INQUIRY ABOUT GIAMBELLINO E.R.P. DISTRICT
TRAVEL THROUGH THE PUBLIC HOUSING CRISIS ONGOING IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Matteo
Fischi
-
Paula
GROUP 17 Fernández Sánchez -
Farnaz
Omouri
-
Ning
Feng
CONTENTS: - Abstract - Introduction: Giambellino, a public housing district - Not an isolated case of the city - Historical background - Living in Giambellino today - Involved actors in the housing management and inner conflicts - The troubled story of Aler: from the raising to the nowdays crisis - The “Housing Racket” in Giambellino - Direct experiences of the inhabitants - Suggestions for future developments of the research
ABSTRACT The following analysis focuses on the documentation and synthesis of the conflict dynamics, in relation to the problem of the housing crisis in the Giambellino district, in Milan, between the various actors involved. What emerges is a troubled past, composed of judicial inquiries, incorrect investments and lack of communication and mediation between the parties. This overlaps with the history of the neighborhood itself, famous in the past for having been the scene of bloody clashes and the headquarters of criminal groups of national importance. Nowadays, the housing crisis represents the main problem of Giambellino, where abusive occupations become the only way to oppose the lack of adequate housing for the growing number of requests. This illegal solution is obviously countered by the public actors and the provider of housing settlements, ALER.
GIAMBELLINO, PUBLIC HOUSING DISTRICT Giambellino is the name of a part of the Lorenteggio district, located in the south-west periphery of Milan. This settlement is one of the few, in the city, with a relevant part of public housing in respect with the overall number of the dwellings. It is particularly significative considering that the public housing sector only represents the 3,5% of the whole housing asset of Milan. The first development of Giambellino, happened around the 1930, is linked with the industrial growth of the area and it also represents the main reason for the following development of the public housing settlement, in order to provide dwellings for the workermen and their families. Nowdays, the industrial attitude of the area has been lost and Giambellino is more similar with a dormitory-district rather than an industrial one. Few services are avaiable and the important number of inhabitant associations tries to provide solutions for this generalized lack. In this context, the raising, during the last 15 years, of the public housing crisis (for many causes that will be analyzed in the following paragraphs) have increased the chaos and the living conditions of the whole neighbourhood, as well as the bad prejudice about this area and its populations.
Milano, Zona 6
Giambellino-Lorenteggio aerial view
A border-less delimitation from an Institutional point of view, following coded borders, it is not difficult to localize the geographical area named Giambellino Lorenteggio. When we look at the maps above we can see what the official documents define as the neighbourhood. Nevertheless, this introductory localization is not enough to understand where and what Giambellino Lorenteggio is. What we have referred to as the “neighbourhood” in the first chapter of this paper has to be defined in a more specific way by taking into account the flexible borders that come hand in hand with human reality, people’s descriptions, and social dynamics. Consequently, it is useful to avoid rigorous observation of precise geographical or administrative borders, considering our observation field flexible in as much as it will be useful for the scope of our research. To be sure, the tactical decision to adopt flexible borders does not render Giambellino a broad and undefined entity. Instead, we are trying to understand what the term flexible means to us. In order to better assess this “entity” we can review formal documents and informal resources to find a balance that will best serve our research framework.
According to previous maps there are several definitions for marking a territorial configuration. Zona 6, for example, is comparable to a small, administrative council able to deliberate on local issues. Although without substantial competences, the administrative body called “Zona” has a fairly important role as a mediator between its inhabitants and the municipality. This subdivision serves to define our working ground: it will be used as the nearest administrative area with formal borders. NIL 49 is another delimitation using the two major streets, Via Giambellino and Viale Lorenteggio, as borders. It is useful to to consider the formal definition provided by the municipality’s city plan. According to the Milan municipality, NIL (Nuclei Identità Locale) “can be defined as Milan neighbourhoods where it is possible to recognise historical and projectile areas (…). Each of them is an ensemble of subareas connected by infrastructures and mobility services and green areas. They are systems of urban vitality: concentrations of local commercial activities, gardens, gathering points, and services”1. Is this a sufficient definition? Yes and no. On the one hand it works on a technical and statistical level, as long as a NIL contains development areas and a certain population with measurable features.
Facade of a social housing building in Giambellino
Private buildings of Giambellino
On the other hand, using the two major streets as limits, it is insufficient for a complex description of this urban context. All of these problems of spatial interpretations about what this district is comes from the strong differences that are clearly evident also through a fast visit. The public housing blocks, in particular the main one showed in the previous aerial view, represent a sort of indipendent clusters within a district wich is, for the rest of it, totally comparable with other ones in Milan. The district, in its overall, can be described by the aforementioned definition of “concentration of [...] activities, gardens [...] and services” but the main issue is exactly that it could be possible only by not considering the public housing clusters. Moreover, the duality is even stronger by enlarging the analysis to surrounding areas: the tranformations occured during the last 20 years in Tortona zone (via Tortona and via Savona in particular) represent one of the stronger program of urban restoration recently happened in Milan and those areas are located few hudrends of metres from Giambellino. Including in this brief analysis also areas we the changes are occuring nowdays, like the development of the new M4 metro line in Lorenteggio and the renewal of Scalo Farini, the contraddictions become more than evident. This duality is totally amenable to the issue of the public housing terrible management by Aler and the consequent dynamic of illegal occupation of the dwellings . SOURCES: -https://icondesign.it/storytelling/giambellino-milano/ -https://www.corriere.it/inchieste/giambellino-terzo-mondo-milano/380242a0-48a5-11e4-a045-76c292c97dcc.shtml -http://www.datiopen.it/it/opendata/Comune_di_Milano_Nuclei_d_Identit_Locale_quartieri_
Via Tortona, the most socially active street of the surroundings, also known as the main “Design District� of Milan
Via Savona, street near to Giambellino in a process of strong renuvation from its old condition of industrial district
NOT A ISOLATED CASE OF THE CITY The previous issues, relataed with the public housing sector management, has opened a long debate in the last years about the roles assumed by the Region Lombardy, the Municipality of Milan and Aler itself. The case of Giambellino is particularly emblemathic within this debate but of couse not an isolated one: it is possibile to easily localize many other problematic districts where the main issues are related with the housing crisis. Mentioning the main ones between these other cases, we can identify districts like San Siro, with a strong problem of cohabitation between people of different ethnicity, Gratosoglio, with a generalized lack of many kind of servicies, Quarto Oggiaro, considered the hub of Milan’s criminality. All of these places has a relevant component of dwelling managed by Aler and, consequently, issues related with the illegal occupation of those. This paper focuses its analysis in Giambellino because it presents a condition where the housing crisis is the main problem, and not just one of the many ongoing within the district like the aforementioned cases. In this way it is possible to partially isolate the problems caused by the bad management and have a proper interpretation of a question wich is diffused in the whole city, and even at the regional level. In fact, it is important to recognize that Aler manages the public residences of the whole Lombardy region and its control is indirectly owned by the Region itself. The issues related with the managerial body of body will be analysed in the next paragraph. For now it can be enough to say that being an immovable semi-public entity made of Aler a terryfing “leviathan” able to marginalize the attempts of improving the situations pursued by the involved municipalities. This situation made of the illegal occupation a consolidated dynamic who seems to be unsolvable. The 2016’s datas, collected by the journal Corriere della Sera, about occupations and evictions gives a clear a idea of how stable the numbers are, drawing a clear image of the inability of counteracting certain actions:
SOURCES: - Milano. Quartieri periferici tra incertezza e trasformazione; Zajczyc,Berlini, Memo, Mugnano, Mondadori, 2005 - https://www.pressreader.com/italy/corriere-della-sera-milano/20170116/281487866046538
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In order to make an analysis of the current conditions of the neighbourhood, it is important to understand that Giambellino has an unique history and a strong identity based on the past, not always valorous, of its inhabitants. For this reason, the following timeline synthetizes the main events of this important, and sometimes forgot, part of Milan. PERIOD
20’s-30’s
40’s
50’s-60’s
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
SIGNIFICATIVE EVENTS
• The Giambellino district was born in the 1920s with a strongly workers connotation. It was the peripheral place where the Milanese bourgeoisie wanted to hide the evils of progress: alienation and disparity. • The factories were mainly located on the Naviglio Grande, in the south of the neighborhood. • The railroad tracks, built especially for industries, delimited those inside and those who were outside. • It has a strong mono-functional concentration (housing) • The urban “continuity” guaranteed by the surrounding city fabric is here interrupted by the mono-functional elements of non-urban reality. • Depending on external services (meeting places, commerce and etc.)
War Resistance and its Legacy for the Neighbourhood 1944-the important protection service for the partisans (a strong fondational stone of future development)
• The industrial past and workers After the Second World War, since it was an indu- First migration wave (1950s) The first migration flow came from southern strial neighbourhood of Milan, many blue collars sprung up in Giambellino.
Italy in the second post-war period, looking for new opportunities in term of jobs and living conditions.
70’s-80s
• Buildings surrounded by fences (an introspective nature) • A total dependency on the external city and without a proper response made by the municipal government
90’s-2000’s
2010-nowdays
Since 2000, a situation of great change both on the social and environmental aspects of the neighbourhood • Large-scale with semi-public space • Large blocks usually clash with the historical structure • Aler started to own the houses in Giambellino around 2000. • Creation of the “Neighbourhood Contracts”, a program of urban renewal interventions launched in 2004 by the Lombardy Region.
•The Lorenteggio-Giambellino includes 2677 apartments, 2450 of which are owned by ALER. A small percentage is owned by private owners (227). • 716 empty dwellings, almost half of which are illegally occupied (320). • Lack of space for integration and living support (the absence of public city). • The vulnerability of the population must be highlighted: out of 6000 people, 40% are over 65; a majority of these are lonely; and one third of resident families are under the poverty line.
Sources: https://www.politesi.polimi.it/bitstream/10589/123773/5/1%20tesi%20riccardo%20telo%CC%80%20finale%20prova%20stampa.pdf https://thesubmarine.it/2017/04/06/giambellino-gentrificazione-e-mensa-comune/ https://thesubmarine.it/2018/12/14/giambellino-sgomberi-aler-comitato/ https://thesubmarine.it/2016/10/27/giambellino-2016/ https://www.infoaut.org/segnalazioni/per-ogni-robin-hood-c-e-uno-sceriffo-di-nottingham
Political activism and riot groups Renata, a former political activist in the “LottaContinua” riot group, lived in the neighbourhood in the 70’s and 80’s. according to her report “Giambellino was a favourable place for a certain anti-system fighting spirit”. This is the period of the Brigate Rosse movement and of the raising of Renato Vallanzasca’s criminal group. Relations towards public and semipublic spaces In 1976, the neighbourhood won a public park through a protest. The activists learnt how to realize in concrete terms their thoughts; Giambellino’s locals understood the importance of being involved in a spatial protest. In 1977, Heroin aggressively took to the stage. Both private and semi-private spaces suffered because of this silent and disastrous invasion. The Via Odazio Library had to close during night. In 2014, Giuliano Pisapia together with the leaders of Aler and the police declared war on occupations. They tried to present the occupants as the problem, when thousands of homes continued to be empty and thousands of families remained on the waiting list. The operation failed because the working-class districts of Milan organized themselves, put a lot of pressure
LIVING IN GIAMBELLINO TODAY The Community of Giambellino is located on a side street of the two avenues, and tries to hold together the pieces of a sick neighborhood. The service for youth aggregation carried out by the Cooperative for the neighborhood is recognized by the region and supported by the municipality through a contribution -”but it is always smaller, more and more complicated to receive”. In Giambellino one of the greater evils is called Aler, who left a third of the houses of the popular district of Lorenteggio empty, making them become ruins: seven hundred unassigned apartments. All the houses of the big local districts are owned by the housing company. Few words by the inhabitants are reported next, in order to describe their feelings about the livving conditions: “Aler has created an island of malaise. The desperate people of the city come here -clear, they are empty heated houses, not assigned for years. This means attracting a passing population, people who come here and learn four words, and then just find whatever work they move. Giambellino acts as an unofficial reception center.” “Everything happens in a closed neighborhood where oppression is a daily thing. If I know I am passing through here and I know I am precarious because I only pay for a “pizzino” (italian word representing a payment for an illegal service, often related with the mafia-like criminal world) in the underworld, what do I care about recycling (wastes)? To bring things to the AMSA (Milan’s waste managment company) recycling? To have good relations with neighbors? Indeed, it is worth almost frightening the neighbors, so they have less desire to call the police. There is an atmosphere of fearful pent-up anger in public housing.“ Beppe Sala during the electoral campaign said he wanted to make the 2000 apartments owned by the municipality currently vacant. Overall, in Milan, there are twenty-three thousand families on the waiting list for the assignment of a house, but the demand for housing is actually even higher. “For example, if you have been in employment for the past five years, they cannot put you on the list. When they clear the families, they send them to scary places, like the camp on Via Barzaghi. Sheet metal sheds divided into square curtains, where there is only the bed. And there are people who have been there for over a year, two years, waiting for an assignment. But, as former occupants, they cannot be put on the lists. I would commit suicide. “We have arrived at the folly of considering those who have a house in Lorenteggio as privileged - people who have had their basement flooded for over ten years and still pay for services they do not receive.” THE ISSUE OF THE EUROPEAN FUNDS The municipality, some time ago, has finally decided to use funds originally intended for other projects for the restoration of some Aler buildings. At that point the Region, which is the public body behind Aler, has decided to make an intervention plan, which has used European funds for Lorenteggio. The European funds, however, come with many constraints, and can be used, essentially, only to build something new - not for the ordinary maintenance of the buildings, which the EU claims is financed by the responsible body. “It takes a special plan, a series of interventions to do together. First put the houses in place and assign them. “ “Here we suffer an attack that Quarto does not suffer, because Quarto is not attractive to the real estate market. Giambellino is not like that. It is attached to Piazza Napoli and in a moment
you feel yourself in the center - there will be the metro, now we have the city of fashion that goes up, and via Savona is perceived by kids as the coolest in the neighbourhood and twenty years ago it was the most unlucky, with abandoned factories. Beyond the railway there are the new glass buildings with the headquarters of Vodafone. Some time ago we did a survey with Caritas and we discovered that based on who you talk to, the idea of neighborhood changes. If you talk to what is in public housing tells you one thing, the one that is next to Vodafone another, the one that is near the center another one.” This says a journalistic report made by Stefano Colombo in 2016. TRAGIC OVERALL CONDITION:
1.264 BILLIONS
FOR THE BUILDING REGENERATION OF THE REAL ESTATE ASSETS OF ALER
0.5 BILLIONS
FOR THE REFOUND OF DEBTS
IN THE GIAMBELLINO DISTRICT:
800 INAGIBLE DWELLINGS 400 ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED HOUSES
ALER DWELLINGS, MAIN SITE OF THE CONFLICTS
Map of the Giambellino-Lorenteggio neighbourhood
SOURCES: -https://thesubmarine.it/2016/10/27/giambellino-2016/ -https://inchieste.repubblica.it/it/repubblica/rep-it/2015/03/02/news/aler_tutti_i_numeri_dell_emergenza_abitativa-104009173/ -https://thesubmarine.it/2018/12/14/giambellino-sgomberi-aler-comitato/ -https://www.corriere.it/inchieste/giambellino-terzo-mondo-milano/380242a0-48a5-11e4-a045-76c292c97dcc.shtml -http://memoriagiambellino.org/video/socialita/vicinato/
DIRECT EXPERIENCES OF LIVING IN GIAMBELLINO “We affirm that these accusations are absolutely true. For years we have been acting in the neighborhood to face the serious situation of housing emergency, speculation and abandonment that the neighborhood, like other areas of the city, lives. The Committee of the inhabitants of Giambellino Lorenteggio deals with solving problems caused by neglect, building speculation and the mafia management of ALER and the Municipality. We have assigned dozens, perhaps hundreds of empty houses to families who needed them. We defended these families from evictions and helped them get a roof over their heads. We did it together with the inhabitants, helping each other. “ Comitato Abitanti, inhabitant association declaration “I can’t manage a condominium under these conditions. I find myself dealing with occupations and delinquents “, not to mention the accounts that don’t fit:” For all the abusive occupations, Aler replies but the money, even the expenses, always arrive very late. So far Aler has always paid only after injunctions or otherwise after legal agreements. There is no mechanism that works “ Flavio Aiello, building administrator “Once upon a time in this neighborhood people lived fairly well, but since it was left to itself, it has become a nightmare. Around three in the morning they tried to break through my door, but I shouted from the inside who I was, that I am one who helps the families of honest and needy occupants, and the blows have stopped, but the fear has been so great “ Ulla Manzoni, storical inhabithant of Giambellino “Aler has created an island of malaise. The desperate people of the city come here - clear, they are empty heated houses, not assigned for years. This means attracting a passing population, people who come here and learn four words, and then just find whatever work they move. Giambellino acts as an unofficial reception center. “ Stefano Colombo, young journalist, inhabitant of the neighbourhood
SOURCES: - https://www.mixcloud.com/francesco-luvisin/conferenza-stampa-comitato-abitanti-giambellino-lorenteggio/ - http://memoriagiambellino.org/ - https://thesubmarine.it/2016/10/27/giambellino-2016/ - Gente del Giambellino. Storie e racconti di una periferia del mondo; Roberto Sironi, self-published, Frilli Editori, 2016
In the section below we tried to summerize the interview made with Silvia, a 49 years old woman that we met during one of our visits to the site: She was a former inhabitant of the public housing block. Now she lives outside Giambellino but still near to here because she decided to live near to her daughter who still stays inside the ERP settlement. When we have found Silvia, she was walking with her daughter’s dog in the little dog-garden behind the public housing block. A lot of her friends still live here and she likes to walk around during her free time in order to meet them in the garden or at the entrances of the residential block. In her opinion, nothing has changed through the many years that she spent there, and the neighborhood has always been in a terrible condition. She told us about when a venetian blind of her former dwelling felt down and almost killed a person who was walking on the street. Despite that, before leaving the dwelling she tried to buy that house but Aler never accepted any kind of solution of these kind so she decided, together with his husband, to leave the building. The only thing that has changed, more or less in the last decade, is the ethnicity of a part of the inhabitants, the newer ones, but she didn’t tell it as a problem or a negative thing for the neighbourhood. By talking about prejudices, now that she lives outside Giambellino she can see what outsiders can see and feel, how maybe it seems a dangerous place if observed without knowledge of what happens inside those walls. During her life, she has never seen any kind of illegal activity, as robbery, drug dealing, etc. She mentioned the problem of illegal occupation as a daily reality, but she was not sure if to condamn or not that kind of activity because of the many empty rooms that are there and cannot be rented because of their conditions. In order to better explain to us this kind of prejudices she told us a story about a girl, friend of her daughter: her parents never let her go to their house because they though it could going to be unsafe for a child.
INVOLVED ACTORS IN THE HOUSING MANAGEMENT AND INNER CONFLICTS In order to better understand the reasons behind the chaos of Giambellino’s public housing it is important to clarify the actors involved in the management of it. There are three main groups involved in the conflicts: first of all the inhabitants and the associations, responsible for the illegal occupation of the dwellings in order to provide a solution for real housing needs. Also nonoccuping inhabitants are often lined up on the side of the abusives. In the more recent period, another part of the inhabitants have decided to counteract the occupation phenomenon. It is reported by few interviews that the reasons behind this will of counteracting the occupation by other inhabitants is often related with the presence of foreign families or groups. The second main actor is the aforementioned Aler company, the social housing provider. The responsability of the bad management of the buildings is mainly their fault, because of wrong investment and inner corruption issue inside the company (the overall story of Aler and the recent decadence of it will be analyzed in the next paragraph). Aler has never been raised by their management position because of the strong support received by the Region Lombardy during the years, in both an economically and politically way. It is important to highlight that, in the last decade, the regional government and the municipal one have always been represent by opposite political parties. This resulted in the involment, in a conflictual way in between the parts, of the municipality of Milan. It always tried to fight the illegal occupation issue but, on the other hand, it never accepted the bad managment of Aler and the attempt of working together always came out as total failures. In fact, Aler is considered an “untouchable black box” by the municipal actors and its inner dynamics “at least not trasparent”. The risk is to become part of a sick system that in the past have been many times involved in juridical scandals.
FAILURE TO FULFILL THE PROMISES OF GOOD MANAGEMENT OF THE BUILDINGS ILLEGAL OCCUPATION OF THE EMPTY DWELLINGS
LACK OF COMUNICATION AND DATASHARING MUTUAL LACK OF CONFIDENCE
INHABITANT ASSOCIATIONS WILL OF COUNTERACTING ILLEGAL OCCUPATION
DEMAND FOR AN HARDER CONTROL OF THE STREETS
THE TROUBLED STORY OF ALER from the raising to the nowdays crisis
1908
Aler’s predecessor, IACP (Istituto Autonomo Case popolari), was founded by the Municipality of Milan to provide an housing solution for the problem of the raising immigration from the south of Italy. The foundation document was signed by Vittorio Emanuele II, as symbol of the national importance of the event.
1992
IACP, through a regional law, changes its name in Aler. The new mission was a more general management of the public housing patrimony and the improving of the living conditions of their inhabitants.
2006-07
Aler starts a speculative campaign. New parallel companies raised in those years: the case of Asset, one of these companies, is emblematic. Focused on the real estate management (trade in the building sector), Asset immediatly starts to lose money because of wrong investments. In the 2015, the losses amount was of 140 millions of euros, directly taken by the Aler’s properties.
2011
Aler asks for a financing help, in the amount of 30 millions, to sustain an huge pension fund to provide a more equal economic welfare for the different kinds of former employees of the no longer existing IACP. This loan, provided by the BNL bank institution, costs 500 thousands of euro of interests each year.
2011-12
A series of legal investigations bring out bonds with mafia-like organizations: the most important ones are the engagment, in the management team, of the daughter of the boss Eugenio Costantino (2011), teresa Costantino, and the purchase of buildings from “‘ndrangheta” (Domenico Zambetti case, 2012). Despite these infamous facts, and the initial removal of the historical manager of Aler Domenico Ippolito, in 2015 the overall management team has been re-estabilished, in the same conditions that was before the events.
2013
Start of the economic restoration process of Aler by the Lombardy Region, through an investment of 30 millions.
2014-15
Second financial help from the Region to Aler divided in two steps: 20 millions in 2014, 46 millions in 2015.
2019
After the umpteenth wrong investment and bad managing of a building patrimony (halving of the market value of the Pieve Emanuele housing settlement), the fusion of Aler and Asset is expected in a short term.
SOURCES: -http://archive.pdregionelombardia.it/dettaglio.asp?ID=42800 -https://milano.corriere.it/19_febbraio_03/asset-b422f81e-2723-11e9-a470-fc09ad5adcfe.shtml -https://inchieste.repubblica.it/it/repubblica/rep-it/2015/03/02/news/aler_tutti_i_numeri_dell_emergenza_abitativa-104009173/ - https://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/05/23/news/_ndrangheta_processo_appello_domenico_zambetti-197147135/ -https://thesubmarine.it/2018/12/14/giambellino-sgomberi-aler-comitato/
THE “HOUSING RACKET” IN GIAMBELLINO The abuse of the word “racket” by the journalistic world is emblemathic about the knowledge and the perception of the housing problem in Giambellino. This criminal supposition of the dynamics is, actually, a form of illegal occupation of the dwellings carried by local associations in order to provide a solution at the problem of the housing crisis. They are used to break through the door of the Aler’s houses, change the door lock and assign the keys to the people who asked them for a place where to live. This is, of course, illegal, but caused by a real and unsatisfied market demand. Because of the bad managment of the real estate public assets, it is almost impossible to find a public dwelling in a short time. The result is to have families forced to live on the streets during the waiting. The use of the word “racket” is justified by the fact that the associations ask for an annual membership fee, consisting in an amount of 10€. This unusual repetition could be interpretated as a reflection of a generalized intollerance for this kind of illegal way of supporting needy people. The nine arrests, mentioned in the titles at the bottom of the page, are ,in fact, caused by the recent “Decreto Salvini” (legislative decree that took the name from the actual italian Interior Minister). This provision has in fact tightened regulations and penalties relating to illegal occupation. This resulted in a direct involment of the people belonging to the Associations that illegally provided those dwellings to their affiliates.
Newspaper titles reporting the word “racket” for describing the housing occupation problem in Giambellino
SOURCES: -http://www.osservatoriorepressione.info/primi-effetti-del-decreto-salvini-attacco-al-diritto-allabitare-sgomberi-arresti-milano-cosenza/ - https://thesubmarine.it/2018/12/14/giambellino-sgomberi-aler-comitato/ - https://www.milanopost.info/2018/12/13/gestivano-racket-delle-occupazioni-abusive-9-arresti-al-giambellino/
CONCLUSION The case of Giambellino is able to clearly synthetize the crisis of the public housing sector ongoing in Milan since at least two decades. The incremental demand and the inability by Aler to provide a proper supply is aggraved by the raising of the problem of illegal occupations, occuring in those settlements that didn’t start a proper program of renuvation of the real estate resources. Moreover, any kind of possible solutions seems to be unable to relieve the overall condition, mainly because of politic conflicts occuring between the Lombardy Region, istitutional tutor of Aler, and the Municipality. The chain of ongoing criticities continues with the inner conflicts between old inhabitants of Giambellino, illegal occupants and social associations that have become a substitutive, illegal, provider of unusable dwellings for people in critical living conditions. The attempts made for contacting Milan’s Councilor for Public Works and for Housing, Gabriele Rabaiotti, didn’t get a response while the social associations active in the neighbourhood have been ready to open a discussion with us about their point of view, as well as the inhabitants that we have been able to meet and talk with. Contacting Aler seems to be practically impossible, unless you know the company’s staff directly. Our suggestion, in case of particular interest about the topic, is to go there and talk with the various kind of people that you can meet in Giambellino or to contact other Municipality’s personalities. Another direction for developing the research is to analyze, more in particular, the role of the those inhabitants who have opposed, over the years, the abusive occupations of the residences and their relation with the associations who illegally provided those dwellings. In other words, the inner conflics between the inhabitants of Giambellino. The evolution of Giambellino in the next future will be the main question to analyze in the next years: will the ongoing transformations (Scalo Farini, Via Ventura, Via Savona, M4 line) be able to provide positive externalities and open a public debate about improving the living conditions and solve the problem of building unusability and occupation? This is what we would like to ask to the istitutions involved in this fundamental conflict ongoing in Milan.
BIBLIOGRAPHY - Milano. Quartieri periferici tra incertezza e trasformazione; Zajczyc,Berlini, Memo, Mugnano, Mondadori, 2005 - Giambellino and Lorenteggio: an example of experimental planning?, Master thesis of Politecnico di Milano, Riccardo Telò (rev. Carolina pacchi), 2016 - Indagine al Giambellino: un delitto di periferia; Matteo Di Giulio, 2017 - Gente del Giambellino. Storie e racconti di una periferia del mondo; Roberto Sironi, self-published, Frilli Editori, 2016
SITOGRAPHY -https://thesubmarine.it/2016/10/27/giambellino-2016/ -https://inchieste.repubblica.it/it/repubblica/rep-it/2015/03/02/news/aler_tutti_i_numeri_dell_emergenza_abitativa-104009173/ -https://thesubmarine.it/2018/12/14/giambellino-sgomberi-aler-comitato/ -https://www.corriere.it/inchieste/giambellino-terzo-mondo-milano/380242a0-48a5-11e4-a045-76c292c97dcc.shtml -http://memoriagiambellino.org/video/socialita/vicinato/ - https://www.mixcloud.com/francesco-luvisin/conferenza-stampa-comitato-abitanti-giambellino-lorenteggio/ -http://archive.pdregionelombardia.it/dettaglio.asp?ID=42800 -https://milano.corriere.it/19_febbraio_03/asset-b422f81e-2723-11e9-a470-fc09ad5adcfe.shtml - https://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2018/05/23/news/_ndrangheta_processo_appello_domenico_zambetti-197147135/ -https://thesubmarine.it/2018/12/14/giambellino-sgomberi-aler-comitato/ -http://www.osservatoriorepressione.info/primi-effetti-del-decreto-salvini-attacco-al-diritto-allabitare-sgomberi-arresti-milano-cosenza/ - https://www.milanopost.info/2018/12/13/gestivano-racket-delle-occupazioni-abusive-9-arresti-al-giambellino/ - https://www.pressreader.com/italy/corriere-della-sera-milano/20170116/281487866046538 - https://thesubmarine.it/2017/04/06/giambellino-gentrificazione-e-mensa-comune/ - https://www.infoaut.org/segnalazioni/per-ogni-robin-hood-c-e-uno-sceriffo-di-nottingham