Abstract
This chapter reinterprets the phenomena of the territorial and spatial distribution of migrants in Italy, attempting to reason about the settlement dynamics that characterise them (particularly with reference to the main Italian metropolitan cities). From this point of view, the research highlights how the main forms of immigrant concentration are recorded mainly in strongly monocentric metropolitan cities, such as Turin, Milan and Palermo. On the other hand, the distribution of migrants in small and medium towns close to large cities is mainly recorded in the most articulated and complex metropolitan cities, such as Rome and Naples. Finally, a significant territorial dispersion of the foreign population with respect to large cities corresponds to polycentric metropolitan cities, especially Florence and Venice, traditionally characterised by a strong specialisation of local economies. In these contexts, the foreign population is distributed outside the major centres, being engaged in specialised work activities, variously distributed over the territory. With respect to these conditions, the strictly urban dimension nevertheless shows its limits with respect to a phenomenon, such as migration, that tends to disperse over the territory. In these contexts, the territorial distribution of the foreign population also reveals unprecedented forms of “rootedness” that highlight clear divergences from the traditional urban contexts of analysis. A specific focus concerns the case of Sicily, where quantitative distributional issues are confronted in particular with the qualitative housing dimension in urban and rural areas, and where aspects of the ethical responsibilities of planning instruments are explored.
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Notes
- 1.
The choice of these two areas responds to the need to compare a context that is “traditionally” considered metropolitan (Metropolitan City of Palermo), with an area that is not and which, on the contrary, shows a strong rural connotation (province of Ragusa, in South-eastern Sicily), albeit characterised by advanced levels of innovation in agricultural production.
- 2.
In the model depicted in Fig. 1, the variable “regular” occupation of the dwelling refers to those conditions in which the lawful owner of a dwelling is willing to rent it out with or without a regular contract (black rent). Conversely, the variable “illegal” occupation refers to those conditions in which there is no such willingness on the part of the owner.
- 3.
By “big city” is meant the cities of Palermo and Ragusa; by “smaller town” is meant any other municipality in the relevant provinces.
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Todaro, V. (2024). Urban Versus Rural: Migrants and Housing Issue in Euro-Mediterranean Contexts. In: Lo Piccolo, F., Mangiaracina, A., Paternostro, G., Todaro, V. (eds) In and Out: Rights of Migrants in the European Space. UNIPA Springer Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51131-8_4
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