Introduction: The ArchéA Method

Architectural European Medium-Sized City Arrangement (ArchéA) is a research project co-financed by the European Union under the program known as Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for higher education. The program aims to innovate teaching relating to the study and design of European medium-sized cities (between 100,000 and 500,000 inhabitants): all five partners involved in the program are architecture schools based in medium-sized cities: Cesena/Bologna, Aachen, Gliwice, Parma, and Rouen. The ArchéA project aims to investigate one of the different aspects that can be considered a furthering of the morphological approach: the open space of the European medium-sized city. Between theory and design, hypothesis and results, science and art, ArchéA simply seeks to be a contribution that cultivates the ambition to consolidate a heritage that is too often underestimated: the historical experience of European architecture.