Paradigmi relazionali nello spazio urbano: il caso-studio del centro storico di Palermo

Abstract

In this script we’ll describe the everyday,little actions of the citizens that break the rules of the urban areas’ organization. Starting from the Old Town of Palermo, that we used as the example in our analysis, we’ll show how the “conquest”, even just temporary, of streets and squares could achieve a revitalization and a revaluation of quarters. Our focus is on understanding how revitalization/ re-conquest of urban areas has taken place. By altering people preconcieved ideas of areas of the city, this process achived the “domestication” of some areas that, out of their usual context, are inserted in new relations. Our choice to take Palermo as example derives from some typical characteristics of this city: the first one is due to its historical-cultural origins which, in some way, favor the settlement of new comunities; the second is that the way of live among population of different cultures develops in the centre of the city, not in the suburbs. These features make Palermo not unique, but atipical compared to the rest of Europe where immigrants and lower-class people, are generally forced to the external areas of towns. From this point of view we can imagine Palermo’s Old town as a sponge which is able not just to absorb new comunities, but also to attract people from the middle classes. In European cities gentrification processes are started thanks to projects realized by the Public Administrations, On the contrary in Palermo this process generates from actions of the inhabitants themselves. The change of degenerative trend and the increasing value in the Real Estate Market is therefore not caused by a political action, but thanks to the initiative of the lower class.