Abstract

In the face of the growing clout of finance easily converted into Real Estate, and of urban regeneration plans which wipe out historical space and its subtle texture of relationships, it is more and more difficult for ordinary people and the residents of a city who desire to live in spaces which retain their particular character and meaning to protect their interests. The article analyses possible ways to prevent big investments from taking over and substituting the social space with spectacular ones ignoring and destroying the relationships between subjects, by means of smaller more attentive readjustments. It is necessary to look at how the effects of economic trends give physical shape to the city, focussing above all on the peripheral areas of the metropolis and on abandoned spaces not just with an eye to rebuild, but in order to rediscover hidden resources, and to reconsider and rethink the criteria of development and liveability from a different point of view.