Search

This book provides a summary overview of the activities carried out by the Diversity and Migration Lab, which was set up within the scope of the FORTHEM international Alliance (Fostering Outreach within European Regions, Transnational Higher Education and Mobility), and concluded in September 2022.

Il contributo propone un'anilisi quali-quantitativa sullo stato della pianificazione urbanistica comunale nella provincia di Palermo alla luce del rinnovo dei riferimenti normativi regionali in materia di governo del territorio con l'approvazione della LR 19/2020

Il contributo analizza l'esperienza del Piano Casa in Sicilia in relazione alle criticità di attuazione che porta con se

Nel tracciare il percorso bibliografico, questo saggio introduttivo affronta la vasta bibliografia tematica relativa ai “sei discorsi” (ampliando anche il campo di riflessione di Soja) senza alcuna pretesa di sistematicità, ma perseguendo l’obiettivo di rintracciare le geografie della transizione postmetropolitana in atto nei territori siciliani. Seguendo l’asse del ragionamento di Soja, la postmetropoli è stata “utilizzata” come dispositivo di frattura epistemologica (Brenner e Schmid, 2015) rispetto alle teorie urbane che riconoscono solo nell’unità morfologica densa della città i caratteri dell’urbano. Del resto, è lo stesso Soja a sollecitare un uso della postmetropoli di Los Angeles non come rigida categoria analitica, ma come prodotto (o per meglio dire categoria della pratica) a partire dal quale sono individuabili quelle “particolarità generalizzabili” che restituiscono la natura proces- suale del fenomeno urbano contemporaneo. Dal punto di vista metodologico, i “sei discorsi” sono stati assunti nella loro doppia natura di formulazione teorica delle caratteristiche dell’urbano eal tempo stesso come base per lo sviluppo dell’indagine empirica sui contesti postmetropolitani oggetto di approfondimento dell’Unità di Ricerca di Palermo nell’ambito del PRIN 2010-2011 “Territori post-metropolitani come forme urbane emergenti: le sfide della sostenibilità, abitabilità e governabilità”.

En relación con el escenario migratorio internacional, los fenómenos de globalización, las recientes transformaciones socioeconómicas y laborales, así como la ampliación de la Unión Europea a los países del Este, son la base de la convergencia de un complejo sistema de factores interdependientes que determinan el continuo cambio en las relaciones entre los países de origen y destino de los flujos migratorios. En partucular el articulo, a partir de datos de la Comisión Europea, analiza los flujos migratorios hacia Europa, sus procedencias y destinos, poniendo el acento en el caso italiano y en los primeros efectos del Decreto Salvini, en lo que puede ser considerato un proceso entre la negación de los derechos fundamentales de la persona y las formas de "desobediencia civil".

Recent social housing programme reforms in Southern European Countries emphasise homeless involvement in the public discussion about planning and the delivery of housing. Experiences in a new social housing Italian programme and recent studies on the subject (Viglianisi, 2014; Laino and Vitale, 2015; Lo Piccolo and Giampino, 2016) reveal a number of obstacles for what concerns homeless participation in social housing programmes. This article critically assesses Arnstein’s ladder in relation to the institutionalization of homeless participation in the new social housing Italian programme "Multi-fund National Operational Programme Metropolitan Cities 2014-2020", on evidence from the case study of Palermo. Although this paper focuses primarily on Italy, and in particular on Palermo, it has a wider applicability in principle. As suggested by Brand and Gaffikin (2007:284), “hard cases can illuminate the challenges and contradictions involved in a proposition, without laying claim to being typical.” From this point of view, Palermo represents an extreme case and the consequent reflections can be helpful in order to individuate and discuss some broader phenomena that are much more evident – and consequently analysable – in ‘extreme’ conditions. In the new social housing Italian programme (Multi-fund National Operational Programme Metropolitan Cities 2014-2020), homeless participation is cast as mandatory in the process of reframing traditional housing policies. Due to these conditions, we increasingly find local authorities coming up with engagement practises of homeless in the construction of local housing solutions. This "participative turn" in social housing programmes had not allowed the 'citizen control' but alternatively the 'third sector organization control'. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, since the 80s in Europe and Italy an increasing number of housing services was entrusted to private non-profit organizations and to associations of volunteering, diminishing the direct role of the public sector in the housing system and its related policies. Although this "participative turn" is considered a result of a new model of governance in order to facilitate the relationship between homeless and institutions, it is still controversial the role that the third sector plays in encouraging greater participation of homeless. In fact, although the third sector has a private juridical nature but with a strong social commitment, actually it works as an economic agent that operates on the market as a real business agency. If in the recent past, third sector organisations have represented the voice of homeless needs in the public debate, now these organisations often react in a conservative way in order to maintain their privileges (and economic advantages) in managing temporary shelters instead of supporting policies for the realization of new scattered-site stable housing. Secondly, according to a FEANTSA (European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless) definition, homeless in Southern European cities, such as in Palermo, are groups of inhabitants (without alcohol disorders or severe mental illness) living in occupied public or religious properties, with no legal rights. Therefore it is difficult for public institutions to consider and involve directly squatters in public procedures and activities, due to their legal status. In fact, the Italian most recent measure on housing (Law no. 80 of 2014) imposes to combat the unauthorised occupation of buildings by preventing homeless/squatters from being able to take residence, thus precluding them from enjoying a series of related rights. Amongst these, there is the fundamental right of participation to the public debate on policies to be implemented on housing deprivation. Consequently, the role of third sector organizations in participative processes becomes crucial, being based on a principle of subsidiarity that excludes homeless from any real participation. Furthermore, the attribution to the third sector of the role to represent needs and expectations of homeless arises questions of legitimation. The legitimacy of representation in the participation process, that is the loyalty of the third sector in expressing needs, desires and expectations of homeless, remains a problem which is, to a extent, unresolved. Consequently, a number of questions arise in reference to the new "participative turn" of Italian social housing programme: Who or what are the third sector organisations representing? How can be reconciled the economic interests and social work's values of the third sector in the construction of social housing programmes? Which is the role, at the end, of the public sector? The article argues that ‘institutionalised participation’ does not favour the qualitative leap toward citizen control. Although the Municipality of Palermo (like many other local administrations in Italy) describes optimistically and enthusiastically the participative process of its social housing programme, homeless and movements promoting the right to housing have expressed significant discontent, because they are not directly involved in the programme, being represented through the third sector organizations. Facing this issue, empirical research suggests that the neo-liberal restructuring assigns a key role to the third sector as an agent of the state in the production and delivery of ‘ housing services’ for homeless, moving it away from its core mission of mediator in enhancing housing policies toward more democratic choices and actions. In the critical assessment of the "new participative turn" of the Multi-fund National Operational Programme Metropolitan Cities 2014-2020, the article will re-interpret Arnstein’s ladder in order to individuate a 'missing step', that comes from the ambiguous role played by the third sector in "speaking in the name" of under-represented and vulnerable groups. In other words, there is the risk that the first step of ‘nonparticipation’ coincides with a new step of the third sector control and manipulation, despite all the rhetorical emphasis on a new ‘participative turn’ in favour of deprived homeless and vulnerable sectors of the population.

Il testo propone una scheda con una sintesi del quadro regionale siciliano per quanto attiene il governo del territorio ed in particolare: lo stato della legislazione vigente, la pianificazione comunale e di area vasta, la programmazione regionale.

All’interno delle forme di governance rurale, intesa secondo un approccio di concertazione e partecipazione dal basso alle politiche di sviluppo rurale, vanno sempre più diffondendosi in Italia i modelli distrettuali rurali e agricoli che privilegiano, secondo modalità integrate e multisettoriali, i percorsi di sviluppo locale ed endogeno. Alla luce di tali premesse l'articolo analizza il potenziale ruolo per uno sviluppo duraturo che i distretti rurali possono svolgere in Sicilia.

This introductory chapter proposes a mainly theoretical reflection on the category of the urban, both as a spatial and social product and as an economic and political one, in territories marked by settlement transformation phenomena. In tracking this evolutionary path, this chapter addresses the huge thematic bibliog- raphy on the phenomena of urban regionalisation without any demand for systematic approach but pursuing the aim of tracing the geography of this on-going transition in Sicily.

Negli ultimi anni il tema della rigenerazione urbana dei piccoli centri è tornato al centro del dibattito e delle politiche pubbliche nonché di pratiche di resilienza in cui progetti di rigenerazione a base culturale, cooperative di comunità e processi di reinsediamento si fondano su una dimensione spaziale capace di giocare un ruolo attivo e inedito. A partire dall’analisi di recenti sperimentazioni – in alcuni casi ancora fragili tanto quanto i luoghi su cui insistono, ma rilevanti per significatività – il contributo propone riflessioni teoriche e primi risultati delle indagini territoriali sull’area dei Sicani – approfondendo il caso di Sambuca di Sicilia – svolte dall’UdR dell’Università di Palermo nell’ambito del progetto di ricerca PRIN “B4R Branding4Resilience. Infrastrutture turistiche come strumento per la valorizzazione dei piccoli borghi attraverso comunità resilienti e nuovi habitat aperti”. Le politiche territoriali per i piccoli insediamenti dell’Italia interna non dovrebbero essere fondate su una visione oppositiva rispetto alle aree urbane metropolitane o intermedie, ma su una visione cooperativa in base alla quale i diversi sistemi territoriali siano interdipendenti e parte di un’estesa armatura di centri connessi fra loro: territori di produzione innovativa (rurale e culturale) e di un modello di abitare capace di offrire rinnovati modi di fare welfare e d’interagire con il patrimonio ambientale e culturale

This paper aims to propose a reflection on the repercussions that Covid-19 has had on children and adolescents who already were in conditions of educational poverty, trying to identify possible ways of intervention and future research. The specific literature identifies children and adolescents as the most vulnerable subjects of socio-economic distress, even at risk of dropping out or dropping out of school. The conditions of isolation and potential risks of abandonment of children and adolescents have been amplified by the Covid-19 emergency, as emerges from the latest report of Save the Children. The situation is transversal throughout the entire country, but it is accentuated in the regions of the South, which already had serious situations of social marginality and educational poverty. The effects are related not only to the lack of educational opportunities, but also to the difficulties in distance learning and the lack of access to extracurricular, motor and recreational educational activities. The multidimensionality and complexity of the educational poverty phenomenon bring to light other issues such as the gaps between North and South of our country, social inequalities, immigration problems, female employment, gender and generational inequalities. All of these issues deserve to be studied in greater depth.

Questo servizio riconduce a sistema alcune tra le più significative prospettive di riflessione teorica e relative ricadute sul piano della prassi che si sono avviate in Italia nell'ultimo anno, nel tentativo di superare alcune retoriche sul ritorno alla normalità che sembrano permeare discorsi, narrazioni e proposte operative per il post-pandemia. Un quadro composito di interventi in grado di delineare future agende di ricerca e di proporre per le città e i territori un progetto di futuro differente.

Urban regions are recognised as driving forces of the global economy as well as the main sources of social inequality. In recent decades, particularly, housing access has become a serious problem, not only for the most disadvantaged population, but also for the middle class, as a result of economic crises and despite of prices decline in the housing market. In urban regions with high population density, some social groups face problems of housing affordability that depend not only on market prices but also on income availability. The contribution proposes a methodology for income-threshold assessment through a combination between the ratio income and the residual income approaches, which is applied to two different Sicilian urban regions: the urban region of Palermo (UR PA) and the urban region of Syracuse and Ragusa (UR SR-RG). A focus on low-income levels in high residential tension municipalities helps to highlight the distribution of the housing access problem. The analysis can provide a cognitive support for developing strategies and planning tools or for implementing actions that are oriented to address the housing issue.

This article provides empirical evidence that helps to answer several key questions relating to the regionalisation processes in Southern European cities. Several studies have documented the effects produced by the urban regionalisation process, especially in terms of territorial resource consumptions and the formation of new territorial patterns, overlooking the evaluation of public information that has been lost in terms of space and prerogatives of public action in the new post- metropolitan urban space. Starting from this theoretical framework, the interpretation of the post-metropolitan transition of Palermo through the filter of living in its dual dimension of being the outcome of socio-spatial dynamics and as the main objective of quality of life is an opportunity to reflect on the renewal of planning action tools, especially in the context of institutional absence such as in the South of Italy.

Ethnic residential segregation in Italy is emerging as a key question, which will be crucial in the definition and implementation of both urban and social policies. This chapter focuses on this phenomenon in the Italian Metropolitan Area of Palermo. We use individual data for all the population residing in the city on 31 December 2011, organised by ethnicity and neighbourhood to describe the spatial distribution and the residential segregation of foreigners in the city, applying many different segregation measures. Results show that the top ten nationalities in Palermo are not uniformly spread across the different parts of the city but tend to cluster in specific areas. The most segregated nationalities are people from China, Cote D’Ivoire, and Bangladesh, while Romanians present the lowest level of segregation.

This article explores the dichotomy between interests and values in the field of the right to housing for homeless people, focusing on the informal practices of reappropriation of spaces (properties owned by the Municipality of Palermo) in the case study of Palermo. The experience we are dealing with here must be addressed in a wider context of structural and latent conflicts concerning the city of Palermo, which are strictly related to the emergency housing issue. Indeed, Palermo’s housing issue is a quite complex and articulated theme, where the ineffectiveness of public policies and the increasing poverty conditions, aggravated by the economic crisis, seem to find in the various forms of the illegal occupation, as for abandoned or unused buildings, an extreme mode to democratically get a denied right.

The process of urbanisation is considered one of the most significant anthropic alterations of the environmental framework, and the present study attempts to understand the spatial characteristics of urban growth and their impacts on envi- ronmental components in two metropolitan areas of Sicily. Such rapid and unplanned urbanisation in Sicily has increased during the last three decades causing severe pres- sure on various natural resources. In this situation, the level of fragmentation and isolation of natural areas risks becoming worse. The question assumes a particular relevance in those local territorial portions, such as some urban and periurban areas, presenting relevant conditions of naturality close to highly built environments. Such landscapes are usually affected by forms of human pressure that have determined intense deterioration processes, that urban and regional planning tools were not able to control and reduce. Empirical evidence of this study suggests that alternative urban patterns generate differential effects on the environmental system. Starting from this evidence, in this article we explore the reciprocity relationship between built envi- ronment and open territory, with the aim of identifying possible strategies to manage the phenomena of urban sprawl in the metropolitan context.

This chapter introduces a description of the two main areas that will be discussed throughout the book: the metropolitan region of Palermo and South-Eastern Sicily. The chapter starts with a socio-economic analysis describing the characteristics of demography, employment and income in these two parts of Sicily, by comparing them to the situation of other areas in Italy. A spatial analysis of housing and land use complements the socio-economic outlook. Each section describes the most consolidated trends in these areas, but also discusses the most innovative changes and the challenges Sicily has been facing over the years.

This Chapter analyses the spatial and social interaction phenomena between high-quality agricultural production and immigrant labour exploita- tion that produce the landscape of exception, a particular declination of the Agambenian (2005) “state of exception” concept. The landscape of exception construction mechanism is generated within South-Eastern Sicily through the productive system of greenhouses, finalised to the vegetables production. Green- houses, in particular, represent an effective tool for spatial manipulation over the landscape and social control of migrant workers. In relation to these considerations, this work reflects on ethical challenges and dilemmas of planning, highlighting (both explicit and latent) conflicts and power inequalities in the landscapes of exception, where issues of social justice, environmental sustainability and suspension of norms are strictly intertwined.

In spite of the multifaceted criticalities that characterise the Sicilian territory, South-Eastern Sicily appears to be of particular interest due to the active role that distinguishes it from the rest of the Island. The transformation processes taking place in South-Eastern Sicily, in fact, seem to be guided by new perspectives of sustainability, local development and good governance. The mix obtained from the extraordinary amount of tangible and intangible resources, from some favourable socio-cultural circumstances and from the creation of new transportation infrastructures, has contributed to promoting new forms of reuse of the historical building heritage by Italian and overseas investors who have purchased prestigious properties in the historic centres and in the agricultural areas of the Hyblaean hinterland, triggering unexpected processes of economic revitalisation.

The new settlement phenomena in our territory, linked to current globalisation processes and the increasing complexity of contemporary society, have caused a crisis of the historical boundaries and are creating new planning layouts. In this context, the metropolitan dimension is once again viable, and Italy, with Sicily sometimes experiencing these processes in advance, is reorganising the institutions covering large areas, directing processes and trying out new convergences, under the driving force of new public finance reorganisation policies.

The consumption of the soil due to urbanization it is a phenomena already for many years under observations, but of which only the scientific environment has noticed the elevated environmental impact progress. From a disciplinary point of view, is possible to identify a line of research focusing on the analysis and identification of new morphologies of urbanization and on the interaction among different settlement patterns coexisting in a specific context. This reading complements with the scientific production about the forms of settlement pressure on environmental systems, producing change and deterioration on natural ecosystems and loss of biodiversity. A necessary reference for this line are the studies about fragmentation processes (linear, concentrated, mixed) and those about the seclusion of natural and semi-natural habitats (protected or unprotected. Such references combine with the analyses conducted on the process of replacement of natural systems with artificial ecomosaics. The state of urbanization in Sicily is interested by the phenomenon of urban sprawling which, starting from the seventies, have strongly contributed to shape the regional territory both from the physical and from the functional point of view. Such phenomenon has mainly affected the fringe areas around the metropolitan areas where land consumed by low density settlements amounts to 42% of the entire urbanized territory; such percentage, when considered for coastal municipalities, reaches above the 75% of the urbanized territory. In the case of natural systems, human pressure phenomena weight on an already critical situation, given by a spotted distribution of protected areas. The level of fragmentation and isolation of these areas risks to become worse. In Sicily, the absence of the environment assessment tools and the disconnection between urban and regional planning and sector planning have determined an inadequate level of control of human pressure on environmental systems. Regarding this general framework, this paper presents a clarification and a reformulation of the reciprocity relationship between built environment and open territory, with the aim of identifying possible strategies to manage the phenomena of urban sprawl in the metropolitan context, a main objective of European territorial policies and of many national policies of the member states.

Within context of urban disintegration and social fragmentation, the concept of post-metropolis induces to critically consider the typical dichotomy between centre and periphery. Even in marginal areas where metropolis did not develop according to traditional stages and classical models, the traditional analytical categories are no longer able to interpret the widespread phenomenon of regional urbanization. In any case, the large urban regions are recognized by some authors not only as driving-force of the global economy, but also as the main sources of inequality and of social/environmental injustice; places where the gap between high and low income of social groups has been exacerbated. In particular and in recent decades, access to housing has become a serious problem, not only for the most disadvantaged population, but also for the middle class as a result of the economic crisis and despite the fall in prices in the housing market. The widespread urbanization is rarely associated with the demographic development and more often is accompanied by the increase of soil consumption and of empty houses. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that in large urban regions the population density is high and social groups with low incomes have to face problems of housing affordability, that it means they experience difficulty in finding affordable housing. The location choice for housing, although it depends on other factors, is mostly conditioned by the market price as a good proxy of residential quality, and by the availability of income that can be used for this purpose. The contribution proposes a methodology for assessment of “income-threshold” through a combination between the “ratio income” and the “residual income” approach, which is applied to two contexts: the former Palermo metropolitan area (as defined by L.R. 9/1986) and a polycentric urban region in South-eastern Sicily. A focus on income levels in high residential tension municipalities helps to highlight the distribution of the problem of access to housing. The analysis of housing affordability at the metropolitan scale, through this methodology for estimating the “income threshold”, could allow to know and represent the territorial distribution of the ability or inability of families to access the housing market to buy or rent house. It can provide a cognitive support for developing strategies and planning tools or for implementing actions that are oriented to address the housing issue.

Il contributo illustra lo stato della popolazione e delle dinamiche demografiche in Sicilia all'interno del volume collettaneo Sicilia. Rapporto sul Territorio 2018, edito dalla sezione regionale dell'Istituto Nazionale di Urbanistica. Osservando l’andamento della popolazione negli ultimi quindici anni (2001-2016) in chiave comparativa, l’immagine complessiva che si ricava della Sicilia è di una regione relativamente dinamica nel contesto del Mezzogiorno, ma con tassi di crescita significativamente inferiori a quelli nazionali e di alcune regioni del centro- nord in particolare. Tra i due censimenti (2001- 2011) la popolazione residente in Sicilia è complessivamente cresciuta dello 0,7%, un valore pari a circa un sesto di quello nazionale (4,3) e soprattutto di gran lunga inferiore al dato registrato dalle regioni italiane con i più consistenti incrementi demografici, quali l’Emilia Romagna, il Lazio, la Lombardia. In ragione di ciò, la Sicilia si mantiene al di sopra della soglia dei cinque milioni di abitanti, accogliendo circa l’8,4% della popolazione italiana e mantenendo il quarto posto tra le regioni italiane più popolate, ma non è escluso che già nel breve periodo possa essere superata dal Veneto come quarta regione italiana per peso demografico.

Nonostante le difficoltà del contesto in alcune aree della Sicilia i processi di trasformazione in atto sembrano guidati da nuove prospettive di sviluppo locale e good governance come strutturanti per le azioni di valorizzazione territoriale e allo stesso tempo garanzia di una migliore vivibilità e di una sostenibilità sociale e culturale delle scelte. Il territorio indagato è quello della Sicilia sud-orientale che, sia per la presenza di una fiorente dimensione agricola, sia per un’attenzione crescente verso forme innovative di turismo declinate su cultura ed enogastronomia, si configura come una delle aree più dinamiche del contesto regionale. Per un insieme di fattori legati alle qualità storico-artistiche, paesaggistiche, climatiche e relazionali che rendono particolarmente attrattivo il contesto di riferimento, all’inizio degli anni duemila, nella Sicilia sud-orientale si comincia a registrare un aumento dei flussi turistici e l’interesse sia di italiani provenienti da altre regioni, sia di stranieri non soltanto europei, in entrambi i casi appartenenti ad un ceto socio-economico elevato, a investire nell’acquisto di immobili di pregio nei centri storici e nelle aree agricole dell’hinterland ibleo trasformandoli in residenze stagionali ed in qualche caso in residenze stabili. Tale fenomeno appare in controtendenza rispetto all’attuale crisi del mercato immobiliare che ha investito con percentuali diverse l’intera nazione e l’Europa, facendo registrare nel Sud-Est della Sicilia un trend positivo relativamente alle compravendite di immobili. La presenza dei nuovi abitanti sta inoltre invertendo la tendenza allo spopolamento dei più noti centri storici ricadenti nell’area Sud-orientale della Sicilia e innescando insperati processi di rivitalizzazione economica.

I nuovi fenomeni insediativi dei nostri territori, legati ai processi di globalizzazione in atto, stanno innescando nuovi assetti di pianificazione. In questo contesto, la dimensione metropolitana è ritornata in auge e, in Italia, sotto l’impulso delle nuove politiche di riassetto di finanza pubblica, si sta provvedendo al riordino degli enti di area vasta, dirigendo processi e sperimentando nuove convergenze. Il contributo ripercorre il percorso istituzionale italiano e nel dettaglio quello della regione Sicilia. In ultimo analizza l'intricata relazione tra gli strumenti di area vasta e la nuova dimensione nella città metropolitana di Palermo.

Palermo è la città più popolata e importante della Sicilia e la quinta città più popolata d'Italia. Nonostante sia ampiamente conosciuta per la sua marginalità e la presenza di organizzazioni criminali (mafia), Palermo ha giocato a lungo un ruolo chiave nel bacino del Mediterraneo. Uno dei luoghi comuni tradizionali legati a Palermo e alla Sicilia è che il suo popolo ha sviluppato un atteggiamento passivo come conseguenza delle numerose dominazioni straniere dell'isola (a partire dalla sua fondazione, Palermo è stata governata dai Cartaginesi, dai Romani, dagli Arabi, dai Normanni, dai Francesi e dagli Spagnoli). Come per tutti i luoghi comuni, anche questo è in parte vero, ma non può essere considerato l'unico motivo che spiega la complessa situazione di Palermo. L'articolo presenta alcuni dati relativi alle tessere di Palermo. I dati sono suddivisi in due sezioni: una prospettiva socio-economica che descrive le caratteristiche della demografia, dell'occupazione e del reddito nella Sicilia occidentale; un'analisi spaziale delle abitazioni e dell'uso del territorio. Ogni sezione descrive le tendenze più consolidate in quest'area, ma anche i cambiamenti più innovativi e le sfide che quest'area sta affrontando negli ultimi anni. La sezione finale evidenzia alcune osservazioni conclusive e colloca il caso Palermo nel quadro teorico del discorso post-metropolitano in Italia. Palermo is the most populated and important city of Sicily, and the fifth most populated city in Italy. Although it is widely known for its marginality and the presence of criminal organizations (mafia), Palermo has long played a key role in the Mediterranean basin. One of the traditional clichés connected to Palermo and Sicily is that its people has developed a passive attitude as a consequence of the many foreign dominations of the island (starting from its foundation, Palermo has been ruled by the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the French, and the Spanish). As for all clichés, this one is partly true, but cannot be considered the only reason that explains the complex situation of Palermo. The article presents some data regarding the tesserae of Palermo. Data are divided into two sections: a socio-economic outlook describing the characteristics of demography, employment and income in Western Sicily; a spatial analysis of housing and land use. Each section describes the most consolidated trends in this area, but also discusses the most innovative changes and the challenges this area is facing in the last years. The final section points out some concluding remarks and puts the Palermo case within the theoretical framework of the post-metropolitan discourse in Italy.

The paper investigates the relationship between the preservation of cultural heritage and planning in UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites, with special reference to the relation be- tween Management Plans and other (local and regional) planning instruments and policies able to influence the promotion of sustainable and responsible development. This will be explored through a case study related to South-Eastern Sicilian UNESCO sites (in particular Syracuse). The analysis of this case study will point out the challenge of integrating different management and planning regimes - which mainly refer to a performative model - in a (still) very conformative planning sys- tem. The paper will show how supranational protection tools and models often lose their efficacy in relation to local planning systems. This article aims to investigate the relationship between sustainable development and planning in UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites. Its focus is the re- lationship between WHL Management Plans (MP) and other (local and regional) planning instruments and policies able to influence the promotion of sustainable and responsible development. This will be explored through the case study of the site Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica. The analysis of this case study will point out the challenge of integrating different management and planning re- gimes - which mainly refer to a performative model - in a (still) very conformative planning system. The paper will show how supranational policies often lose their efficacy in relation to regional and local planning systems, being in opposition to such systems. The selection of the Sicilian case study is particularly appropriate un

The construction of an ecological network is a fairly complex operation, given that the components to be considered are strictly linked to the age-old problem of the relationship between man and the land, until now perhaps seen too much as a limiting relationship and not, as the use of this tool suggests, as a relationship to be safeguarded. It may represent the ideal way to reconcile human needs and the conservation of biodiversity for the sustainable management of land. This study on the ecological network represents a tool capable to contain habitat fragmentation trough a new perspective that integrates theoretical approaches and methods with planning models and experiences of local applications, with a specific attention to the Sicilian context.

This paper explores the dichotomy between interests and values in the field of the right to housing for homeless people, focusing on the informal practices of reappropriation of spaces (properties owned by the Municipality of Palermo) in the case study of Palermo. The experience we are dealing with here must be addressed in a wider context of structural and latent conflicts concerning the city of Palermo, which are streactly related to the emergency housing issue. Indeed, Palermo’s housing issue is a quite complex and articulated theme, where the ineffectiveness of public policies and the increasing of hardship and poverty conditions, exacerbated by the economic crisis of 2008, seem to find in the various forms of the illegal occupation, as concerned to the abandoned or unused buildings, an extreme mode to get “democratically” a denied right.

Postmetropolis is an ambitious term that could be summarized as the "postmodern metropolis." With it Edward W. Soja (2000) aims to define the globalized city that he supposes to be involved in a radical transition process that began with the post-modern city. In relation to these considerations, the article explores the post-metropolitan profile of South-eastern Sicily through: a socio-economic outlook describing the characteristics of demography, employment and income in this part of Sicily; a spatial analysis of housing and land use; and finally an institutional description of the administrative state of the art in Syracuse, Ragusa and their surroundings. Each section describes the most consolidated trends in this area, but also discusses the most innovative changes and the challenges Southeastern Sicily is facing in the last years. The final section points out some concluding remarks and puts this Sicilian case within the theoretical framework of the post-metropolitan discourse in Italy.

Esiti dell'indagine della territorializzazione degli immigrati stranieri in base alla ricerca svolta nell'ambito del PRIN Post-metropoli.

Tra le questioni più pressanti che certamente interessa le condizioni di vita degli immigrati in Sicilia è presente quella riconducibile alla domanda abitativa che, rispetto alle "tradizionali" forme di disagio, tende sempre più ad assumere i caratteri della vera e propria emergenza. In particolare, il contributo propone una indagine esplorativa sulle condizioni/forme dell'abitare in relazione ad una possibile tipizzazione delle condizioni di disagio/emergenza che le caratterizzano. Tale profilo è sinteticamente rappresentato nel modello concettuale definito da quattro quadranti costituiti dall'intersezione di altrettante variabili: le condizioni di occupazione "regolare" o abusiva degli alloggi e la localizzazione territoriale (comuni capoluogo o comuni minori) riferita agli ambiti di analisi (Area metropolitana di Palermo e Sicilia Sud-Orientale). Alla luce delle suddette considerazioni è stato delineato il profilo di quattro tipi di forme di disagio/emergenza abitativa che interessano gli immigrati.

The official statistics on the movements of the immigrant population of the last 20 years in Sicily show a significant increase in foreign presences. Movements go beyond the seasonal dimension and are concentrated in non-urban areas with a greater agricultural vocation, where there are also high levels of economic innovation (Trapani and Ragusa). It is often a phenomenon with paradoxical outlines, considering that the economic results of quality agriculture are counterbalanced by the conditions in which immigrants live and work, being denied the right to the city and citizenship. Therefore, there is a significant interde- pendence between agricultural development and foreign presences that this paper intends to deepen by analyzing the spatial consequences of migration and the weakness of local policies., Contesti. Città, territori, progetti, No. 1-2 (2017)

La ristrutturazione post-fordista della città post-moderna occidentale è sempre più spesso associata all’intensificarsi dei flussi migratori internazionali, che contribuiscono in maniera profonda a modificarne l’immagine e la struttura sotto il profilo economico, culturale, sociale e spaziale. Lo studio delle forme di distribuzione territoriale della popolazione straniera nelle principali regioni urbane italiane proposto da questo contributo, pertanto, diviene un possibile strumento analitico per comprendere più a fondo la dimensione socio-spaziale del fenomeno migratorio, configurandosi altresì come un dispositivo per superare la retorica demonizzante dello «straniero» (Bauman, 2014), in direzione di una più utile comprensione delle sue ricadute territoriali nell’ambito di una sempre meno evanescente transizione post-metropolitana.

Il contributo analizza i riferimenti teorico-disciplinari sulla continuità ecologico-ambientale all'interno del progetto di territorio. Tali riflessioni vengono poi verificate sul fronte applicativo attraverso l'esperienza dei piani di gestione dei Siti Natura 2000 in Sicilia ed in particolare quella del piano di gestione del Sito di Interesse Comunitario "Complesso dei Monti di Santa Ninfa-Gibellina e Grotta di Santa Ninfa"

Il contributo esplora il complesso sistema di relazioni esistente tra presenza di popolazione straniera e dinamiche insediative. Se è chiaro che i flussi migratori si concentrano laddove è presente maggiore offerta lavorativa (soprattutto dequalificata) e al contempo laddove le reti sociali stabili e le condizioni di contesto (servizi, assistenza sanitaria, educazione) facilitano le forme di accoglienza (Ambrosini, 2000b), non è altrettanto chiaro in che modo tali presenze si relazionano con le dinamiche di crescita/trasformazione delle città/regioni urbane e che tipo di differenziati problemi (presenze reali e irregolari, contesti urbani e contesti rurali, residenza e servizi) pongono in termini di scelte strategiche per gli strumenti di pianificazione.