The anti-flood detention basin projects in northern Italy. New wine in old bottles?

An increased number of floods have affected the thick urban network located in Northern Italy. The towns traversed by the many rivers descending from the Alps and Apennines must address the problem of retarding water overflow. Detention basins have been envisaged as a good means to achieve more secure protection against floods for thick urban settings. In Italy, flood prevention policies have been partially decentralized to regions. In this study, the literature on political economy, policy analysis and governance is used to frame the planning and implementation of detention basins. Each approach raises questions on whether and how detention basins represent a return to hard water infrastructures. Three ongoing detention basin projects located in northern Italy have been chosen to illustrate the coalition of interests that support this policy of flood prevention. The selection of cases and their analysis are based on a comparative method considering both similarities and differences between detention basins. Although governance is highlighted in official documents regarding water policies, this approach has been followed to a very limited extent. The traditional policy community has been able to maintain leadership on projects, including a limited amount of new disciplines and expertise. Moreover, the emphasis on planning expertise creates some space for the governmentality approach. Overall, detention basins represent not a return to heavy infrastructures, but a continuation of traditional intervention methods with small greening changes. However, margins for a softer policy are possible through either recovering old containers/floodplains or developing a network of farm ponds and minor dikes

Socio-spatial relations: an attempt to move space near society

There is a great effort to include relational attributes within a space perspective. This concerns two current interpretative tendencies: the first is related to the idea of de-territorialisation due to the high mobility of people and goods; the second is centred on the idea that social relations are increasingly loose and fragmented, giving rise to the ‘liquid society’. Approaches emphasising the importance of space and the strength of relations may counter such ideas by showing that many empirical cases are still interpretable by a robust combined socio-spatial perspective. The paper will take the polymorphic and structural approach of authors like Jessop, Brenner and Jones, paying special attention to the ‘quality’ of social relations according to a tradition that began with Simmel and Mauss, passed through Polanyi, and concluded with Godbout and Caillé. The paper illustrates the debate on the conjunction between space and relations, in particular through the view of Schatzki, elaborates on new or renewed patterns, and gives some examples of where such theoretical elaborations can be applied. The product is a typology of ‘socio-spatial relations’, while examples will be provided in regard to the issues of globalization, sustainability and governance.Nelle scienze sociali è in corso un grande sforzo per includere aspetti relazionali all’interno di una prospettiva spazialista. Ciò riguarda due recenti tendenze interpretative: la prima è legata all’idea di de-territorializzazione dovuta alla alta mobilità di persone e cose, la seconda è centrata sull’idea che le relazioni sociali siano progressivamente lasche e frammentate, dando luogo alla società liquida. Approcci che enfatizzano l’importanza dello spazio e la forza delle relazioni possono controbilanciare tali idee mostrando che molti casi empirici sono ancora interpretabili attraverso una robusta prospettiva che combina sociale e spaziale. Il testo considera l’approccio polimorfo e strutturale di autori come Jessop, Brenner and Jones, ponendo una particolare attenzione alla ‘qualità’ delle relazioni sociali secondo una tradizione che parte da Simmel e Mauss, passa attraverso Polanyi e giunge a Godbout e Caillé. Il testo illustra il dibattito sulla congiunzione fra spazio e relazioni, in particolare attraverso la visione di Schatzki, elabora poi un nuovo modello e descrive infine alcuni casi sui quali applicare tali spunti teorici. Il prodotto finale è una tipologia di relazioni socio-spaziali, applicate a tre questioni: globalizzazione, sostenibilità e governance

Green social cooperatives in Italy: a practical way to cover the three pillars of sustainability?

This article provides an introductory description of Italian green social cooperatives which are democratic nonprofit organizations specializing in the provision of environmental services. The background to this topic is the literature on the "third sector," usually called social entrepreneurship, and the "sociology of environment," mainly that part concerned with consumption and lifestyles. Green social cooperatives are a concrete attempt to unify the three pillars of sustainability. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part highlights the challenges that the environmental crisis raises for social enterprises and considers three dimensions in particular: work integration, generalized or linear exchange, and the theory of the commons. The discussion reveals mismatches between the urgency of moving toward a sustainable world and the competences of social enterprises. The second part examines this asymmetry and uses the social cooperative, the main empirical expression of social enterprise in Italy, as its point of departure. The article proposes a typology with which to frame green social cooperatives and employs a qualitative approach to outline a concrete case for each type. The result is the emergence of a social area, at present decidedly underdeveloped and undersized, but with considerable potential for job creation and environmental services. The analysis demonstrates that social enterprises are interesting hybrids of economic and social sustainability, but to promote the environmental pillar of sustainability they must combine work and habitation (or production and consumption) according to a logic of sufficiency

Nested markets in marginal areas: weak prosumers and strong food chains

This paper is an attempt to test the importance of nested markets in Italy. The concept of nested markets, born in agricultural settings, has been expanded to other sectors and to urban areas. It is focused on two aspects of rural development literature: the prominence of exchanges of resources and services on their ownership/availability, and the emergence of new forms of spatialised intermediations versus the simple idea of globalised and digital dis-intermediation. The concept is applied to seven Italian cases that were presented in a conference and then published in the journal \u2018Culture della sostenibilit\ue0\u2019. It is a secondary analysis of a purposive small sample. A general statistical analysis is not possible due to the great variety and informality of exchanges. Two weaknesses however are quite common on analysed cases: vertical organisation of exchanges (filiere) prevails on territorial integrated organisation (district), and consumers are weakly involved. The ideal of nested markets driven by prosumers or a consumption movement results feebler than expected

Migrants to rural areas as a social movement: insights from Italy

Migrants in Italy often form the majority of the labour force in the primary sector; their residential and work conditions are generally of low quality, and their entrepreneurship is limited. How are the presence and action of migrants in Italian rural areas to be interpreted? The question is tackled with a framework based on the social movements literature. The mobilisation of migrants is seen as a way to enter the political arena when traditional channels are closed. Even heterodox participation is considered a sign of integration in a country. Cases of mobilisation are presented in order to show the robustness of the research perspective. The results are that migrants ‘collective action’ is rare and weak, especially in the primary sector because of gangmaster action, temporary and dispersed jobs, obtuseness of employers. Moreover, the advocacy coalition supporting migrants is unable to overcome the logic of emergency. The paper ends by wondering whether the sporadic mobilisation of migrants will lead to a moral economy of the agrifood value chain

Energy retrofitting of urban buildings: A socio-spatial analysis of three mid-sized Italian cities

3The current paper analyses the issue of energy retrofitting of buildings in Italian cities. In particular a mixed-method approach is used combining the socio-spatial analysis of data on the most relevant policy tool, namely tax deduction, together with qualitative analysis of three case studies of middle-sized cities. The results show that on the one hand tax deduction has not been very effective in promoting a deep renovation of buildings and it may exacerbate already existing inequalities. On the other hand, it emerges that progress in eco-retrofit of buildings depends mainly on creation of new intermediators and intermediation incentives. They are increasingly necessary in an urban panorama that has become inevitably polycentric.partially_openembargoed_20220430Natalia Magnani; Giovanni Carrosio; Giorgio OstiMagnani, Natalia; Carrosio, Giovanni; Osti, Giorgi

La qualità della vita nella Bassa Padana. Interessa alle Regioni del Nord?

Si indaga la qualità della vita in un'area lungo il Po che da Piacenza al mare attraverso i valori dell'aspettativa di vita alla nascita. Questa risulta inferiore nelle province lungo il Po rispetto a quelle che stanno a monte in senso del bacino idrico. Vengono accennate ragioni di questo divario e motivi perché si presta loro poca attenzion

Migrants to rural areas as a social movement: Insights from Italy

Migrants in Italy often form the majority of the labour force in the primary sector; their residential and work conditions are generally of low quality, and their entrepreneurship is limited. How are the presence and action of migrants in Italian rural areas to be interpreted? The question is tackled with a framework based on the social movements literature. The mobilisation of migrants is seen as a way to enter the political arena when traditional channels are closed. Even heterodox participation is considered a sign of integration in a country. Cases of mobilisation are presented in order to show the robustness of the research perspective. The results are that migrants \u2018collective action\u2019 is rare and weak, especially in the primary sector because of gangmaster action, temporary and dispersed jobs, obtuseness of employers. Moreover, the advocacy coalition supporting migrants is unable to overcome the logic of emergency. The paper ends by wondering whether the sporadic mobilisation of migrants will lead to a moral economy of the agrifood value chain