‘[La casa] non è più sexy in Italia.’ The absent politicization of housing in Italy, insights from Turin

During the years of economic crisis and austerity, and the subsequent economic growth dependent on real estate and tourism, housing has returned into the spotlight on the political agenda in Southern European countries and cities, where activists and social movements scaled up their struggles and created bridges with institutional actors, fostering policy change. The latter, however, did not happen in Italy. In this article, based on exploratory case study research carried out in the city of Turin, we present three themes that help explain what we call the ‘absent politicization’ of housing in Italy during the last decade: a multi-actor, multilevel housing policy capable of defusing specific problems; the absence of bridges between politicized and institutional actors; and the role played by party-politics, with attention to ‘populist’ Movimento 5 Stelle in power in Turin. By focusing on differences with Southern Europe, we contribute to overcoming dichotomies that have long dominated comparative housing studies; and contribute to linking housing studies with contentious urban politics in the post-crisis years.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A resilient response to the social-economic implications of coronavirus. The case of Snodi Solidali in Turin

The emergency created by the COVID-19 has shattered the world, with impacts in all countries. The restrictions introduced to reduce and contain the virus’ spread have changed lifestyles, illustrating the inequalities of our societies. Cities had to find rapid solutions to limit the socio-economic consequences, relying on their ability to react and adapt. This paper describes a local project that guaranteed food access to the most vulnerable population during the lockdown phase. Snodi solidali constituted a fast and responsive way for the local authority and the third sector’s network to offer an immediate reaction to an urgent need

Between growth and crisis: the response of local planning to the issue of vacancy.

Several long-term urban transformation projects launched in the 1990s have suffered a sharp deceleration following the economic crisis of 2007-2008. This crisis has also indirectly affected the urban planning field, almost completely outshining the decision-making power of public authorities already suffering from impacts of the neoliberal approach, cuts of financial resources and loss of powers and leadership in the urban domain. The transition in the development model triggered by austerity is also reflected in the inability to combine traditional planning tools with innovative practices carried out by groups of citizens and/or activists. In particular, forms of temporary uses and re-use have been developed in order to deal with abandoned or unfinished spaces and buildings, one of the main legacies left by the economic crisis. From the regulatory point of view, there are few cases of dialogue between reuse experiences and spatial planning or planning regulations.In this narrative, the case of the Dublin Vacant Site Register and Levy, established in 2017, gives a strong signal of public power, especially in a local context in favour of banks and private investors and little public decision-making powers. The paper presents and discusses the Dublin experience, that shows a new approach to regulate and control vacancy in a neoliberal context. This kind of tools encourage practices of temporary use in a frame of regulation, it allows to discuss the traditional planning practices and possible innovation

'[La casa] non è più sexy in Italia.' The absent politicization of housing in Italy, insights from Turin

During the years of economic crisis and austerity, and the subsequent economic growth dependent on real estate and tourism, housing has returned into the spotlight on the political agenda in Southern European countries and cities, where activists and social movements scaled up their struggles and created bridges with institutional actors, fostering policy change. The latter, however, did not happen in Italy. In this article, based on exploratory case study research carried out in the city of Turin, we present three themes that help explain what we call the 'absent politicization' of housing in Italy during the last decade: a multi-actor, multilevel housing policy capable of defusing specific problems; the absence of bridges between politicized and institutional actors; and the role played by party-politics, with attention to 'populist' Movimento 5 Stelle in power in Turin. By focusing on differences with Southern Europe, we contribute to overcoming dichotomies that have long dominated comparative housing studies; and contribute to linking housing studies with contentious urban politics in the post-crisis years

Pandemia e usi temporanei: nuove potenzialità?

L’alta densità e la concentrazione di popolazione fragile nelle città fa sì che questi ambiti siano particolarmente vulnerabili in una situazione di rischio come la pandemia da Sars-CoV-2. In particolare, un profondo dibattito si è aperto sull’utilizzo degli spazi pubblici nella fase della quarantena, ma anche in seguito, durante la “convivenza” con il virus. Numerosi sono i problemi da affrontare: dalla difficoltà a mantenere il distanziamento fisico, ad applicare le misure di regolamentazione delle pratiche d’uso, all’individuare modalità nuove per vivere gli spazi pubblici. A distanza di quattro mesi dall’inizio dell’emergenza in Italia, emerge con chiarezza la necessità, in caso di rischio sanitario, di ripensare le pratiche d’uso dello spazio pubblico, superando il problema dell’assembramento senza rinunciare alle necessità relazionali delle diverse fasce della popolazione. Questo breve contributo intende affrontare come l’urbanistica tattica o temporanea abbia un forte potenziale nella gestione di situazioni di crisi, contribuendo a ripensare in modo più radicale lo spazio pubblico in una prospettiva di lungo periodo. Dopo un iniziale inquadramento sugli usi temporanei nelle pratiche urbane, l’articolo propone una lettura dell’urbanistica tattica seguendo tre delle componenti caratterizzanti della resilienza: adattabilità, ridondanza e trasformability

plaNext – next generation planning: verso una peer-review aperta

Questo contributo presenta alcune riflessioni sui primi anni di vita di plaNext – next generation planning (http://journals.aesop-planning.eu/), la rivista della rete Young Academics (AESOP-YA) di AESOP, Associazione Europea delle Scuole di Pianificazione. L’obiettivo è contribuire al dibattito sulla peer-review (o revisione tra pari) come standard di valutazione della qualità della ricerca nel contesto delle riviste online. In particolare, intendiamo focalizzare l’attenzione su una delle componenti del modo in cui il processo di peer-review è comunemente organizzato, ovvero sulla blindness, l’anonimato garantito ai revisori degli articoli (blind peer-review) e, in certe riviste, anche agli autori (double-blind peer-review).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio