Il nostro paese attraversa oggi una fase profondamente distante da quella, improntata alla crescita, che fino al recente passato ha ampiamente condizionato temi e orientamenti operativi del progetto urbanistico. L'ipotesi sostenuta in questo contributo è che molti degli edifici oggi sottoutilizzati e abbandonati che ritroviamo sul territorio porranno forti resistenze a un progetto di riuso. In tal senso sarà necessario ripensare il ruolo dell'azione urbanistica, che dovrà orientarsi non tanto verso una prospettiva di ricomposizione, quanto verso la definizione delle modalità di convivenza con tali emergenti forme di abbandono

The ‘family house’ has played a major role within the urbanisation processes that have been transforming the Italian landscape since the 1960s. It is a common feature of the widespread settlements that are part of what has been labelled the ‘diffuse city’ and was the subject of numerous studies during the 1990s. More than 20 years later, this paper returns to the topic of the Italian family house using a renewed methodological approach to describe relevant changes. The hypothesis here is that in order to grasp the tensions affecting ‘family houses’ in today’s context of demographic transition and increased imbalances between dynamic and declining areas, and to contemplate their future, the qualitative gaze adopted by scholars in the 1990s must be integrated with other investigative tools, focusing on demographic change, uses, and the property values of buildings. Using this perspective, the paper provides a series of ‘portraits’ rooted in four meaningful territorial contexts, portraits which may help scholars to redefine their imagery associated with family house and be useful for dedicated building policies.

The widespread conditions of obsolescence and risk emerging in many parts of our country pose new questions to the territorial project and entail a review of its operational tools. In this sense, even demolition can acquire a new meaning, soliciting a technical and cultural reflection that has repercussions on future of the contemporary territory.

Family houses are the principal material of the dispersed settlements that have marked the Italian urban landscape since the 1970s. From the Po Plain to the Adriatic coast and Apennine valleys, and all the way down to the Mezzogiorno, these buildings have created a built environment in which distinct features interweave with more standard formats. Today, a large part of this housing stock is facing a crisis, unable to provide the qualities demanded by its inhabitants, whose changing needs it is unsuited to address. The old-style family houses are showing signs of under-use, while new building formats are being developed on former farmland. Given this critical scenario, we outline three reform strategies intended to redirect the urban fabric of the città diffusa towards social, environmental and economic sustainability. These strategies favour the adaptation of existing family houses, to channel the dynamics for change, which are already underway, towards these sustainability goals

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