EDITORIAL PREFACE COVID-19 vs CITY-20 SCENARIOS, INSIGHTS, REASONING AND RESEARCH

For the sciences that study the city and the territory, the holistic approach, the theory of systems and the complexity paradigm seem to allow for an interpretation of the urban and territorial phenomena in progress that is more relevant to reality. Considering and studying the city and the territory as dynamic, complex and chaotic systems offers the greatest guarantees of relevance, especially if we consider the number and variety of catastrophic events that have been occurring in recent decades: from events related to the effects induced by climate change to the current viral pandemics; events that are difficult to predict and so significant that they are considered real challenges for the lives of many populations. On the other hand, in order to know these phenomena - which the chaos theory defines as random - and to understand their effects, it is essential to read them within the context in which they occur: the city and the territory.