How can architecture have an affect on cities? Is the question foremost in the mind of Italian architects. The projects included in this book appear as isolated dots scattered across the map of the vast organism that is Milan. Individual architects can determine city form only in small ways and many of the schemes included here are studies for specific small enclaves of urban space. With cities like Milan almost unfit for habitation in some places, the urgent task of Italian architecture right now is to acquire influence and work to transform the city. More than architecture depends on the success of this work. The degree to which architects are succeeding in their task may be seen in the projects featured in this book. Dating from the last ten years, they include work both in the elegant and refined centre and on the periphery where there is more freedom to explore less conventional ideas of what is beautiful.