Making home, building citizenship : migrations, rights and housing policies in Sicily (Italy)

Abstract

How is the housing issue in Southern Europe changing under the pressure of the arrival of foreign “new citizens”? This chapter explores this question through two Sicilian case studies that share the need to provide some initial answers to the aforementioned issue. The complexity of the issue brings with it a further question, which highlights how the mutation underway is an open question that centrally concerns urban and territorial policies: How can territorial and urban planning address this issue, going beyond the emergency responses that have been implemented to date? The first case study illustrates the issue of the presence of migrant workers in rural areas, problematising the issue in terms of two aspects: the preponderance of foreign workers in areas of agricultural excellence and the emergency measures taken so far to address the problem of temporary accommodation for agricultural workers. The second case study focuses on the city as a historically privileged physical and relational space for social interaction with others (foreigners). The recognition of different forms of citizenship (inclusive or exclusive) of social groups is reflected not only in the use of urban space, places to live, work and trade, or in the provision of services, but also in planning techniques that design new expressions of citizenship by distributing resources (material or immaterial). In both cases, the study of migrations succeeds in highlighting the contradictions that the territory expresses. It denounces the inadequacy of territorial and urban policies and the general lack of will to manage and regulate the phenomenon of the modification of the social framework in both agricultural and urban contexts.