Former military barracks as places for informal placemaking in Italy. An inventory for new insights

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to extend research on the role of informal placemaking practices in spatial planning and community development through an examination of their role in accommodating alternative or innovative uses in contrast to profit-driven projects. The research does so through the study of unauthorized interventions in derelict army barracks, which have been the subject of little research to date in Italy. This work addresses this lack of knowledge by providing a taxonomy of barracks that have been subjected to informal placemaking, such as arts and cultural activities. The exploration of each of the categories resulting from the taxonomy can be crucial in triggering new insights into informal practices. Drawing on interviews with key actors, literature review, and fieldwork from the period 2019–2022, the research identifies key dynamics that may transform barracks into spaces for social reproduction, reversing original intentions to create new profit-driven spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban regeneration
• profit-driven approach
• urban commons
• military-owned assets
• obsolescence
• politics of abandonment

Acknowledgments

This Research Paper has been developed at the Grupo de Investigación en Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Sostenibilidad (GIAU+S) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid within the post-doctoral fellowship Margarita Salas titled “Urban Regeneration as a new version of Urban Renewal Programmes. Achievements and failures”.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2024.2327588

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Alliances of public and private actors’ interests constituted on the ground of a shared economic and territorial growth agenda that has shaped territorial government and the production of space in Italy since the 1980s through real estate developments (Della Seta and Salzano 1993).

2. The State Property Agency (Agenzia del Demanio) is responsible for the management, rationalization and development of all the properties owned by the State, including military ones.

3. The real estate investment funds involved are “Fondo Investimenti per Valorizzazioni-Comparto Extra” (FIV) belonging to CDP (Cassa Depositi e Prestiti bank) and Invimit’s “Fondo Difesa” (belonging to the Ministry of Economy and Finance), established respectively in 2012 and 2014. Both are private entities that purchase assets from the State in order to sell them on the real estate market or even to municipalities.

4. Carried out in Bologna, Rome, Turin, and Treviso.

5. The review of the local press on Labàs’ activities is provided here: https://labasbo.org/hanno-detto-di-noi/

6. https://cavallerizzareale.wordpress.com/

7. https://www.cavallerizzarealetorino.concorrimi.it/

8. https://www.cavallerizza.to.it/

9. https://www.facebook.com/excasermaoccupata/

10. http://articiviche.blogspot.com/2021/03/porto-fluviale-rechouse.html

11. https://www.openpiave.net/

Additional information

Funding

This Research Paper is the result of the research project “Urban Regeneration as a new version of Urban Renewal Programmes. Achievements and failures”. This project is co-funded by the Spanish Ministry of Universities in the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, by the European Union – NextGenerationEU and by the Universidad de Valladolid.