ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of a socioenvironmental controversy that is currently taking place in Italy. A proposal for a large-scale engineering construction-a high-speed railway connecting Italy and France [Treno ad Alta Velocità]—has been contested by local populations: over a period of time, a number of public protests have been organized, with some outbursts of open confl ict. This case bears resemblances to many other controversies occurring in different countries, and it is illustrative of problematic conditions in public policy arising from the attempted or effective application of the most powerful means of modern technoscience for the transformation of natural systems. A detailed analysis of the controversy as it has developed over time is presented here to illustrate how the confl ict between the parties involved is more than a quarrel generated by idiosyncratic and contrasting forms of evidence or by alternative interpretations of factual data, but rather it is a contradiction of aims and purposes, generated and sustained by the application of different ways of looking at reality, society and science.
