Metropolitics

Writing the Intellectual History of Bioregionalism

Antoine Dubiau & translated by Oliver Waine — 2023-12-22T06:00:00Z

As bioregionalist ideas spread in France, their history remains partly unwritten. This environmental movement, which originated in the United States, is characterized by a diversity of approaches that are perhaps mutually incompatible.
Among the ecological utopias that emerged in the 1970s, bioregionalism long remained exclusively North American. After two decades of widespread international dissemination, the concept is only just beginning to make its mark in France. The promotion of

- Debates / bioregion, Italy, ecology, environment, United States

Lawyers and Borders: Using Legal Recourse to Oppose State Discretion?

Annalisa Lendaro & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-05-06T05:00:00Z

In the autumn of 2020, the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais département, in northern France, prohibited associations not mandated by the state from distributing food aid to migrants on the street. While opponents of this decision have taken their case to the administrative courts, Annalisa Lendaro shows the central role of lawyers in challenging migration policies.
In a context of reinforced controls at the French–Italian border for the last 10 years, a small group of lawyers has specialized

- From the Field / migrants, law, Italy, borders, migration, migration crisis, criminalization of migration

The Everyday Realities of Marriage Migration

Laura Odasso & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-03-18T06:00:00Z

If unions between nationals from Global North countries and foreigners are frequent, their marriages are often met with suspicion by state administrations. This article analyzes the rationales for this interference in people's private lives and its effects on marital life.
When explaining her encounter with the immigration authorities, Anita says she should never have told the Belgian police the truth. For this Flemish woman in her thirties, everything changed when she told the police officer

- From the Field / migration, justice, Europe, migrants, law, Italy, Belgium

Refugee Encampment on Europe's Borders

Marie Bassi & translated by Oliver Waine — 2022-02-04T06:00:00Z

Much media attention on the issue of migration is focused on attempts to cross the Mediterranean Sea and the often dramatic consequences that result. This article sheds light on the trajectories of exiled individuals living in “reception centers” in the south of Italy, which have become an economic sector in their own right.
In Italy, the migration issue has undergone a rapid politicization process since the transformation of the central Mediterranean into one of the main routes to reach the

- From the Field / Italy, migrants, Europe, migration, borders, law, reception

#IStayCamp. Health Conditions, Food Deprivation and Solidarity Problems in the First Days of Lockdown in the Roma Villages of Rome

Carlo Stasolla & Tommaso Vitale — 2020-04-28T05:00:00Z

Activist research in formal settlements of emergency housing in Rome during the Covid‑19 lockdown reveals how such settlements struggle with public health concerns and access to food, among other deprivations, and underscores the need for emergency interventions.
On March 9, 2020, “in order to counteract and contain the spread of the Covid‑19 virus,” Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte signed a decree implementing a complete lockdown aimed at “avoiding any movement of individuals.” The

- From the Field / Roma, Rome, Italy, camps, Covid-19, lockdown, health, food, solidarity, coronavirus

Recyclable City or Disposable City? A Century of Urban Waste in Naples

Sabine Bognon & translated by Oliver Waine — 2018-11-09T06:00:00Z

Inspired by the study of living ecosystems, research into the notion of urban metabolism seeks to break with the linear process—extract, produce, throw away—of resource consumption. This means reducing the amount of materials used, energy expended and waste produced, in order to conserve natural resources. Roberto D'Arienzo uses this concept to examine the case of Naples in Italy.
In Métabolismes urbains, Roberto D'Arienzo publishes the results of his PhD thesis (defended in 2015), retracing

- Reviews / urban planning, Italy, waste, sustainable urban planning, hygienism, urban technical networks, wasteland, Naples, recycling, urban metabolism

Parallel Lives? Elena Ferrante's Naples and My West New Rochelle

Bella Mirabella — 2016-01-26T06:00:00Z

Elena Ferrante's acclaimed Neapolitan novels, which trace the lives of two girls born in a working class district in Naples, Italy in 1944, can be read as a meditation on the role of the neighborhood in shaping class, gender and ethnic identity. In this essay, Italian-American scholar Bella Mirabella reflects on her own community of origin, West New Rochelle, New York, in light of the resonances she encountered reading Ferrante's books.
Elena Ferrante's four Neapolitan novels (My Brilliant

- Essays / United States, Italy, New York, neighborhood, working classes, working-class identity, Ferrante, Neapolitan novels

Public authorities and Roma populations in Turin

Elisabetta Rosa & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-03-05T05:50:00Z

For the last three decades or so, European cities have had to deal with the issue of land occupation by migrant populations from Eastern Europe. The city of Turin has adopted various measures with respect to the “Roma question”: the closure of certain illegal camps, tolerance of others – facilitating their consolidation – and the creation of supervised “official” camps. Despite the apparent contradictions, these policies in fact all lead to similar outcomes: spatial relegation and the

- From the Field / camps, Italy, exclusion, public policy, migration, expulsions, Turin, Roma, vulnerable housing

Northern Mafias: the territorial spread of organised crime in Italy

Fabrizio Maccaglia & translated by Oliver Waine — 2015-02-26T05:50:00Z

The presence of Mafia organisations outside the Mezzogiorno, long downplayed by the Italian public authorities, has become more visible in recent years. A collective work sheds light on the spread of Mafia activity in Italy, and in particular the mechanisms used to infiltrate local economic and political fabrics.
The presence of Mafia-type organisations in regions other than those where they have been historically rooted since the second half of the 19th century (western Sicily for Cosa

- Reviews / local governance, Italy, territorial development, corruption, Mafia

The “ordinary” Italian suburbs: exploring the apartment buildings of the middle classes

Thomas Pfirsch & translated by Oliver Waine — 2014-12-11T06:00:00Z

Through the detailed histories of 23 apartment buildings and their inhabitants, a team of historians and architects show how Italy became a society of homeowners during the boom of the 1950s and '60s. This book sheds light for the first time on the history of this little-known aspect of the private housing sector that nevertheless concerns the majority of Italian households, and highlights the – often underestimated – role played by public policy in its development.
As the debates on urban

- Reviews / homeownership, housing, developers, Rome, housing estates, Italy, middle classes, Milan, Turin, self-segregation, owner-occupiership, co-ownership, condominium