Socio-spatial transformations at the urban fringes of Rome: Unfolding suburbanisms in Fiano Romano

Abstract

Today, suburbs and urban fringes are pivotal places for understanding contemporary urban transformations because the majority of the world’s urban population live in suburbs. Suburbanization (i.e. the process of combining the non-centric population, economic growth, and spatial expansion) and suburbanisms (suburban ways of living) are key concepts for observing these transformations, framed under the umbrella of the post-suburban theoretical framework. This paper relies on a post-suburban standpoint as it enables the complexity of the diverse transformations at the urban edges to be addressed. On such basis, this paper discusses the outcomes of a qualitative case study conducted on the most recently built neighbourhood of Fiano Romano, a suburb of Rome that has faced a number of socio-spatial transformations over the past two decades. The study illustrates the diverse complexities related to the provision of welfare services and public amenities such as water and social infrastructures. In so doing, the article unfolds the shape of a ‘new suburbia’ characterized by emerging socio-spatial changes that lie in processes of peripheralization, which characterize many contemporary post-Fordist suburban areas, especially at the present time of the coronavirus crisis. The article points out the centrality of suburban ways of living in studying issues involving both spatial planning and governance of welfare. Furthermore, the article highlights the idea that new inequalities and deprivations are taking place in diverse suburban areas, and that such aspects deserve further governance agendas able to meet the suburban social demands that differ from traditional urban vulnerabilities.

Different Forms of Welfare Provision for Diverse Suburban Fabrics: Three Examples From Italy

“…However, the private-led expansion of the area that began in the 1990s neglected the infrastructural provision of basic urban standards, with negative consequences even in the supply of basic services, such as water. In this case, the purification plants for water treatment and the pipelines for channelling the water supply to private houses were not outfitted with a system that could cope with such a massive expansion (De Vidovich, 2021a). Some investigations revealed that the residential development in Palombaro Felciare was made possible by the absence of governmental monitoring, resulting in an unlawful territorial transformation through unauthorized constructions.…”

“…Some investigations revealed that the residential development in Palombaro Felciare was made possible by the absence of governmental monitoring, resulting in an unlawful territorial transformation through unauthorized constructions. Between 2005 and 2011, this case received the attention of the Court of Rieti, a judicial review (De Vidovich, 2021a;Vazzoler, 2016). This process convicted members of the public planning authority, local administrators, and construction constructors.…”