The new urban issue: A journey into the Italian city and its sensitive areas
Keywords:
Global connections, urban life, dislocation, heterotopical, crisis of sociability, spirals of abandonment.Abstract
The transformation of the urban horizon shows a heterotropical fragmentation which is a transverse phenomenon.
Some parts of the city are showing new combinations of functions and populations: these are simply juxtaposed, with
neither contacts nor communications. While some places/populations are losing functions, suffering economic
changes and weakening the sociability skills, some others are more widely connected elsewhere. Marginalisation
processes may be found all over the city. Old suburbs and new critical areas can be mentioned as „sensitive areas‟,
far beyond their geographical position on the city map. The studies carried out indicate that sensitive areas in the city
are very interesting points of view in order to observe and understand the social changes and trends of contemporary
development processes.
