Speaker
Description
The paper aims to address the issue of post-growth urbanism in low-density and marginalised contexts, where both the urban and the economy have not grown for a long time but where public administrations and citizens are unable to think of different interventions beyond growth.
The paper opens with a consideration of the definition of the study context, distinguishing between less favoured areas – contexts in which the implementation of structural measures of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aims at preventing land abandonment, preserving the farming population in these areas, and maintaining the cultural landscape (Dax, 2005) – and inner peripheries, which, in the recent debate (Espon EGTC, 2018), identify territorial areas characterised by three main aspects: low economic potential, poor access to Services of General Interest (SGI), and a lack of relational proximity.
Afterwards, the text is structured into three parts.
The first section presents and discusses various approaches to revitalising abandoned or neglected hamlets that have emerged in literature and practice over the last two decades. In it, different development models (tourism, construction, manufacturing, and residential) (Andreassi, 2016) are recognised on one hand. They are defined as such because they aspire to be forms of territorial development, albeit sometimes so sectoral that they do not constitute an effective generator of durable and sustainable economies and societies. On the other hand, some strategies for reactivation (hospitality, production, culture, reconnoitring, conservation, and cooperation) of abandoned villages are presented (Berizzi, Rocchelli, 2019), which bring together successful experiences and refer to a variety of modes of intervention. Tourism is not the only perspective for economic revitalisation (Bonfantini, 2016), just as the preservation of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage is at the centre of interventions. However, it is not always a guarantee for revitalisation and development, nor for the production of new economic and social values (Oteri, 2020).
This review of development models and strategies highlights the many attempts to reactivate abandoned hamlets and invites questions about the absence of a shared, selective planning approach for areas of intervention. In particular, urban planning seems to be latent in its land design and governance agenda concerning the recovery or loss of human activities in villages.
The second section is thus devoted to reflecting on a possible alternative to recovery and reactivation , shifting toward forms of managed abandonment and shrinkage. Indeed, urban planning has rarely addressed situations where abandonment is already underway, and often entire settlements have fallen out of social and economic cycles (Rink et al., 2012; Zanfi, Curci, 2020; Mareggi, 2021). Even within conservation disciplines, where there is greater awareness and a substantial tradition of debate, there does not seem to be a widespread recognition of the “inevitable loss” of places where depopulation, underuse, and economic and social decline are irreversible. However, it is clear that it is impossible to re-inhabit all marginal areas (Kealy, 2020) and “only a (guided) abandonment is conceivable” (Oteri, 2020: 50).
The third section aims to reflect on a proposal for conscious shrinkage elaborated for the Grecanic territory of the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria as a possible broad-area strategy to be presented to local authorities and citizens.
The research is based on an extensive review of Italian and international literature carried out as part of fundamental research (Riba, Lost and Found 2020, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano) and an action-research activity conducted within the framework of the definition of the Metropolitan Strategic Plan of the metropolitan city of Reggio Calabria.
References
Andreassi, F. (2016) Urbanistica e decrescita. Florence: Aracne.
Berizzi, C., Rocchelli, L. (2019) Borghi rinati. Padua: Il Poligrafo.
Bonfantini, B. (2016) (ed) Attivare risorse latenti. Rome-Milan: Planum Publisher.
Dax, T. (2005) The redefinition of Europe’s Less Favoured Areas. 3rd Annual Conference, Rural Development in Europe, Funding European Rural Development in 2007-2013. London: November 15-16.
Espon EGTC (2018) Inner peripheries in Europe. Possible development strategies to overcome their marginalizing effects, Luxemburg. [Online] available at: http://observatoriopoblacion.aragon.es/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/01.-Inner-Peripheries_ESPON .pdf
Kealy, L. (2020) Their history is a grain of wheat …, ArcHirtoR, 13, pp. 97-113.
Mareggi, M. (2021) Contrazione consapevole. Una proposta dall’area greco-calabra per la città metropolitana. In Corrado, F., Marchigiani, E., Marson, A., Servillo, L. (eds) Le politiche regionali, la coesione, le aree interne e marginali, Siu Conference procedeeng, Vol. 3. Rome-Milan: Planum Publisher and SIU, pp. 135-140.
Oteri, A.M. (2020) Strategies and policies for relaunching depopulated small town in inner areas. A human scale perspective, ArcHirtoR, 13, pp. 40-59.
Rink, D. et.al. (2012) (eds) Governance of shrinkage. Lessons learnt from analysis for urban planning policy. [Online] available at: www.ufz.de/export/data/400/39029_WP7_D13_14_15_FINAL_2.pdf.
Zanfi, F., Curci, F. (2020) Abbandoni. In Cersosimo, D., Donzelli, C., Manifesto per riabitare l’Italia. Rome: Donzelli, pp. 55-59.
| Keywords | Degrowth, villages, shrinking strategies, inner peripheries |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
