Degraded urban peripheries: transformation of peripheral settlements and ways of life: possible solutions

Abstract

Nowadays, in order to speak about peripheries it is necessary to revisit the meaning of the concept. Border seems to be the most appropriated definition, which is able to define the suburbs of contemporary cities. Nowadays peripheries of some cities are necessarily incomplete, since they are produced by processes which not fulfill the law requirements or are produced spontaneously. This paper reports some of the research carried in the Department of Urban Studies of the University of Roma Tre about the evolution, since the end of the SWW, of urban peripheries in some Italian cities, especially in Rome, The work is focused on the formal aspects of the settlements as well as the way in how people live in them, and the way in how those aspects evolves in the time. The findings reveal that in the last 3 decades the concept of dwelling, city and periphery has changed. People has got used to live in those heterogeneous peripheries, and the “absence of city essence” is not perceived as a primary problem, since the main preoccupations are centered on the consecution of basic services as facilities, connectivity and transport. As well, the way in how people live, work, and rest has changed and adapted to the new suburban reality.