The article analyses the transformations that have affected Italian railway stations in recent decades. The first part deals with the history of the railway station and is devoted to understanding its functions as well as its social and symbolic meanings. The construction of railways had a significant impact on the urban form: it created new centralities and fractures and conditioned the development of the city. The railway station represented a novelty from an architectural point of view, being a space in which architectural and engineering knowledge merged. Because of their importance and monumentality, railway stations have been likened to cathedrals of modernity and movement and have been among the most important public spaces in the twentieth century. The second part of the article focuses on railway station renovation projects, in particular the «Grandi Stazioni» project, viewing it in the broader context of the profound changes in urban policies, which are increasingly oriented towards enhancing competitiveness and attractiveness. The renovation of stations has been aimed at revitalising rail mobility to address the mounting crisis in both the freight and passenger sectors, due to competition from road transport first and air transport later. The loss of centrality of rail transport had also affected railway station spaces, multiplying material and social voids as well as forms of decay. The renovation of railway stations has taken the form of a privatisation and commodification of spaces and an increase in surveillance and control. The transformations of railway stations can thus be read an example of contraction/domestication of public space.
Received: 21 October 2022 / Accepted: 26 December 2022 / Published: 5 January 2023
L'articolo analizza la genesi del concetto di urban blight nel contesto delle politiche di urban renewal che sono state attuate negli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta nelle città degli Stati Uniti. L'obiettivo è quello di evidenziare le logiche discriminatorie che hanno accompagnato l'imposizione di questo termine nel dibattito pubblico e le sue conseguenze sull'allontanamento dalle aree centrali (inner city) delle città americane delle famiglie afroamericane. La costruzione dell'urban blight si inserisce quindi nel più ampio discorso sulla razzializzazione dello spazio che caratterizza l'esperienza urbana statunitense.
I Contratti di quartiere sono progetti integrati di recupero urbano indirizzati a quartieri caratterizzati da diffuso degrado delle costruzioni, da carenze di servizi e da scarsa coesione sociale. Gli interventi previsti hanno contenuto urbanistico e sociale e sono realizzati predisponendo forme di partecipazione dei residenti. L'articolo esamina i limiti di questo tipo di intervento considerando gli aspetti legati alla prassi di governo (difficoltŕ nel coinvolgimento dei residenti), e si interroga sull'effettiva capacitŕ di promuovere attraverso questo tipo di azione percorsi di inclusione sociale, il rischio č infatti quello di confinare a livello locale le cause dell'esclusione sociale, perdendo cosě di vista il contesto piů ampio sia a livello macroeconomico che macrosociale.
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