Bernardo Rossi Doria, urban planner and defender of cultural and environmental heritage, has passed away at the age of 91

A leading figure in Italian urban planning and the defence of historical and environmental heritage, the architect and town planner Bernardo Rossi Doria has died at the age of 91 in Rome, where he was born on 14 May 1934.

The announcement of his death on Friday 27 March was made by his family, his wife Gaia Pallottino, as reported by Adnkronos. After graduating in Architecture in Rome in 1960, he was among the founders of the Aua studio - Architects and Urban Planners Associates. He worked for a long time with the National Institute of Urban Planning and with the environmentalist association Italia Nostra, of which he was secretary general with writer Giorgio Bassani as president from 1969 to 1976.

Rossi Doria has been involved in numerous master plan projects, including those of Zafferana Etnea, Carini, Cutro and Orvieto, and has promoted landscape protection measures in various Italian regions. Bernardo Rossi Doria accompanied his professional activity with a long academic career: after experiences in the United States, between MIT in Boston and the University of New Orleans, he returned to Italia where he taught at the universities of Reggio Calabria and Palermo, becoming full professor and director of the City and Territory Department.

Rossi Doria has been a promoter of the training of new generations of urban planners, coordinating doctorates and degree courses in urban, territorial and environmental planning. In addition to his academic career, he has carried out an intense political and administrative activity. He was assessor to the Municipality of Rome in the municipal council of Mayor Luigi Petroselli in 1981, with responsibilities for the Tiber, the Zoological Garden, the Littoral, Tourism and Sport. He has worked as a consultant for national and international institutions, including the Council of Europe and the Ministry of Public Works, promoting sustainable development policies and the protection of cultural and environmental heritage.

The author of numerous publications, articles and essays, he contributed to the debate on urban planning, land protection and the enhancement of cultural heritage in newspapers and magazines, including 'Il Messaggero', 'Paese Sera', 'Il Manifesto' and 'Corriere della Sera'. Until the last years of his life, Rossi Doria continued to be committed to sustainable mobility and the defence of the territory, participating in initiatives and committees such as the Coordinamento Associazioni Lazio Mobilità Alternativa and the Società Italiana dei Territorialisti.