Search

With a rising globalization of the economy and society, the digital transformation, and the economic downturn started in 2008, working is becoming less dependent on distance, location, and time. These are some of the reasons that have fostered the development and diffusion of new working spaces like coworking spaces. The paper aims at exploring the location determinants of coworking spaces, an issue that has been less developed by the literature up to now. By focusing on the 549 coworking spaces located in Italy at the year 2018, the paper investigates the location factors of such workplaces, and the attractiveness of large cities as well as peripheral areas. The results of the descriptive statistics and the econometric analysis (a Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial model is applied) confirm that coworking is mainly an urban phenomenon, since coworking spaces tend to be knowledge-intensive places for creative people. Specifically, the municipalities showing higher innovation and entrepreneurial environment (i.e. major cities) are preferred locations. Besides, it is discussed whether coworking spaces may contribute to fostering the development of peripheral and inner areas in Italy, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic where the share of teleworkers outside metropolitan areas has massively increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon the debates on 'suburbanisms' and 'arrival space', this article explores the complexities for welfare governance in multiethnic peripheries. The paper bridges two themes of the contemporary 'suburban century': the intensified global migration flows and the peripheral condition of suburbs worldwide; the work refers to the Municipality of Pioltello, a multiethnic suburban area in Milan's region. This double-sided perspective reveals governance dynamics, here discussed through the concept of 'welfare offloading'. In the observed neighborhood, governmental complexities disclose profound interdependencies with the region's urban core and across municipalities; welfare tensions are 'offloaded' from the central core to peripheral regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work addresses the relationship between the Italian city-making process following Unification (1861) and the development of military settlements up to the 1920s. The hypothesis presented here is that the building of military settlements and the redevelopment of spaces with new functions, arguably, shaped Italian cities over this period by implementing urban renewal processes and city expansion. Through my analysis, I claim that defence planning had an amenable effect upon the decision-making process of urban planning schemes. In addition, this paper claims that this process has impacted the location of military settlements in ways that boosted the economic and urban images of the city. I do this through a detailed case study of Milan's parade ground. Here, I found that the parade ground dismantling and relocation from the urban centre towards the periphery happened twice, relied on a specific narrative, and was catalysed by two mega-events. I demonstrate that defence planning plays a secondary role in boosting these operations aimed both at replacing military settlements with newly emerging functions and displacing the unwanted functions in the periphery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes one of the Italian sprawl drivers: the circle triggered by the use of urban charges to solve budget problems. From 2005 to 2018, Italian municipalities could use urban charges to solve normal budget problems: they could plan new urban areas to provide new urban charges, new building and services, and they could manage old and new services at the expense of normal budget. The planning of unnecessary urban areas was effectively influenced by budget problems. The paper illustrates this issue during a period without open data sources in order to improve land management and environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting on 24th August 2016, Central Italy was struck by a six-month earthquake sequence that caused 303 victims and extensive major damages to urban areas and infrastructures, in some cases entire villages needed complete rebuilding. In this paper we present a map that portrays the overall susceptibility to multiple landslide types and the exposure to landslides of the rural-urban areas of the Castelsantangelo sul Nera Municipality, a typical village of the central Italian Apennine. The map is based on a procedure that ingests geomorphological data and models and groups the individual landslide susceptibility maps in a joint susceptibility and exposure map based on expert-defined criteria. The procedure has been applied to built-up and to undeveloped areas to highlight their exposure and was used as a tool for planning post-seismic reconstruction. We advise that such maps are used also as basic tool for ordinary urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the multitemporal landslide inventory map prepared for the urban areas of Motta Montecorvino and Volturino, two municipalities located in the Southern Apennines (Apulia Region, Italy). These territories show a high propensity to landslides of different types and magnitude, which periodically interfere with the anthropic structures and infrastructures. For the study area, the spatial and temporal distribution of landslides is detected for the period between 1954 and 2003, through the visual interpretation of multiple sets of black and white digital stereoscopic aerial photographs at different scales. The analysis reveals locally high frequency of landslide occurrence and built-up areas on existing landslides, either on the body or on the crown areas. In particular, we show that over the years new residential areas were developed despite the presence of large old mass movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting on 24th August 2016, Central Italy was struck by a six-month earthquake sequence that caused 303 victims and extensive major damages to urban areas and infrastructures, in some cases entire villages needed complete rebuilding. In this paper we present a map that portrays the overall susceptibility to multiple landslide types and the exposure to landslides of the rural-urban areas of the Castelsantangelo sul Nera Municipality, a typical village of the central Italian Apennine. The map is based on a procedure that ingests geomorphological data and models and groups the individual landslide susceptibility maps in a joint susceptibility and exposure map based on expert-defined criteria. The procedure has been applied to built-up and to undeveloped areas to highlight their exposure and was used as a tool for planning post-seismic reconstruction. We advise that such maps are used also as basic tool for ordinary urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the multitemporal landslide inventory map prepared for the urban areas of Motta Montecorvino and Volturino, two municipalities located in the Southern Apennines (Apulia Region, Italy). These territories show a high propensity to landslides of different types and magnitude, which periodically interfere with the anthropic structures and infrastructures. For the study area, the spatial and temporal distribution of landslides is detected for the period between 1954 and 2003, through the visual interpretation of multiple sets of black and white digital stereoscopic aerial photographs at different scales. The analysis reveals locally high frequency of landslide occurrence and built-up areas on existing landslides, either on the body or on the crown areas. In particular, we show that over the years new residential areas were developed despite the presence of large old mass movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the flood hazard in the city of Monza, which periodically suffers from overflows from both the river Lambro and the urban drainage system during wet weather conditions. A unified Urban Flash Flood Model of Monza is therefore developed to capture both sources of hazard. The model is first validated by comparing the results of simulations with historical data related to the area of Monza, then is exploited to obtain maximum flood depth and velocity maps for three different return periods. Overall, the results show the different nature of the flood-related hazard and the sewer-related hazard: the former is concentrated across the rivers whereas the latter spreads patchy over the territory. Furthermore, the former features much larger water levels and flow velocities, which result in more serious hazard to citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature on the local dimension of migration policy-making, one can see an emerging interest in transnational cities networks (TCNs). Networks such as Eurocities can represent policy venues that go beyond the limits of vertical relations between national governments and local authorities to directly lobby European Union (EU) institutions. Futhermore, TCNs can offer opportunities for policy exchange and learning, leading to the diffusion of policy innovations and best practices. However, evidence on the concrete functions played by TCNs is still scarce. By focusing on two highly internationalised Italian cities, Milan and Turin, and by taking an actor-centred perspective, this paper highlights how different categories of policy-makers within the municipal administration think about 'going Europe'. According to our analysis, TCNs, rather than accomplishing their official instrumental goals, play primarily symbolic functions, such as legitimising local integration policy, building a new city identity and positioning the city vis-à-vis other European cities and EU institutions. Yet, this does not mean that TCNs are 'useless', since the symbolic resources they convey can be crucial in creating consensus among stakeholders at the local level or lobbying national authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the Italian Government's decision to fund strategic planning in order to promote a sustainable and competitive development in city-regions in southern Italy, the regional governments were asked to steer proactively strategic planning initiatives within their respective territory. In the cases of Bari and Taranto, it was the first time that 31 municipalities constituting Metropolitan Bari and 28 municipalities constituting sub-region Taranto attempted to think collectively in order to prepare the strategic plan. This paper evaluates strategic planning in Bari and Taranto sub-regions and discusses lessons learnt for future efforts in strategic planning. We examine why were the strategic plans made and how was the planning process organized and what, if any, impact these attempts had on development strategies and governance models at the urban-regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes to contribute to debates on revanchist urbanism. By drawing from empirical data collected in two northern Italian cities, Verona and Modena, it provides an exemplification of relevant policies: phone centres normative framework. After discussing to what extent the original thesis by Neil Smith can be transported to the cases under analysis, the paper points to a vacuum in the relevant literature: a lack of attention to dynamics of politics. Hence, it demonstrates that while scholars risk promoting a narrative of domination, the target of revanchist policies can resist the potential annihilation of public spaces operated by revanchist interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Analytic Network Process is a multi-criteria measurement theory that is used to derive relative priority scales of absolute numbers from individual judgements. The Analytic Network Process offers a general framework to deal with complex decisions, which provides a comparison of the different options. The paper shows the application of the Analytic Network Process to support the decision-making process related to the choice of different transport scenarios in the town of Venaria Reale, Northern Italy. In particular, considering the necessity of improving the connections between the city of Torino and the town of Venaria, the need for new infrastructures emerges. In this sense, it is necessary to investigate different project solutions, taking into account the problems related to sustainable mobility and the impacts on the urban structure that will, from necessity, be changed to a great extent. The paper illustrates the work that has been done in order to make the decision makers able to consider the different aspects of the problem simultaneously, to identify the key questions and to prioritize them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on the significations of the 'mental life' of the city that are represented by the material symbols on display. In trying to comprehend the public display of fascist era 'art' in the city of Trieste, it addresses an example of trying to make sense of the 'impossible'. Reassured of the contested nature of such displays, the paper reflects further on the power of symbols in fascism and how different countries have addressed their legacy. Confirmed of their danger, we examine the risk of leaving their significance unanalysed and contextualise this in a comparison of the respective approaches of Italy and of Germany. We also consider the potential impacts of toleration, and normalisation, of such artefacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will describe the social uses of urban space by an urban movement actor, the Venetian ‘occupied social centre’ Rivolta. It considers the occupied social centres (OSCs) in Italy as heterogeneous experiences that rely on illegal occupations of disused buildings and their self-management. They become social and de-commodified spaces where activists set up political and cultural initiatives. Self-managing and self-organization are the principles through which the occupants organize political and social activities. In this paper I will provide a general overview of this heterogeneous archipelago and interpret the Rivolta as a proactive and multidimensional movement actor that challenges a widespread view that occupations of urban space take the form of ghettos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The history of urban life in Southern Italy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries was particularly disjointed. At varying points many of the regions'' cities were subject to the domination of petty Lombard princes, Byzantine emperors, Norman dukes and, as one passes into the twelfth century, Sicilian kings and German emperors. This paper uses the case of the northern Apulian city of Troia to show that, below this surface of political discontinuity, it is possible to discern a different understanding of an urban history. In highlighting the significance of the economic development of Troia''s surrounding territory and the manner in which this created a damaging rivalry with the neighbouring settlement of Foggia, this essay emphasises the need to take into account local (and not only wider-ranging political) influences on the shaping of medieval south Italian urban life. In this context the paper also considers the importance of the development of a stable local government and a burgeoning civic conscience at Troia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper will present the main results of research aimed at evaluating different mobile phone data sources for urban analysis and planning for the Monza and Brianza Province (Northern Italy) during 2011. In order to analyze the complex temporal and spatial patterns of this spatial context, we used several mobile phone traffic data (i.e. Erlang measures, SMS counts, MSC active clients counts), provided by Telecom Italia, covering two time slots in 2009 and 2010. We therefore integrated manifold mobile phone network data sources in a systemic way for a comprehensive evaluation of the overall potential of these data in describing urban dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the success of Berlusconi's political formula in the context of urban changes and their effects on political participation. It argues that the suburban sprawl, or the urbanized countryside, needs to be looked at as a phenomenon that describes more than changes in human settlements; it both reflects and causes transformations in social practices with hefty consequences for political engagement. In Italy, the combination of suburban sprawl with mobility technologies, especially those related to individual and information mobility, has contributed to drag the agora into the den and to create a massive atomized audience. With a diminished public dialogue now negatively affecting the natural competition of ideas, as well as the liveliness and fairness of the democratic process, the retreat into the home has provided the breeding ground for demagoguery of the kind delivered by Berlusconi's formula of authoritarian manipulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic urban and regional planning, which emerged in Europe in the 1980s, has become an instrument to establish sustainable development of previously successful industrial areas today affected by the crisis caused mostly by the globalisation of the 1990s. Strategic urban planning concerns organisational land use which in turn regulates resource protection, sustainable development, regeneration and infrastructural investments and multilevel governance. Careful planning is imperative to reach goals such as enhancing local competitiveness and life quality. These dimensions represent the two focal points of the majority of city planning strategies. Their implementation depends not only on planning effectiveness, but also on the organisation and the management of the implementation process by the planning agency or the equivalent local promoter. This paper looks at the experience of Italian cities, in order to derive implications for theory and for future planning processes. More specifically, it analyses the extent to which Italian cities follow similar or divergent paths at the stage of the design process; the Italian case study is then compared with the guidelines proposed by the planning literature and with other European cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates practices of space appropriation, their rationales and the distinctive forms of community they create in Primavalle, a low-income public project on the periphery of Rome. Space appropriation is relevant for design practice because it indicates the possibility to learn from the residents in order to envision a progressive design practice. By addressing shortcomings in the literature of New Urbanism and Everyday Urbanism, this research corrects both the normative approach of the former and the anti-planning sentiment of the latter. The objective was met through examining: (a) setting-specific forms of space appropriation in the neighborhood; (b) their idealization as personal and community places; and (c) how they occasion and support regular daily routines. I have used three strands of fieldwork: a multi-block observation of contrasting types of space appropriation, short ethnographies, literature and archival research. The findings of the research support the proposition for a design philosophy lodged between everyday practice and long-term policy action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on both archival and contemporary fieldwork materials, this paper explores, over a 300-year time span, changing perceptions of urban space and town-country relationships in the small north Puglian city of Ascoli Satriano. In particular, it examines the implications of the growth of an agro-town economy in the late nineteenth century, and the short-lived peasantization of a substantial part of Ascoli's rapidly expanding population. It argues that early anthropological attempts to delineate the main cultural and structural characteristics of southern Italian settlement patterns were premature, over-generalized and failed to account for variation through time, and that the conceptual peasantization of the Italian south is, in part at least, the product of a historically foreshortened anthropological tradition that has habitually over-privileged the longue durée. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]