Funding the social transformation of housing estates

Abstract

In the 1930s, the modernist urban ideas of democratic access to housing shaped a new architectural housing typology, in the form of high-rise linear blocks. This housing typology was by the beginning of the 1970s considered a proxy for pathologically rooted urban problems. The challenge of governing housing estates has been a pressing issue for some decades, leading to the demolition of some of the most recognisable mass housing projects of the 20th century. However, the new climatic regime, and the need to reduce the emissions of the construction industry could bring new opportunities for experimenting its governance. This paper explores how new environmental urban ambitions become catalysers of social innovation actions in the context of housing estate regeneration in Southern European countries. The study approaches how housing estates regeneration programs may foster additional innovation processes within the estate. The main hypothesis of this study posits that the physical characteristics of housing estates and the regeneration programs with environmental budget provide an alternative scenario favourable to the development of social innovation initiatives within the neighbourhood. For testing this hypothesis, the study approaches from a sociotechnical perspective the case of Corviale, a 1 km housing block, conceived for housing 8500 inhabitants in Rome. As it was the case for many mass housing estates, short after being completed, Corviale was considered a “social failure” (Campanella, 1995, p. 72) at risk of being demolished. However, Corviale avoided demolition and has undergone a long transformation process financed with the support of the regeneration programs “Contratto di Quartiere II” and the PUI plan, funded through the PNRR and the NGEU funds.