149 pacchi citizensaeurotrade initiatives in the face of power

8122019 149 Pacchi Citizensaeurotrade Initiatives in the Face of Power

httpslidepdfcomreaderfull149-pacchi-citizensaeurotrade-initiatives-in-the-face-of-power 111

983089

Citizensrsquo initiatives in the face of power the reuse of two derelict areas in Milan

Carolina Pacchi

DAStU Politecnico di Milanocarolinapacchipolimiit

Abstract

Citizensrsquo initiatives are increasingly gaining ground in contemporary cities due to both a

shift in governance modes towards more horizontal and inclusive forms and to the shrinking

role of Local Authorities in many fields The cases discussed in the paper concern two

grassroots initiatives in the city of Milan (Italy) both animated by citizensrsquo groups in the

first one citizens mobilised for the restoration and renewal of a complex of former railway

warehouses near the Central Station pushing the Municipality and the owner to intervene in

the second one the object of the mobilisation are the different proposals for the rehabilitation

of a very central former harbour area on the Navigli canals abandoned and in state of decay

The paper after shortly describing the two architectural and urban contexts will critically

discuss the achievements and the open problems linked to the two initiatives paying

particular attention to the governance dimension and looking at how these citizensrsquo

initiatives changed the relationship between Local Government (both at municipal and at

district level) citizens community organisations and the owners and how they contributed

to open up a new space of possibilities for experimenting urban innovation

Finally the paper will focus on the impact these kind of mobilisation processes can have at a

more general urban governance level trying to identify the underlying risks that decision

making remains just incremental in the absence of a strategic vision able to tackle relevant

urban questions and the connected risk of capture of the public agenda



983090

1The role of grassroots initiatives a challenge for Italian cities and the case of Milan

Grassroots initiatives in a number of different fields animated by neighbourhood or

citizensrsquo groups are increasingly diffused in contemporary cities (della Porta e Andretta

2001 della Porta 2004) many observers link this phenomenon to a shift in governance

modes at local level (Le Galegraves 2002 Denters Rose 2005) to expectations about the

enhancement of local democracy and to processes of redefinition of collective identities (as

defined for instance by Melucci 1996) others underline the link with the shrinkage of

traditional forms of welfare state in European cities connected in turn with the drastic

reduction of local government resources which leads citizens to mobilise in order to directly

supply and share local services not available anymore (Moulaert et al 2007 Vicari

Haddock Moulaert 2009)

At the same time in European cities there are significant underused public and private

assets buildings and open spaces currently derelict or partially abandoned which are the

legacy of the relevant urban infrastructural and welfare policies of the past century In many

urban contexts initiatives for the reuse of such abandoned or underused resources have been

attracting the attention of citizens in recent years The urban nature of such collective goods

is a relevant analytical dimension in fact it is possible to ldquorelate the lsquourbanrsquo as material

culture to the right to inhabit on the one hand and the right to occupy and use public spaces

to gather and to protest on the otherrdquo(Leontidou 2010 p 1181) In this perspective they

become an occasion for various initiatives of re-appropriation of liveable spaces and the

object of forms local mobilisation

As in many European cities in Milan the societal and decision making systems have become

increasingly complex and fragmented over the last twenty years In Italy in in particular the

traditional mass party system organised and rooted in local contexts has been disappearing

since the mid-1990s and this has led in turn to the emergence of new type of political actorsboth on the local and on the national scene In general Milan has always been regarded as a

self-governing city a context in which the role of private actors both profit and non-profit

of higher education institutions and of various and diverse other stakeholders has always

been as important as that of Local Authorities in setting the agenda and in proposing

programmes and projects (Balducci Fedeli Pasqui 2011 Galimberti 2013)

Moreover the city has a long-standing tradition of civil society organisations which have

been leading actors in different policy fields (Ranci 2009 Bobbio Dente Spada 2005)



983091

From traditional charities and volunteering organizations to foundations and non-profit

agencies to neighbourhood and community groups over the last decades the city of Milan

has consolidated a tradition of what can be defined as private production of public goods Asan answer to neo-liberal urban policies (Moulaert 2007) the intervention of such locally

active groups has been particularly visible in the last years They proved to be not only

service providers (healthcare elderly care immigration environmental issues culture

heritage protection) but also active at shaping the public debate and raising awareness on the

possibility of alternative urban agendas

2The two cases Milan and its urban transformations

It comes as no surprise that in such a governance context in the last ten years a number of

grassroots initiatives has been gaining importance and visibility in pushing issues on the

urban agenda on the one hand and in directly mobilising resources from local communities

to try and resolve local questions on the other The two cases which will be discussed in this

paper are quite recent and they are therefore strictly connected to the political climate of the

centre-left local government which entered into power in 2011 with the election of Mayor

Giuliano Pisapia there are nevertheless a number of other cases which lasted much longer

significantly re-shaping from below the debate on local sustainability social cohesion and

re-appropriation of abandoned public spaces

In this paragraph we will briefly describe the emerging characters of the two urban contexts

and of the objects of local mobilisations and we will critically discuss the main elements of

the mobilisations themselves As we will see the spatial and social features of the two

neighbourhoods and of the buildings or infrastructures which are the object of the local

mobilisations impact very significantly on the development of the two cases

In the first case a group of citizens launched a mobilisation for the restoration and reuse of a

large complex of abandoned railway warehouses ( Magazzini Raccordati) under the railway

embankment pushing the Municipal Government and the owner (Grandi Stazioni a

company controlled by Ferrovie dello Stato the national rail operator and aimed at

valorising the main Italian stations) to intervene and to open up a dialogue process This case

shows some peculiar and interesting features firstly Magazzini Raccordati are a private

property but at the same time they play an urban role of public relevance since they are

located just under the railway tracks of Milan Central Station stretching one kilometre North

East They are a long sequence of abandoned warehouses bordering two streets (total



983092

surface 40000 sqm) originally occupied by railway services and subsequently rented to

logistics and wholesale activities up to when the contracts have expired and have not been

renewed by the current management Since a number of years the more than hundred spacesare therefore empty and in decay negatively affecting the urban quality of the surrounding

streets and of the whole neighbourhood which is perceived as neglected and unsafe by its

inhabitants

Fig 1 Magazzini Raccordati seen from via F Aporti

Due to this perception a citizensrsquo group called FAS ndash Ferrante Aporti Sammartini started to

get mobilized towards the end of 2011 in order to attract the attention of the MunicipalGovernment on the area and to promote public participation and debate on the possible

strategies for the rehabilitation of the warehouses complex and of the surrounding

neighbourhood Initially the expression of an already existing group aimed at supporting the

candidate Giuliano Pisapia in the 2011 local elections it has been growing involving people

and organisations with different backgrounds (individual citizens and shop owners never

involved in politics existing cultural associations hellip)

The mobilisation started with a public assembly a quite traditional means but it

subsequently developed and tested various tools aimed at attracting the attention and at

establishing an effective relationship with the Municipal Government and the district

council so that they could become a go-between with the owner To this end citizens have

been able to design and implement an articulated bottom up participatory process organised

in public hearings urban trekking in the neighbourhood workshops on future strategies

organisation of cultural events and local festivals etc This process despite the difficulties of

establishing an effective dialogue with the Municipal Government and the owner and of a



983093

tangible power unbalance has been able to put back the Magazzini Raccordati and the

neighbouring area on the public agenda and in the urban debate

Fig 2 A local workshop organised by citizens to discuss about future urban renewal strategies for the area

In the second case the object of local mobilisation are the different rehabilitation projects for

the Darsena area an old harbour terminal of the Navigli urban canal system now abandoned

and for many years in a state of decay In the years of neglect since the area was not in use

and the Darsena had been almost completely drained a valuable natural ecosystem

developed a wilderness zone with the traditional characters of woods growing near the

water systems in the wider region with which it shares the same type of flora and fauna

Fig 3 The Darsena area during the years of neglect and a rendering of the second version of the project

proposed by DarsenaPioniera

The Darsena area is located in a very central position bordering the historical centre of

Milan and the Navigli area known for nightlife it is characterized by a very active local

civil society and has therefore been the object of a number of mobilisations for urban

rehabilitation The group we propose to analyse here appears on the local scene after many

experiences of local activism but is seems particularly interesting because it has been



983094

working on a project aimed at bringing wilderness back into the heart of the city following a

model of urban oasis which is diffused for instance in Britain but quite new to Italian cities

Formed by a group of designers landscape architects and journalist DarsenaPioniera gets

mobilised in 2009 when the area was temporarily abandoned and neglected while the

Municipality was concluding a decision making process for an underground parking a

project which is the end has been cancelled The aim of DarsenaPioniera is to propose and

find support for a rehabilitation project for the empty space which in the meantime had

become a spontaneous green area The project unlike all the other ones which have been

proposed by the City Council and other actors recognizes the intrinsic value of wild flora

and thus proposes very light forms of intervention aimed at leaving the new ecosystem

untouched and at identifying spaces for small local gardens in order to enhance

participation on the part of citizens and neighbourhood groups This proposal has been

technically defined and proposed to the Administration and it has gained some local support

through diverse and creative forms of involvement aimed at citizens neighbourhood groups

and children from local schools Despite a technically sound project and a thorough

mobilisation process the project has been implemented on a temporary basis by the previous

Municipal Government but is has been dropped in the end by the current government

because it does not fit into the overall redesign of the Milan water system for Expo 2015 In

the face of the need expressed by the Municipality to bring water back into the basin

DarsenaPioniera proposed to modify their original project in order to allow the presence of

a wetland preserving at least part of the wilderness but this proposal has been met with

skepticism and ultimately dropped by the Deputy Mayor in charge

Fig 4 The Darsena project proposed by the Municipality in the framework of EXPO 2015



983095

3Innovations in governance and open questions

After the short description of the two cases we will propose some reflections still quite

open on the central question of the relationship between grassroots initiatives and Local

Government action from two perspectives the first perspective is quite internal to the

mobilisations themselves and following Tarrow (Tarrow 2011 p 120-122) it explores how

these mobilisations have been able to use existing networks and organisations how they

have been able to build new shared identities and to give a new meaning to their action and

how much they have been able to use and transform the system of political opportunities the

second one looks at the changes in governance lsquomodesrsquo or governance lsquostylesrsquo implied by

grassroots action at local level and to the changing relationships with more institutionalised

actors the Municipal Government in primis trying to understand how a shift from hierarchy

to networks can contribute to bring about innovation in coping with complex urban

problems

For the first aspect ie the internal characters of the groups in both cases the ability to

activate and use existing networks and organisations has been crucial in order to gather the

resources needed for local action The different contexts and the different nature of the object

can explain the difference in such networks while in the case of FAS they were rooted in

local political activism (especially in the first phases) in the Darsena case the group was

based on professional networks and personal acquaintances In both cases networking has

proven to be crucial not only to gain support and enlarge the coalition but especially to

mobilise experts and technical knowledge which in the end seems to be the crucial resource

to innovatively respond to complex urban problems

As far as the build-up of a shared local identity is concerned both groups strongly identify

themselves with the object of their mobilisation (the rehabilitation of the railway warehouses

in one case and of the harbour area in the other ) thus overlooking broader urban questionsthis can be seen at the same time as a strength and as a weakness It is a strength because it

helps to selectively concentrate the attention and the various types of resources towards a

clear end and to create a meaning to help people make sense of what they are doing for their

neighbourhood but at the same time it is a weakness because it triggers forms of

appropriation which in turn can cause conflict and disputes with citizens or other

neighbourhood groups thus weakening local voice in the face of the Local Authority and

because it may cause a myopic attitude towards broader urban questions



983096

As far as the last point is concerned it is necessary to better investigate the real ability of

these and of many other local mobilisations in Milan of opening up new spaces of

possibility looking at the way they have built up (or modified) forms of relationship with theMunicipal Government and with the owners or the developers The two cases offer quite

different answers DarsenaPioniera in the end has not been able to interact with the

rehabilitation process promoted by the Municipality also because from a certain moment in

time the process has been linked up with EXPO 2015 therefore entering into a typical lsquostate

of exceptionrsquo which characterises the management of big events at the urban level It seems

that this state of exception together with the difficulties in gaining support for the project at

local level contributed to limit the political opportunities thus leading to a final failure of

the project proposal

The railway warehouses case is partially different even though it is still in a different phase

of the decision making process here political opportunities have been seized though a

patient activity of relationship building with the Municipal Government both at central and

at district level the Deputy Mayor in charge of Urban Planning accepted to play a mediation

role with the private owner because of the relevance of the area and also because the FAS

group has gained both visibility and trustworthiness at the same time financial difficulties

in a period of crisis make the future redevelopment process of such a large estate quite

uncertain at the moment

Finally it is possible to make some remarks about the impact that such mobilisations had on

the citizensrsquo groups themselves which are quite different they are at the same time

constrained to promote the projects at the centre of their shared identity and divided between

the need to cooperate with the Local Government and to preserve a political distance and

autonomy As we have seen both groups we analysed have chosen a cooperative rather than

an oppositional strategy towards the Municipal Government and the fact that their requests

have been met very differently is not linked with their attitude which at the beginning has

been quite similar

For the second perspective as we have seen Milan is characterised by diverse forms of

informal social action aimed at resolving public problems and in the last few years the

possible synergies between these initiatives and Local Government action has been at the

centre of local debate Public intervention on informal social networks can be quite



983097

problematic (Schoumln 1985) if networks themselves risk to become ineffective and

inappropriate exactly when they are successful at the same time the combination of a

hierarchical principle with informal network action risks to cancel the positive effects ofinformality adding unnecessary burdens to the initiatives especially when they interfere

with political directions

A second aspect is specifically linked with the Milan political context the election of Mayor

Pisapia in 2011 (after twenty years of centre-right local governing coalitions) on an electoral

platform significantly based on public participation triggered expectations for more open

transparent and inclusive decision making processes In particular the former electoral

supporters organised into neighbourhood groups decided not to disperse after the elections

but on the contrary to remain in place in order to help the Municipality to communicate with

citizens and to strengthen public participation These expectations approaching mid-term

have not been completely met due to a number of reasons and this causes disappointment

and dissatisfaction especially among the most engaged and proactive citizensrsquo groups

One final remark which in turn opens up new research paths is about the overall

effectiveness of such fragmented and molecular urban action In a self-governing city like

Milan decision making runs the risk to be incremental and conservative as it may become

difficult to put forward new strategic visions if Local Government is not able to reframe and

tackle broader urban questions Finally there is a risk of capture of the public agenda by

individual and localised interests which can in turn negatively affect the public or collective

nature of the objects of local mobilisations



983089983088

References

A Balducci (2003) ldquoPolicies Plans and Projects Governing the City-region of Milanrdquo

DisP - ThePlanning Review152 pp 59-70

A Balducci V Fedeli G Pasqui (eds) (2011) Strategic Planning for Contemporary Urban

Regions City of Cities A Project for Milan Ashgate Farnham

L Bobbio B Dente and A Spada (2005) Government or Governance of Urban

Innovation A Tale of Two Cities DISP The Planning Review n 162 pp 41-52

D della Porta (a cura di) (2004) Comitati di cittadini e democrazia urbana Rubbettino

Soveria Mannelli

D della Porta e M Andretta (2001) ldquoMovimenti sociali e rappresentanza i comitati

spontanei dei cittadini a Firenzerdquo Rassegna italiana di sociologia n1

B Denters E Rose (eds) (2005) Comparing Local Governance Trends and

Developements Palgrave Macmillan Basingstoke

D Galimberti (2013) ldquoMilano ndash Cittagrave Metropolitana entre conservatisme et innovation

increacutementale au-delagrave du politiquerdquo Meacutetropoles 12

S Gullino C Pacchi (2012) Promoting environmental behavioural change cycling

awareness and civic engagement in Kingston-upon-Thames (London) and Milan Transition

Towns and Ciclofficine British Council-CRUI Final Report

P Le Galegraves (2002) European Cities Social Conflicts and Governance Oxford University

Press Oxford

L Leontidou (2010) ldquoUrban Social Movements in Weak Civil Societies Cosmopolitan

Activism and The Right to the City in Southern Europe Urban Studies 47(6) 1179ndash1203

May

A Melucci (1996) Challenging Codes Collective Action in the Information Age

Cambridge Cambridge University Press

F Moulaert F Martinelli S Gonzalez and E Swyngedouw (2007) ldquoIntroductionSocialInnovation and Governance in European cities Urban development between path

dependency and radical innovationrdquo European Urban and Regional Studies 143 195-209

Pacchi C (2008) ldquoCittadinanza a Milano Scelta democratica e trasformazione urbanardquo in

AAVV Per unrsquoaltra cittagrave Riflessioni e proposte sullrsquourbanistica milanese Maggioli

Editore Santarcangelo di Romagna

C Pacchi and G Pasqui (2011) ldquoUrban planning without conflicts The case of Milanrdquo

paper presented to the International Research Conference Planning conflict Critical

perspectives on contentious urban developments Berlin 27-28 October 2011



983089983089

R Putnam (ed) (2002) Democracies in Flux The Evolution of Social Capital in

Contemporary Society Oxford University Press

C Ranci (a cura di) (2009) Milano e le cittagrave dEuropa tra competitivitagrave e disuguaglianzeMaggioli Editore

SG Tarrow (2011) Power in Movement Social Movements and Contentious Politics

(revised and updated third edition) Cambridge University Pressugrave

S Vicari Haddock FMoulaert (a cura di) Rigenerare la cittagrave Pratiche di innovazione

sociale nelle cittagrave europee Il Mulino Bologna 2009

T Vitale (a cura di) (2007) In nome di chi Partecipazione e rappresentanza nelle

mobilitazioni locali Franco Angeli Milano



983090

1The role of grassroots initiatives a challenge for Italian cities and the case of Milan

Grassroots initiatives in a number of different fields animated by neighbourhood or

citizensrsquo groups are increasingly diffused in contemporary cities (della Porta e Andretta

2001 della Porta 2004) many observers link this phenomenon to a shift in governance

modes at local level (Le Galegraves 2002 Denters Rose 2005) to expectations about the

enhancement of local democracy and to processes of redefinition of collective identities (as

defined for instance by Melucci 1996) others underline the link with the shrinkage of

traditional forms of welfare state in European cities connected in turn with the drastic

reduction of local government resources which leads citizens to mobilise in order to directly

supply and share local services not available anymore (Moulaert et al 2007 Vicari

Haddock Moulaert 2009)

At the same time in European cities there are significant underused public and private

assets buildings and open spaces currently derelict or partially abandoned which are the

legacy of the relevant urban infrastructural and welfare policies of the past century In many

urban contexts initiatives for the reuse of such abandoned or underused resources have been

attracting the attention of citizens in recent years The urban nature of such collective goods

is a relevant analytical dimension in fact it is possible to ldquorelate the lsquourbanrsquo as material

culture to the right to inhabit on the one hand and the right to occupy and use public spaces

to gather and to protest on the otherrdquo(Leontidou 2010 p 1181) In this perspective they

become an occasion for various initiatives of re-appropriation of liveable spaces and the

object of forms local mobilisation

As in many European cities in Milan the societal and decision making systems have become

increasingly complex and fragmented over the last twenty years In Italy in in particular the

traditional mass party system organised and rooted in local contexts has been disappearing

since the mid-1990s and this has led in turn to the emergence of new type of political actorsboth on the local and on the national scene In general Milan has always been regarded as a

self-governing city a context in which the role of private actors both profit and non-profit

of higher education institutions and of various and diverse other stakeholders has always

been as important as that of Local Authorities in setting the agenda and in proposing

programmes and projects (Balducci Fedeli Pasqui 2011 Galimberti 2013)

Moreover the city has a long-standing tradition of civil society organisations which have

been leading actors in different policy fields (Ranci 2009 Bobbio Dente Spada 2005)



983091


































983092





inhabitants



















983093



















983094


























983095













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983089983088

References








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Press Oxford



May













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problems





















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References








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Press Oxford



May













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References








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Press Oxford



May













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Press Oxford



May













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References








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Press Oxford



May













983089983089












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References








Soveria Mannelli











Press Oxford



May













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Press Oxford



May













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References








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Press Oxford



May













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983089983089










149 pacchi citizensaeurotrade initiatives in the face of power

Documents