Ways of Living in the Market City - Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City - page 127

The novelty, speed, and intensity of the phenomenon in Rome has sparked an
intense debate that for the most part is critical of urban development policies and
focuses on the shopping center as such. The construction and existence of porta
di Roma has provoked a flood of criticism from eminent authors (erbani 2008),
architects, intellectuals, and commentators in local and national newspapers, on
the internet, and in television programs and documentaries. only in a few cases
has the matter been treated in depth, though. for example, an interesting col-
lection of critical and problematic writings covers the evolution of Rome in its
entirety, with particular attention to the switch of urban conglomerations toward
the outer areas, the shift of the urban center of gravity to the area between the
centralities and the outer suburbs, the radical change in the relationship between
town and countryside and the creation of the linear city of the GRa, which is
becoming an axis of urban gravitation (ilardi 2005).
The creation of centralities and in particular of so many shopping centers
around the GRa (including porta di Roma) is viewed as symptomatic of an ex-
tremely speculative urban development and of very negative consequences from
both the social and the environmental perspective. it is considered typical of a
more comprehensive model of Rome's development dubbed modello Roma (the
Rome model), widely promoted at the political and national level as a concept but
much criticized in substance (scandurra et al. 2007).
but all these comments (along with some interesting research: scarso 2005;
Di lorenzo 2009; Regione lazio 2007) have focused for the most part on the
proliferation of shopping centers or on individual shopping malls, also seen as
symbolizing a dubious and rapidly changing lifestyle. by contrast, little attention
has been given to the new districts near the centers, to housing models, types of
accommodation, and the sort of city that evolves from them. more attention is
paid to the urban development model and modes of living in the market city in a
very interesting essay by belmessous (2009) about the Val d'europe district that
was constructed by the Disney Corporation near Disneyworld in paris. The es-
say, much discussed in france, highlights the role of the state and public policies
in this remarkable housing and financial project that was executed by a private
company. literature and cinema have also opened up very interesting perspec-
tives on issues of this kind.4 in particular J. G. ballard in Kingdom Come paints a
vivid, ruthless, and apocalyptic (typical of his writings) picture of life and hous-
ing in a situation of this type, providing an image that is perhaps a bit far-fetched
but certainly points to our future horizons in a very problematic fashion.
The research presented in this chapter was conducted following a methodol-
ogy that interweaves a more traditional town planning approach with one that
is sociological and ethnographic.5 Thus, the phenomenon is analyzed through
available data from the neighborhoods, maps, and analysis of projects, plans, and
local government policies and actions, through the creation of a dedicated geo-
graphic information system. in addition, recent studies of a sociological and an-