Editor(s): Stefano Portelli, Luca Rossomando, Lucia Tozzi
The concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, and the consequent impoverishment of the rest of the population, is everywhere accompanied by attempts to “enhance” parts of cities and collective resources to turn them into profit-making tools. The financialization of social housing in Milan, the privatisation of affordable housing in Rome, and the transformations of the social fabric in a working-class neighbourhood in Naples are the three examples of this dynamic presented in this book. Just as happened with the enclosures at the dawn of capitalism, when lords and nobles fenced off lands and common goods to accumulate rent, today’s ruling classes – from local entrepreneurs to the financial elites who own most of the world’s wealth – seek to appropriate everything that still lies outside the market: not only urban spaces but also welfare, associations, the third sector, and even critical thought.
Publisher: Carocci
Year: 2023
