The new demands of territorial, real estate and market economy have inaugurated a complex process of political and institutional reform in Italy, affecting both the domestic situation and the relations between Italy and other European countries. On said basis, the need for a new urban planning discipline has in turn given rise to a new ìterritorial governingî philosophy. Such philosophy aims, on one hand, at creating a new, flexible general planning instrument working at both structural and operational level, required in order to keep separate the main strategic goals and the concrete management of local transformation processes; on the other hand, at introducing complicated and functional instruments operating differently than the standard executive plans and able, at the same time, to allow the regulations to be tailored to the local contingent needs, with private parties being involved in the process (through the so-called ìcomplex plansî).