No abstract

This study returns to the topic of unauthorised development in the south of Italy. It starts by assessing the main positions that have informed the debate since the 1960s and evaluates the consequences of the condono edilizio (building amnesty) policy, in the light of the impact that illegal construction has had on the landscape, both urban, rural and coastal. A close observation of three case studies, unplanned settlements in Lazio, Campania and Sicily, suggests that the original energies and expectations behind their development have long since lost their momentum. Rather, the emergence of new evolutionary trends-hitherto underrepresented within the political debate-demand a different interpretative framework. Three design scenarios are outlined, based on recycling existing social and physical material: they translate into a future-oriented discourse those symptoms of change that are already appearing in an embryonic form throughout Italy's Mezzogiorno.

The Italian debate concerning the relationship between cities and inner areas polarized around a few dichotomous - and somehow simplifying - positions. On the one hand exists the rhetoric addressing the ``villages'', intended as remote places to re-inhabit, escaping from the pandemic. On the other hand is the narrative of the metropolis, envisioned as a place-fulcrum from which to start again -- following the already-known patterns of growth and concentration -- despite the fragilities made explicit by Covid. In order to overcome these juxtaposed approaches, our work wants to shed light on the importance of ``intermediate territories'' intended as priority places to rethink within a new geography of marginality. In Italy, such intermediate territories, named \emph{Italia di mezzo}, occupy half of the national surface and host more than half of the population. Moreover, they embody extremely articulated geography: they include portions of twentieth-century urbanization (such as coastal settlements, industrial districts, various traits of ``città diffusa''), medium-sized cities with different administrative and functional centrality levels, sectors of metropolitan belts and a substantial share of rural areas in plains and hills. Faced with the radical risks and uncertainties that characterize the contemporary condition, it is essential to take care of these territories not only because they urgently need investments aimed at solving forgotten critical issues (from the necessary reconversion of production chains to the impact of climate change). These territories can also play a strategic positive role in the face of crisis phenomena thanks to their characteristics of elasticity and plasticity. If we look at them from a relational point of view - and not only from a topological one - these intermediate territories can play the role of two-sided ``intermediaries'' and ``hinges.'' On the one hand, they can be prepared to provide assistance and support to the inner and less densely populated areas; on the other hand, by taking advantage of their infrastructural and social capital, they can offer decongesting opportunities for most polluted metropolitan areas and more accessible living and working conditions.

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.