Cairo, mega-city o mega-slum? Evoluzione demografica ed elementi della forma urbana della capitale egiziana

The paper gives an overview of the development of the main elements which various attempts at planning in the twentieth century had to face up to: the urbanisation of increasingly greater proportions of the population for which the quantitative (demographic) and qualitative (elements of the urban form) framework is given. The first part schematically reconstructs the demographic trends for the city since the middle of the twentieth century, when the urban explosion commenced which brought the population of the Egyptian capital up from 2.2 million in 1947 to twelve million today. The second part looks at the distribution of the population in space, identifying the main elements that characterise the present day urban form of the metropolitan area

Occupazioni abusive in un contesto di edilizia residenziale pubblica a Napoli: una pratica individualistica?

AbstractDeprivation-based squatting is one of the several forms of urban squatting that academic debate has identified in Western countries. However, scholars have usually neglected this form of squatting focusing their analysis mainly on politically-oriented occupations promoted by urban social movements. Moreover, when analyzed, deprivation-based squatting has been depicted essentially as an adaptive and apolitical strategy of urban subalterns. This paper intends to enrich the academic debate on complex meanings of deprivation-based squatting through analyzing the case of occupations in the rione De Gasperi, a public housing neighborhood in eastern Naples (Italy). This is a peculiar case of deprivation-based squatting that we call individualistic squatting, whose main features are analyzed and its inherent political character is stressed. Such analysis aims to contribute to the academic debate on urban squatting through overcoming the traditional binary logic of political squatting versus non-political squatting. La pratica dell’occupazione abitativa per necessità è una delle molteplici forme dello squatting urbano nei paesi occidentali. Il dibattito accademico ha spesso ignorato questa forma di squatting, focalizzandosi invece sui casi di occupazione di matrice politica promossi dai movimenti sociali urbani. Tradizionalmente considerato uno strumento impiegato dalle fasce più deboli della popolazione, lo squatting per necessità abitativa è stato di conseguenza frettolosamente dipinto come la strategia adattiva e apolitica dei gruppi subalterni. Questo saggio intende arricchire la discussione accademica sui significati complessi delle occupazioni abitative per necessità, analizzando il caso delle occupazioni abusive in un quartiere di edilizia popolare a Napoli, il rione De Gasperi. Il fenomeno indagato emerge come una forma specifica di squatting per necessità che definiamo come squatting individualistico, le cui cause e ragioni sono investigate nel presente saggio, e il cui carattere intrinsecamente politico è evidenziato. L’analisi proposta prova a superare il tradizionale binomio che contrappone squatting politico e squatting non-politico. Keywords: urban squatting, public housing, political, deprivation-based squatting, Naples

Neurodevelopmental disorders and development of project of life in a lifespan perspective: between habilitation and quality of life

AbstractFor some years, the term “project of life” has become widely used in the field of neurodevelopmentaldisorders, and, at the same time, it has begun to make its way in many socialand health planning documents. However, beyond its relatively widespread use, this termdoes not yet possess an adequate and shared frame of the main underlying decision-makingprocesses. In particular, there is a need to identify the crucial questions for orientingthe choice of goals within the adolescent transition, which represents the complex hingebetween childhood and adulthood. Moreover, adulthood, which is often completely devoidof culturally and socially shared references, is still critical precisely because of thelack of future direction prompts usually represented by the stages of development. In thiscase, the themes of quality of life functioning as a guiding compass appear pertinent andmuch more relevant. The present contribution is, therefore, an attempt to present, in aunitary manner, the decision-making processes and questions at the basis of a constructof “project of life” shared within the scientific and associative communities

Stress and wellbeing among professionals working with people with neurodevelopmental disorders. Review and intervention perspectives

AbstractSupporting individuals with NDD is extremely demanding, with significant exposure tocritical contexts and events, and painful ongoing experiences. Stress and burnout conditionis a main concern with growing interest in research, despite the lack of consensus ontheoretical explanatory models and modification standards.The paper provides an up-to-date review of risk factors and involved processes, and presentsevidence-based procedures and protocols to implement effective preventive actionsaddressing both organizational and individual factors. The aim is to offer a global understandingof the subject and offer examples of practical plans to increase the impact onthe quality of life of clients and staff members