Speaker
Description
In Europe, multiple crises (economic, environmental, social, demographic, …) are impacting the quality of life in urban contexts, with direct consequences on the “affordability” of housing and the resilience of welfare facilities. While sustainability, inclusivity, and accessibility “for all” are central to many urban regeneration interventions, their translation into local actions often suffers from vague strategies and, in the worst cases, results into depoliticized processes, gentrification and speculative dynamics displacing residents (Checker, 2007; Swyngedouw, 2007). Strong is, therefore, the need for a project-oriented reflection on: i) the spatial conditions of comfort; ii) the policies, actions and actors for their “just” implementation.
The paper questions the conditions of poverty and fragility that are growing in many European cities. “Poverty” is framed as a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing material, relational, and contextual factors that constrain well-being, making people “fragile” by limiting their opportunity to build and maintain a decent quality of life (Sen, 1976; Bourguignon & Chakravarty, 2003; Aaberge & Brandolini, 2015). From this perspective, space is understood as a “capacitating” infrastructure (Sen, 1993; Nussbaum, 2011), that can either worsen or help reduce fragility conditions. Consistently to this, urban design is called to overcome a binary view of private space versus public space towards a networked approach integrating services, open spaces, and welfare equipment to create more accessible and personalized support to well-being.
The paper describes “research by design and action” developed in marginal parts of the inner city of Trieste, a medium-sized Italian city facing population aging and decline, economic distress, gentrification, and rising pressure on welfare facilities. The research involves: (i) mapping spatial indicators of poverty, including housing, food accessibility, socio-relational, and environmental conditions; (ii) engaging local stakeholders in dialogue and fieldwork; (iii) developing design explorations on underutilized spaces to strengthen the relationship between collective facilities and open spaces.
References
Aaberge, R., A. Brandolini (2015), “Multidimensional poverty and inequality”. In: A.B. Atkinson e F. Bourguignon (eds.), Handbook of income distribution, Volume 2A, Amsterdam, Elsevier, pp. 141-216.
Bourguignon, F., Chakravarty, S.R. (2003), “The Measurement of Multidimensional Poverty”, in The Journal of Economic Inequality 1, pp. 25–49.
Checker, M. (2007), “Wiped Out by the Greenwave: Environmental Gentrification and the Paradoxical Politics of Urban Sustainability”. City & Society, 23, no.2, pp. 210-229.
Marchigiani E, Novak V. (2024), “Rental Affordability, Housing First and Beyond. A Focus on the City of Trieste (Italy)”, in Game Changer? Planning for Just and Sustainable Urban Regions, AESOP Annual Congress, Paris, July 8-12, 2024, Book of Proceedings, pp. 2141-2167.
Nussbaum, Martha C. (2011), Creating Capabilities. The Human Development Approach. Harvard University Press.
Sen, A. (1976), “Poverty: An Ordinal Approach to Measurement”, in Econometrica, 44(2), 219-231.
Sen, A. (1993), “Capabilities and Well-Being”, in Nussbaum, M. and Sen, The Quality of Life, pp. 30-53, Oxford University Press.
Swyngedouw, E. (2007), "Impossible/Undesirable Sustainability and the Post-Political Condition", in J.R. Krueger, D. Gibbs (eds.), The Sustainable Development Paradox, New York, Guilford Press, pp. 13-40.
| Keywords | Housing affordability; Fragility; Trieste |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
