Urban Ghosts: Three Projects for Rome

Abstract

This contribution explores scenarios, and strategies adopted to reshape the relationships between public and private actors and the administrative procedures aimed at redeveloping assets belonging to Rome’s public heritage. Through three case studies, the analysis focuses on the interaction between institutions and local communities, the balance between economic interests, and the processes through which demand is defined.

The selected cases are conceived as socio-technical devices that offer insight into the nature of public heritage and its possible role as a strategic tool to support  urban rent dynamics. The study examines the following themes: how demand for design interventions is generated, the stakeholders involved, the expected impacts, and the factors behind their success or failure. Specifically, it takes in consideration: the regeneration of the former Mira Lanza factory, which is part of the international Reinventing Cities program, which allows consortia of private actors to propose development and management strategies; the Porto Fluviale Rec-House project, that involves the transformation of  a military building occupied since 2003 into housing, through an innovative co-design process involving institutions, universities, local networks, and residents; Anello verde, an urban project that views the municipal open space system as an opportunity to develop policies to  rethink unfulfilled growth forecasts.