This section reports the first results of a research project which examines residential architecture built for the middle classes from the 1950s until the 1970s in the cities of Turin, Milan and Rome. These essays - which focus mainly on Milan and Turin - dwell on various aspects of the phenomenon which include the following: the relationship between urban planning and the contraction of middle class cities, the role of private sector operators; the involvement of the public sector through forms of housing that are subsidised with concessions by government; the role of property developers; the issue of the ‘translation’ of high-end and standard international architectural models towards a broader market connected with consumer models and tastes expressed by the growing middle classes.