Erraticism and multicultural permeability of urban fabric in Palermo

Abstract

Interactions between physical and social space draw different urban dimensions, or cultural landscape mosaics, which constantly change and evolve. The shape of the city promotes or discourages multiculturalism and social relations. The latter, in turn, reverberate in the way in which urban space is used, not only to meet basic needs - dictated by reason of survival (housing, employment, and services for education, care, leisure, etc.), but also because the inhabitants are driven by the desire for happiness and the simultaneous meeting that Lefebvre described as the “individualization in socialization”. Migrants groups have historically inhabited the central areas of cities, initially appropriating marginal and degraded areas and progressively permeating the urban fabric with their residential and small-scale commercial activities. This erratic process has led them to the conquering of public spaces and of better-qualified localities for commercial activities, replacing those who were no longer competitive in the economic conditions of the time. In the city of Palermo, new dynamics could compromise the intercultural values of relational use.