40 anni della Rivista, 40 anni di sociologia urbana e rurale

The purpose of the article is to illustrate some aspects of the evolution of urban sociology in Italy, highlighting the contribution that it has been offered by the Journal Urban and Rural Sociology along the 40 years of its history. The analysis takes into consideration above all three periods: the first is the initial one, between the end of the '70s and the '80s, a second is between the twentieth and the twenty-first century, and the third is the current one, corresponding to the last ten years. For each phase, the dominant themes on the international and national scene are highlighted, along with the main topics of interest emerging from the articles and the monographic issues of the Journal. The article ends with some considerations regarding the spatial turn that is the growing attention to the spatial dimension of the phenomena affecting the contemporary social sciences, highlighting the new tasks that open up for urban sociology in interdisciplinary confrontation. [Publishers' text].