friends of the High Line, is based on certain features of the former, obsolete, viaduct which runs trough the urban tissue nearly 30 feet in the air. Inspired by the unexpected beauty of the lush wilderness that has converted the High Line’s tracks into a spontaneous greenway since 1980s, the design team has been led by James Corner – Field Operation, with Diller & Scofi dio + Renfro and Piet Oudolf. Sublimating the old traces of over 20 years of abandon, the project is founded on a holistic approach that embodies the new dominant paradigm marked by the growing importance of recycling, slowness and sustainability. The Phoenix-like metamorphosis that the ancient infrastructure has undergone, has produced one of the most popular destinations in the city. Moreover, embracing adaptive reuse and community planning, the new park however polarizes contrasting scenarios, since the reuse of the viaduct has spurred real estate development in the Chelsea district. Although the gentrification of the entire Meatpacking district was already an ongoing process, the High Line appears as the main catalyst in pushing it northwards and supporting the rezoning of West Chelsea

Infrastructure as interface. Thinking the urban and the high -speed station: italian case-studies.

This presentation will document some results of an ongoing research focusing on the role of infrastructure in contemporary design practice. The methodology is based on critical design theory and combines theoretical aspects with a case-study approach, at the junction of infrastructure, urban design and architecture. It is already well documented that 19th and 20th century infrastructure have deeply affected their programs in order to face new challenges over the last 30 decades. Railway stations are leading examples in this fields: they have gradually implemented their design, that already integrated commercial spaces and facilities, until involving in public space transformation. Instead, focusing on currents high speed stations in Italy, such as Torino Porta Susa, Florence Belfiorem and Rome Tiburtina, we can take into attention some aspects that are still to be examined. Analyzing how those fabrics act as urban-space definers, I would stress that prior residual conditions created by 19th and 20th century infrastructures \u2013 wherein parts of the city where disconnected or marginalized - are currently integrated in larger masterplans, in which the rail station acts as the primary integer of urban and architectural space

Superstrade urbane. Dall\u2019alta velocit\ue0 alle trasformazioni contemporanee

This article focuses on urban freeway deconstruction processes that recognize this infrastructure as a resource to be reclaimed for urban regeneration. Since they first appeared, freeways have been more than simple carriers of traffic flow. Following the suggestions provided by Le Corbusier, Drexler and Rudofsky in their \u201cROADS\u201d exhibition, Lawrence Halprin, Reyner Banham, particular attention is paid to the shift towards a larger set of aesthetic assumptions applied to highways. Fifty years after the iconic evocation of Autopia, urban freeways no longer embody the modern value of speed: they must increasingly deal with ecological challenges and re-cycling processes. The nodes where infrastructure comes together with architecture and public space are explored in a rapid survey of case studies. At a metropolitan scale, the recent cases of the Central Artery in Boston or the Cheongyeccheon expressway in Seoul, demonstrate unprecedented efforts in urban design, in which at the core of a multifaceted redevelopment project the highway disappears, replaced by a ground-level boulevard. This trend, seen earlier in San Francisco or Portland, differs from the situation in Europe, which raises a case -to-case approach. The Concrete Collar in Birmingham, or the many studies on the P\ue9riph\ue9rique in Paris, seek to implement specific actions the purpose of which is to resolve fractures in the urban fabric, issues involving linear voids along the edges, and lacerations in the urban continuity, in an attempt to reinvent the often adverse qualities of this infrastructure by relying on the architectural ambition of infrastructural design

Fra le reti e la città. Lo spazio delle nuove stazioni per l'Alta Velocità

Between networks and cities: Architectural space in the new High-Speed train stations. Over the past thirty years, megainvestment rail projects in Western Europe have become powerful transformation vectors. An extensive literature addresses the issue with an urban engineering oriented approach, concerned primarily with the large scale and focusing on governance and urban planning. This monograph section of “Trasporti & Cultura” examines the relationship of new high-speed railroad stations to their cities. The objective is to investigate the depth and meaning of the transformations being wrought by the new stations, in a comparative international scenario. Articles on Japan and China are followed by European case studies. The academic premise that looked to railway stations and tracks as a tool to regenerate blighted urban and industrial areas is clearly reasserted. Links can be established between urban transformation, new rail technology and the siting of the stations. Reframed by the new challenges of sustainable actions, energy transition, shrinking economies, the architectural design of contemporary high-speed railroad stations has undergone significant transformation, that cannot be totally ascribed to the innovations of high speed transportation. Today, following the projects of the 1960s-80s that sought to restore the continuity of the urban fabric linking the project to public space design, projects for stations are no longer interested in evoking boulevards, ramblas or parvis. A new third generation of projects unifies zones that have been divided for centuries with new linear urban parks covering kilometres of tracks, eschewing canonical figures such as streets and squares, and drastically simplifying the architecture of the railroad station, moving it underground

Il riflesso del porto. Il progetto Tanger Port fra promozione politica e frammentazione urbana.

"The reflection of the harbour. The Tanger Port project: political promotion and urban fragmentation" Relying on several large-scale projects launched during the fifteen-year reign of King Mohammed VI, Morocco is addressing its unprecedented infrastructural development as a crucial tool to bolster its economic competitiveness, and to turn the country into an attractive platform for foreign investment. Contributing to enhance the northern region and its Mediterranean façade, the Tanger Port renewal should be framed within the context of the colossal container terminal of Tanger Med, in a scenario distinguished by the current political promotion of the monarchical discourse. As the Tanger Port project reaches completion, a number of critical issues have been raised regarding the application of this trend in urban waterfront regeneration. The generic architecture master-planned by Forster, Reichen and Rober, ends up isolating the old town, especially Medina, from the new linear luxury fragment on the coast. The misinterpretation of the cultural and potential values expressed by this unique spatial identity, increases the social and economic gap dividing this fragmented urban realm. Because infrastructure always acts on a symbolic level, the influence of Tanger Port on the city of Tangiers questions the role of innovation in these processes, and illuminates how these new forms of spatial production, driven by foreign capitals and delineated by megaprojects, respond to the renewal of urban structures

Trasporti, cultura, architettura: presentazione del numero 38 di T&C a Palermo

L'articolo fornisce un contributo al chiarimento del rapporto che il progetto dell\u2019edificio di infrastruttura ha oggi con la citt\ue0 contemporanea e, al tempo stesso, con le questioni disciplinari in cui si inquadra. Contribuendo alla sintesi di conoscenze e orizzonti progettuali a lungo ritenuti incompatibili, il nuovo intenso scambio fra le infrastrutture dei trasporti e l'architettura degli edifici e della citt\ue0 segna il periodo contemporaneo.The article adresses the relationship between infrastructural buildings and architectural design in contemporary urban setting, moreover looking at the disciplinary realignement in which this relaionship is framed. Contributing to the synthesis of knowledge and design horizons long considered incompatible, the new intense exchange between transport infrastructures and architecture stands as one of the main design issues of our era

L'infrastruttura scomparsa. Il nuovo suolo della stazione Sagrera Alta Velocità a Barcellona

The vanishing infrastructure. The new ground of the Sagrera High-Speed railway station in Barcelona The current railway station mega-project in Barcelona Sagrera highlights the link between the construction of the new High- Speed station and a vast linear park that will cover the existing railroad tracks. In the framework of one of the largest and most ambitious railway and urban redevelopment projects currently underway in all of Europe, this article focuses on the subordination of the Station to the park, which apart from being a mere issue of location (the station is literally under the park), can be reframed within a theoretical debate on the role of architecture in these truly significant urban regeneration processes. The titanic size of the park illustrates its overwhelming power of transformation. Moreover, it reveals an underlying vision of the city, which connects districts at the surface level and views the park as a cohesive element and urban shaper, while the architecture disappears underneath this new ground level. Questioning how architecture can still matter in contemporary big-picture planning, the article first reports on the two adjacent planning processes, then argues for a transfer of representational, symbolic and architectural values from the station to the park. This achieves the integration between the park and the station at an iconic, imaginary level, rather than at the effective level of design. In this sense, the disappearance of the station, which is frequently identified with the park, questions how architecture can fulfils the promises of such large-scale projects. Finally, this article assesses how, in the case of Sagrera, disappearing seems to be the right answer for architecture, in order to reconcile massive investment in infrastructure with the new paradigm of sustainability