ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter discusses the concept of urban shrinkage from an analytical perspective, a concept widely addressed in international debates but much less so in Italy, bearing in mind the spatial trends seen in the country. The findings will be discussed with consideration of two main aspects: with regard to the recent economic crisis, which originated from the burst of the housing bubble but rapidly evolved, as abroad, into a generalised recession throughout the country; and in light of the domestic spatial planning system, its traditional features, and more recent changes. An attempt will thus be made to understand the extent to which spatial policies in Italy have been made to face the recent global crisis and the possible urban shrinkage resulting from it. The main purpose of this contribution is to show the extent to which the recent dynamics of the Italian urban system reflect the idea underpinning the ‘urban shrinkage model’ as a generalised phenomenon of contraction in cities affected by industrial decline throughout Europe. In particular, the shrinkage has affected the less industrialised cities of southern Italy, but it is not perceived in the large-and middle-sized cities of the northern and central part of the country. It will also be suggested that strong diversification of the spatial planning system at the regional and local level should favour a flexible and ‘place-based’ approach towards this diversified process of spatial transformation. Unfortunately, the generalised and persisting ‘conformative’ approach to spatial planning in Italy tends to counteract the flexibility that is needed to face the effects of the current crisis. The current chapter is then structured into six sections. The next section presents a theoretical framework structuring the analysis of recent Italian urbanisation processes. It revives the currently neglected literature on the urban life cycle, trying to avoid an overestimation of the part played by the real estate/ financial crisis of 2007-2008 in the shrinkage processes, whilst emphasising the need for more tailored interpretations that take into account the structural differences among urban regions across Western countries. The third section contains some conceptual definitions that contribute to setting the methodology used in this analysis. The fourth section offers a preliminary survey of demographic and economic processes taking place in Italian urban systems through a detailed
retrospective examination. The fifth section then sums up the limitations of the application of concepts drawn from specific spatial processes, such as urban shrinkage, to situations that are structurally different, such as the case of Italy, and supports the need for further theoretical and interpretive elaboration in the country. The sixth section describes the overall organisation, traditional features, and current trends of the Italian spatial planning system, referring to the ability of planning tools to deal with the spatial effects of the crisis. The final section recaps the main content and findings of the chapter.
