If we look around, it seems people are fated to live in gloomy buildings without any fascination, confined to very degraded areas in the suburbs. In the best case, but only apparently, they live in "brick-built blocks of flats" or in very expansive residences, situated out of the urban context and built without any environment-friendliness. In such places "to live in a way according human wishes and needs" often means only to plan a few flower pots more, a swimming pool for the flat owners, pergolas for balconies, garden seats and slides: more important problems are meanwhile disregarded; that means that respect for environment and energy saving are neglected except for some old generation solar collector on the roof.

The most civil buildings in Italy, above all in the suburbs of Rome, are still realized by using technologies, materials and planning formulations which date back to the Seventies. There was no development in materials or planning that took care neither of site, orientation, march of wind speed, rain water harvesting nor of correct disposal of rubbish, environment-friendliness, energy saving, nor of the management costs of those blocks.

We can see newly-made housing estates devoid of any organic town-planning: they lack for common green areas, spaces for kids to play, pedestrian precincts, meeting places. Moreover such estates are often very closed to power lines or industrial areas or dumps; they abound with cement and asphalt instead of gardens.

New and "evergreen" builders without scruple have taken the place of architects and build real dormitory towns. They got their economic power also thanks to the complicity and incompetence of local politicians and authorities and to the increasing demand for flats. The results are evident.

The example of North Europe that is culturally more advanced and really interested in solving the problems of environment, quality of urban life and energy saving, encourage and enrich us with experiences, specifications and good suggestions so that the human destiny can take a new and better turn.

Our office for ecological architecture took this way up some years ago and so we wish to continue, because we firmly believe this is the only way to go.