Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
by allowing squatting on public land, the city government de facto abdicates its
civic and political responsibility to provide decent housing to poor citizens. at
the same time, it transforms what should be citizens' constitutional right to hous-
ing into a favor to the most needy. in order to secure a roof above their heads,
poor citizens forgo their rights and recreate the conditions of their subalternity,
at the same time enabling institutions and elected officials to use public land as
it suits their personal and party interests. The case of idroscalo is illuminating.
until private interests changed the status quo, presenting local politicians with
new opportunities for their political advancement, the health and security of the
residents did not seem a high priority for the administration. The question “why
now?” asked by residents to local officials in many dramatic and emotional meet-
ings, is nothing but appropriate.
The advantage of being marginal
all the problems with the municipality and with the site notwithstanding, the
social system of idroscalo is what makes this place different from the anony-
mous, formal, and detached ways of living typical of many other neighborhoods
in Rome. at idroscalo, people are inserted in complex networks thick with in-
formal relations and connections that are important especially in times of need.
They provide physical as well as psychological support in a site which otherwise
offers few opportunities for social aggregation. indeed, apart from a little chapel
managed by a very active and generous priest who provides counseling and other
services necessary to residents' spiritual and practical well-being, idroscalo is a
cultural and social desert: no shops, no community center, no library, no piazza,
no gardens or city offices, let alone any pharmacies or doctors. from this perspec-
tive, the recent attention of the authorities toward the health and security of the
residents assumes a farcical and tragic dimension.
social life at idroscalo is by no means idyllic. long-standing feuds between
individuals, violent personal histories, physical violence, unemployment, pov-
erty, and borderline personalities are all present, mixing with very different reali-
ties: church goers, people with formal employment, retired workers with decent
pensions, artists, young couples raising children, and immigrants who struggle
between integration and exclusion. The social network is thus coherent and frag-
mented, solid and weak, open and closed, proactive and passive. in part this is
due to the way people communicate, or not, with each other: within the neigh-
borhood, incomplete and distorted information often circulates and does not
help to create a coherent and sustained sense of identity. many residents explain
the psychological state of their community in terms of personality traits. as one
of them (anna) says: “one cannot change people's minds, you either accept them
as they are or you don't.” as radical an affirmation as this may sound, it is none-
theless based on personal, lived experiences. after forty years of projects, discus-
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