Urban Sprawl Italian Style

Abstract:     
Scientists, analysts (and reporters) who ‘have gone out and looked around’ in Italy may easily share the judgement that the settlement patterns of the Italian cities are ‘deeply negative states of the world’ according to the ‘values’ that we claim to profess in Italy and Europe. But the scientific task is, firstly, to question on empirical grounds the rationality of the collective decision making process which is at the roots of the nightmarish Italian urban landscape we live in. And, secondly, to figure out the complex mechanisms that have generated the destructive spatial development to be observed in Italy – so that we are finally able to reform the institutional setting shaping spatial development in Italy.

Keywords: Italy, spatial development, urban sprawl

JEL Classification: R10

Accepted Paper Series