Barbara Pizzo

Dopo aver ricostruito la storia di quattro discipline (urbanistica, sociologia urbana, cultural history e geografia urbana), in particolare nei paesi di lingua tedesca -che e stata pubblicata nel numero 6 di TU-, si riflette qui sull’origine di un orientamento critico al loro interno e piu generalmente nel campo degli studi urbani. Usando una forma dialogica, studiosi con una diversa formazione discutono di come e quando e emerso un orientamento critico, mettendo in discussione prima di tutto cosa e ‘critico’ nelle diverse discipline, approcci ed epoche, a seconda della predominanza di questioni o problemi, ma anche in relazione con i cambiamenti nel contesto socio-culturale e politico. Following a reconstruction of the history of four disciplines (urban planning, urban sociology, cultural history and urban geography), in German-speaking countries in particular -which has been published in the previous issue of TU (6)-, we focus here on the origin of a ‘critical orientation’ within urban studies. Using a dialogical form, scholars with different education discuss how and when a critical orientation emerged, questioning first of all what is ‘critical’ within the different disciplines, approaches and times, depending on the predominance of issues or problems, but also in relation to changes in the socio-cultural and political environment.

This contribution problematizes the relationship between illegality and illicitness in planning theory and policy perspectives. Examples are provided, drawn from research activity in Rome and its spatial transformations as related to planning, politics and the economy. Different kinds of behaviors and practices are scrutinized, as they develop within a socio-economic and cultural context of ‘blurred legality’, where informality also plays a role. Their interest resides in that, despite the fact that some of them could be interpreted as ‘simply’ illegal, since they unquestionably break rules, they are not overall perceived as despicable. In a theoretical sense, the more the boundary between illegal and licit converges, the more this problem asks to be explicated

TUW 2018: URBAN CULTURE, PUBLIC SPACE AND HOUSING / SUMMER TERM / MODULE: Urban Culture and Public Space Strategies and interventions of the production of space Barbara Pizzo (City of Vienna Visiting Professor) and Sabine Knierbein Among the many perspective to look at the making of urban places as an object of inquiry, we aim at focusing on urban transformations as they mirror the way in which public action (Comaille 2004, Lascoumes & Le Gales 2007) takes form, highlighting power relationships and inclusion/exclusion dynamics; and the way in which socio-spatial relationships are conceived and materialize, with a particular attention for public/private relations and the ever-changing meaning of this fundamental yet disputed dyad. This means also that urban transformations in their material outcomes are the entry point of theoretical reflection, which mobilizes concepts and theories related to urban studies, planning and policy analysis

The aim of this chapter is to shed light on the policy process triggered by a major private initiative of real estate investment. It consists of thebuilding of a new football stadium with related facilities, plus business and leisure centers. In the considered time-frame (2012-2017) the public-private relationships implied in this process took the form of a long and uncertain bargaining. We wanted to know if this case of urban development reveals significant changes in the strategies public actors pursue in Rome when dealing with private investments in real estate business. Moreover, we have answered questions about continuity or discontinuity in the role played by political actors and institutions in what we consider a peculiar kind of urban regime and the related accumulation strategies. In order to do so, our analysis focuses on the dynamics of the policy agenda and the forms taken by the governance of this process

La complessità con cui l’urbano si manifesta viene di frequente affrontata settorialmente e per interdisciplinarietà si intende spesso la possibilità di far dialogare diversi specialismi. Quali sono le basi di questo possibile dialogo, come possa darsi integrazione, gli esiti auspicabili, sono ancora terreno aperto di discussione. Le pagine che seguono intendono riprendere il dibattito circa l’interdisciplinarità negli studi urbani, sollevando alcune piste di riflessione che vogliono avvicinarla differentemente da come è oramai incastonata nel mainstreaming della ricerca urbana: da petizione di principio invocata coralmente, di cui si lodano le qualità quasi messianiche per la soluzione dei problemi urbani, a procedura di composizione di diverse metodologie, diversamente intesa e praticata, o frequentemente ostacolata, da silenti ostilità istituzionali, disciplinari, se non epistemologiche

This paper highlights weaknesses and contradictions that emerge with the implementation of the “ecological transition” goal, ostensibly supported at all policy levels, looking at (1) how trans-national, European “Green Deal” post-crisis measures are translated at the urban scale; (2) which are the main obstacles to fulfill a substantial change, and (3) which is the actual role of planning. The paper provides examples from long-lasting research in Rome, Italy, framing them critically by combining planning theory and practice and political ecology perspectives, to show that: (1) the implementation of the “ecological transition” goal at the urban scale through direct and indirect interventions makes it impossible to unequivocally assess policy results; (2) to be actually realized, “ecological transition” asks to redefine priorities among the ever existing conflicting interests in the urban space, and to revise previous planning and policy choices, while a strong resistance emerges in o...

Il saggio affronta il tema del governo del territorio inteso come modalità e forma di spazializzazione dei diritti, e del controllo e regolazione dello spazio come strumenti per il disegno di forme di cittadinanza, che evidenziano il significato politico dell'azione di pianificazione

A partire da una riflessione critica sul rapporto tra paesaggio e pianificazione e sulle implicazioni che ogni concezione di paesaggio porta con sé, la tesi si propone, quale contributo «potenzialmente operativo», di risolvere il nesso tra oggetto, disciplina e strumento. Perseguendo questo obiettivo sono stati circoscritti i campi all’interno dei quali si direbbe possibile rintracciare una soluzione ragionevole. Nella sua complessità, il paesaggio sembra potersi esprimere molto più attraverso politiche e pratiche di pianificazione «debolmente» codificate e istituzionalizzate. Le ragioni devono essere rintracciate in parte nella stretta connessione al tema delle politiche «come pratiche di “beni comuni”», in parte nella definizione stessa del loro campo di azione. Esse risultano le più congruenti con le definizioni di paesaggio proposte (anche) perché appartengono allo stesso paradigma: in sostanza, sono le sole a poterlo «comprendere». Nelle ragioni del riavvicinamento dei concetti...

Come si trasforma lo spazio urbano? Come si fa la città? e chi la fa? ovvero, chi sono i protagonisti di questa azione? A chiunque fossero poste queste domande, indipendentemente dalla formazione, provenienza o competenza specifica, la risposta sarebbe sempre quasi certamente la stessa, che possiamo provare a sintetizzare in questi termini: a fare la città è una pluralità di attori, la cui interazione (che può essere più o meno consapevole e volontaria) porta a esiti non sempre previsti o prevedibili. in questa risposta sta il nucleo centrale del concetto di azione pubblica che questo seppur breve saggio discute

Over the last two-three decades the political, economic, spatial and social characteristics of urban development mirror several important transformations driven by both global and site-specific factors. These transformations can be defined in terms of an ongoing process of metropolization, that is, an increasing concentration of technological and research-intensive industries as well as knowledge-intensive services in metropolitan regions and large cities. In spatial terms, this process concerns the geography of urban space, implying a spatial distribution and polarization of functions, which in turn relates to infrastructures concerned with metropolitan connectivity. This often produces polycentric spatial patterns of demographic settlement and economic activity within urban agglomerations. Polycentricism refers to the morphology of the functional, social, cultural, and spatial composition of urban areas. Conventionally, a polycentric metropolitan area consists of one central city and a set of smaller sub-centres, which have a high degree of integration with the nucleus. Our interest resides in understanding: who drives these metropolization dynamics, and how, and, above all, in whose interests? Moreover, we inquiry what is the role of politics in this process? More specifically: what is the role of local government? And what we can say about the involvement of civil society? Are economic actors the key players in urban development? What kind of economic actors can actually play a strategic role in metropolization? What are the relationships between the different actors involved in the governing and governance of metropolitan development? In order to answer these questions we reconstruct and analyze a case study in Rome regarding a central urban area, interpreted as a main ‘pole’ of a planned new polycentric urban structure, where the redevelopment of a railway station led to a wider transformation and urban regeneration process, mainly aimed at promoting metropolization. A major European bank chose this location for its headquarters, which implies the construction of huge buildings (still on-going). At the same time, high social marginalization is evident in the area, while a range of civil society organizations are trying to interact with the local government in order to get social and environmental benefits out of the intervention. For deepening our case study, we examine institutional documents and carry out qualitative interviews with main stakeholders involved in the redevelopment project. In the Chapter we argue that neither the government at a local level (the District) nor local civil society organizations are able to influence decision-making and governance processes. On the other hand, the Metropolitan City Authority (Capital City of Rome) interacts with main economic actors involved in the transformation process (the International Bank, the FS - Ferrovie dello Stato – National Railways, and local developers) within a developmet strategy which is metropolitan, which led to a concentration of benefits and a spreading of costs. The involvement of the local political authority (District) and civil society organizations in decision-making appears as a sideline mechanism without effective impact on the forms and content of governance

A strategic infrastructure project in Rome, Italy, and namely the Metro C line, is presented here for scrutinising how institutional frameworks and governance arrangements shape megaproject implementation. On the one side, we look at legal endowments and institutional reforms related to a still incomplete territorial rescaling; on the other side, at routines and practices among actors in project management. More precisely, we develop these two fundamental acceptations of the institutional, reconstructing the management of the project and the path of Italian downscaling reform still underway (that has implications for the governance of projects too). Both these realms have been affected by the advent of the Legge Obiettivo, the special law that for fifteen years has been governing strategic projects in Italy-Metro C included. Via a review of regulatory measures, relevant theoretical constructs in the fields of governance and project studies, and with the help of a number of interview...

This contribution problematizes the relationship between illegality and illicitness in planning theory and policy perspectives. Examples are provided, drawn from research activity in Rome and its spatial transformations as related to planning, politics and the economy. Different kinds of behaviors and practices are scrutinized, as they develop within a socio-economic and cultural context of ‘blurred legality’, where informality also plays a role. Their interest resides in that, despite the fact that some of them could be interpreted as ‘simply’ illegal, since they unquestionably break rules, they are not overall perceived as despicable. In a theoretical sense, the more the boundary between illegal and licit converges, the more this problem asks to be explicated

The relative hegemony of land rentiers and real estate developers over the process of urban socio-economic reproduction is a defining characteristic of the "collusive regime" of Rome. Through the analysis of a case study, we tried to establish if the realisation of Urban Development Projects in this regime favours the unequal distribution of the benefits deriving from urban development. Applying a neo-Gramscian lens to urban political economy, we identified an interpretative model for explaining the role of UDPs in the urban regime of Rome. First, UDPs are suitable occasions for realising accumulation strategies based on the capture of rent gaps and the valorisation of urban assets. Second, the actors involved in UDPs mobilise ideational and material resources for gathering consensus for a project, that rewards their specific interests, by framing their investment as the best solution for localised collective needs. UDPs in Rome, therefore, facilitate the concentration of ...

This paper stems from long­lasting research dedicated to urban risk reduction through a planning approach. It focuses on public space, proposing an inversion of the usual perspective: instead of considering public spaces for risk mitigation and urban redevelopment, here the imperatives of environmental safety and urban resilience can be instrumental for exploring the meaning and role of the public space from a different, rather compelling point of view. One starting point is the concept of SUM, Strategic Urban Structure (or Framework), from the Italian “Struttura urbana minima”, which has been introduced in order to set out the contents of urban risk reduction in local administration agendas and particularly into ordinary planning processes. The SUM has been conceived both as an analytical and a normative/planning tool. Public spaces are the backbone of both urban structure and of the SUM. From their features, localization, distribution within the settlement, and their systemic char...

Il contributo approfondisce la questione della rendita urbana a Roma nel suo rapporto con la metropolizzazione. Si ragiona intorno ad una metropolizzazione debole e incerta e ad alcune peculiari modalità di formazione e estrazione della rendita che caratterizzano il contesto romano, evidenziando come la scala metropolitana, all'interno di una specifica costruzione discorsiva, a Roma abbia alimentato il meccanismo della rendita più di ogni altro esito possibile di un processo di rescaling.

Barbara Pizzo in conversation with Raquel Rolnik. Aim of this special issue of Tracce Urbane is to critically explore the issue of interdisciplinarity for Planning and Urban Studies. To practice forms of interdisciplinarity is a fundamental goal of the research group which launched this journal, and the journal itself was born to cross and overcome disciplinary boundaries, thus the necessity arises to explicit discuss this issue.

Landscape as a complex system is an inadequatly explored topic. A reflection on the plurality of practices and results (not all predictable) of the landscape construction, helps us to find interesting links with recent developments in Complexity Theory.

By exploring different cultural roots of self-organisation, the paper points out and discusses the lights and shadows of a concept, which is increasingly used both in mainstream theories and in critical thinking. In so doing, the contribution aims at offering a basic framework for containing and giving sense to the various approaches to self-organization (as they emerge from the two issues of Tracce Urbane , n. 3 and 4, dedicated to that topic), yet sufficiently structured to allow orientation among the variants in which the concept is used in relation with the city. The intent is, therefore, also methodological, and concerns the consistence between theories and concepts, and the heuristics we adopt to analyse and explain spatial phenomena and practices.

ABSTRACT This paper is a part two of a study investigating the relative importance of the built environment, socio-demographic, and attitudinal factors on mode choice. A semi-experimental approach that aims to measure causal effects of the built environment is utilized. This paper reports spatial analysis, survey and modeling results for San Francisco, CA, USA and compares the results with a previous similar study in Rome, Italy. Results reveal that the local street network's integration is important in both cities and that in both cases built environment seems to have higher impact on mode choice than attitudes and socio-demographic factors. Built environment is especially impactful when diversity, design quality, density and syntactical accessibility are combined. In San Francisco willingness to spend time walking, biking or taking transit is lower than in Rome, and residents are more sensitive to concerns about safety and security. Work travel is more affected by demographic and attitudinal factors in San Francisco than in Rome implying that in San Francisco, nonwork travel behavior may have slightly higher potential to respond positively to improvements in the built environment than work trips. In Rome, peer pressure, cost sensitivity, and probiking attitude can compensate for lack of some built environmental characteristics, but not in San Francisco, where only protransit attitude has this effect. Moreover, lack of any built environmental characteristics reduces the possibility of sustainable mode choice more dramatically in San Francisco pointing to the higher importance of investments on improving the built environment rather than marketing efforts to change attitudes.

This paper discusses the methodological challenges in understanding causal relationships between urban form and travel behavior and uses a holistic quasi-experimental approach to investigate the separable marginal influence of each of several urban form factors on mode choice as well as the complex relationships between those factors and a wide range of personal traits. Data analysis and models are used to reveal the effect of such interactions on mode choice for both work and non-work trips in Rome, Italy. It is found that population density does not have a significant marginal positive effect on sustainable mode choice for work trips. Conversely, this factor decreases sustainable mode choice for non-work trips. Small scale street design quality alone increases sustainable mode choice for non-work trips. This is while presence of street network integration alone increases automobile use for all trip purposes. The results point to the importance of incorporating all the urban form factors of diversity, design and street network integration if the goal is to increase the use of more sustainable modes of transportation for both work and non-work trips, but also show that attitudes and preferences can modify the response to urban design factors. The findings suggest that thoughtful policies triggering certain attitudes (cost sensitivity, sensitivity to peer pressure regarding the value attributed to sustainable transportation, and transit preference) can be adopted to significantly increase sustainable mode choice even in the neighborhoods with specific physical restrictions.

Dopo aver ricostruito la storia di quattro discipline (urbanistica, sociologia urbana, cultural history e geografia urbana), in particolare nei paesi di lingua tedesca -che e stata pubblicata nel numero 6 di TU-, si riflette qui sull’origine di un orientamento critico al loro interno e piu generalmente nel campo degli studi urbani. Usando una forma dialogica, studiosi con una diversa formazione discutono di come e quando e emerso un orientamento critico, mettendo in discussione prima di tutto cosa e ‘critico’ nelle diverse discipline, approcci ed epoche, a seconda della predominanza di questioni o problemi, ma anche in relazione con i cambiamenti nel contesto socio-culturale e politico. Following a reconstruction of the history of four disciplines (urban planning, urban sociology, cultural history and urban geography), in German-speaking countries in particular -which has been published in the previous issue of TU (6)-, we focus here on the origin of a ‘critical orientation’ within ...

This paper stems from long­lasting research dedicated to urban risk reduction through a planning approach. It focuses on public space, proposing an inversion of the usual perspective: instead of considering public spaces for risk mitigation and urban redevelopment, here the

Questo contributo propone di esaminare congiuntamente i diversi approcci all’auto-organizzazione emersi nei numeri 3 e 4 di Tracce Urbane e nella conferenza internazionale dedicata allo stesso tema1: di fornire un inquadramento semplice e ad un tempo sufficientemente strutturato, che faciliti l’orientamento tra le declinazioni assunte dal concetto di auto-organizzazione negli studi urbani. Tre autori sono stati più spesso citati: Henry Lefebvre, Elinor Ostrom e Juval Portugali. Il loro lavoro ha contribuito alla diffusione dell’interesse per l’auto-organizzazione negli studi urbani, sebbene solo Portugali abbia costruito una teoria urbana su tale concetto. Ciascuno di loro ricorre al concetto di auto-organizzazione in un modo specifico, e i tre autori sono stati scelti con l’intento di far emergere delle differenze fondamentali. L’intento è anche metodologico: avendo come obiettivo la coerenza – da tenersi in seria considerazione – tra concetti, teorie e strumenti euristici adottati...

This issue of the Italian Journal of Planning Practices tackles the topic of ‘natural’ risks, focusing particularly on seismic risk, and on policies and actions addressed to prevention1. There are two main reasons for considering environmental risk as a primary issue in Italy. The first is because the geomorphology of the country and the physical and spatial configuration of its territory cause a particular risk

Negli anni seguiti al 2008, le pratiche urbane ispirate al metodo dell’azione diretta hanno ricevuto nuova linfa anche in Italia. Per mezzo di esse, gli attori sociali cercano di soddisfare nell’immediato i loro bisogni, anziché attendere passivamente i tempi e le decisioni dell’autorità. Molte volte, dietro queste pratiche vi è una lunga storia di antecedenti che risale ai momenti alti dei conflitti sociali del passato. Obiettivo del contributo è individuare, tra le forme d’azione sociale diretta storicamente rilevabili nel caso romano sul fronte della casa e dei servizi, quelle di cui è possibile verificare una ripresa nel tempo presente, per procedere a un confronto, analizzare le specificità di fase, gli attori coinvolti, i processi di cambiamento, nel tentativo di far dialogare storia e scienze sociali nell’ambito degli studi urbani. In the years following 2008, urban practices inspired by the direct action method received new lymph in Italy. By means of them, the social actors...

Questo contributo da conto dei primi risultati di un’attivita di ricerca dedicata a riscoprire collettivamente le risorse e le progettualita locali, all’interno di un’esperienza di tipo ‘ricerca-azione’ tuttora in corso. All’interno delle finalita generali della ricerca ‘Abitare Tor Bella Monaca’, gli obiettivi del gruppo ‘Progettualita e risorse latenti’ consistono principalmente nell’aiutare gli abitanti a riconoscere le risorse locali, sia materiali che immateriali, in larga misura ignorate o sottovalutate. Questa operazione di riconoscimento e stata interpretata come primo passo verso - e in un certo senso come funzionale a - la ricostruzione di senso di comunita, percepito come perduto, attraverso la riscoperta di una storia comune e di una comune responsabilita per il presente e il futuro del quartiere

This paper is the result of a long-lasting research experience dedicated to topics related to urban seismic risk, addressed at promoting a radical shift towards an approach in which seismic risk, a fundamental feature of the best part of Italian territories, is no longer considered as an 'unexpected' event and may be included in the structural components every spatial planning choice should take into account. Emergency policies, which have always prevailed in Italy, besides being very controversial as for the decision making processes and the choices they generate, proved and still prove to be largely inefficient. Moreover, the 2016 earthquake in Central Italy is highlighting issues going far beyond the debate on reconstruction models. One concerns the future of several small towns in 'inland areas', already exposed to important depopulation and abandonment processes. Which are the possible scenarios? Which the reference models? How are decisions made? In a different...