The city colour planning, between instances of conservation and need for renewal

The colour plans since their appearance, in Italy at the end of the Seventies, were a response to the need to protect and regulate, but also to enhance the colour identity of the historic city. The colour plans, then, have been assuming diversified objectives and intervention methods, which partly reflect and partly fuel the issue of the city chromatic identity poised between past, present and future. Starting from a reading of the various approaches and methods, objectives and results, characterising the colour plans, especially in Italy and in Europe, the aim of this paper is to present a summary of the main orientations the urban colour planning and design have been assuming.