Research Topics

Housing is a primary commodity for all human beings. However, to this day, the housing question remains unresolved globally.
In Italy, given socio-demographic evolutions and structural conjunctures, the housing theme is becoming more and more pressing for larger segments of the population and, although ownership remains the most widespread title of possession, renting represents the main way of access to housing for the most vulnerable groups. When dealing with the multifaceted need for housing, on one hand housing welfare provides quantitatively insufficient and/or qualitatively inadequate responses. On the other hand, new forms of housing (particularly temporary) have emerged. They are mainly driven mainly by private actors, influencing the housing question and contributing to the socio-spatial redefinition of local contexts. Within this framework, our research focuses on: supportive housing tools, public and social housing, student housing and studentification processes, dynamics of financialization and urban transformation related to old and new forms of housing.

Keywords: housing deprivation, public housing, gentrification, social housing, studentification

In recent decades, a growing interaction between public administrations and local organizations consolidated procedures for planning and implementing public policies strongly marked by a collaborative and co-designed approach. Since the 2000s, the collaborative approach to urban public policies encouraged the involvement of third-sector actors and territorial communities, activating participatory processes to draw guidelines and steer the aims of public interventions adapted to the specific urban context. Far from being processes free of critical aspects, these consultative and deliberative tools are increasingly being introduced into city government strategies, raising questions of content with respect to their ability to affect and be integrated into the city's political agenda.
Within this framework, our research focuses on: critical analysis of participatory processes in a socio-spatial dimension, the role of social actors in the participatory management of urban policies and the spaces of leadership within their design, methodologies and tools for the involvement and co-design of urban and regional policies.

Keywords: participatory processes; Living Lab; stakeholder engagement; spatial regeneration; collaborative tools; urban commons; co-design of spatial and circular economy policies

Streets, squares, courtyards, gardens, libraries but also shopping centers or private places accessible to anyone. Public space can take the most varied forms and it is defined as such by being an open and accessible place. It is the mixture of practices and the heterogeneity of the populations that cross it that makes public space a collective resource. However, it is precisely the variety of practices, populations, and more or less conventional uses that can make it a space of struggle: public space is a field of con-divided tension, marked by coexistence and sometimes conflict. In addition, neoliberal policies on the city have implemented processes of privatization and valorization of public space and commoning practices, taking away urban resources and helping to generate dynamics of deprivation and isolation typical of consumption cities. In this context, the need for space once again becomes a central issue in public and political debate.

Keywords: public space, commoning, populations, heterogeneity, urban regeneration, conflict

Migration is a privileged observational lens for cross-cutting analysis of a variety of social processes and phenomenon. While taking shape as a global social fact, its effects also manifest themselves on a local scale. Indeed, migration has a transformative potential on cities and territories, contributing to generate and reinforce old and new forms of social inequality that are intertwined with dimensions such as gender and social class. Contextually, changes affecting urban policies are intrinsically linked to migration processes and often intervene ambiguously with respect to the presence of such new populations.
In this framework, our research focuses on the mechanisms of residential segregation of the migrant population, the dynamics of discrimination and the resulting inequality in access to housing, access to services on the territories, and the processes and policies that lead to forms of exclusion of this segment of population.

Keywords: migration, territories, housing, inequality, segregation, discrimination

How is tourism demand changing? How are these changes being addressed by the supply side? What interactions are emerging between public and private actors in territories with a strong tourism vocation? How does that vocation change over space and time? These are some of the questions about which Ce.P.Ci.T. researchers investigate, and Emilia-Romagna has proven to be an interesting "laboratory", both in the coastline and in the hinterland areas. Furthermore, growing interest has been dedicated to tourism in urban areas, particularly in the city of Bologna. Here some of the dynamics of the neoliberal city emerge particularly regarding the development of the sector, which, while offering undeniable opportunities, reveals numerous risks of touristification and negative impacts on some parts of the local population (such as university students). The Airbnb case has recently proven to be an interesting one in this regard.

Keywords: tourism, coastline, hinterland areas, touristification, Airbnb, Emilia-Romagna.

The topic of neighborhoods has been an integral part of contemporary urban studies for over forty years, representing one of the privileged perspectives from which to observe global and local processes as well as the effects of these urbanization dynamics on individuals, social capital and ultimately the (re)production of socio-territorial inequality. The reasons that have led sociologists to focus on neighborhoods as a field of analysis start from the necessary assumption of considering The Neighborhood as an analytical unit with its own socio-spatial significance, as a scale of analysis in which investigate the transformations affecting everyday life.
Beginning with the established centrality of the so-called neighborhood studies, this axis of research includes various themes, studies and contributions carried out by CEPCIT members including: the study of inequalities in economic terms and socio-racial segregation between neighborhoods; the coincidence of socio-economic disadvantages and geographic isolation of minority and migrant groups; crime and health problems that are imposed at the neighborhood level and can be predicted based on characteristics such as concentration of poverty, racial isolation, strong single-parent households and, to a lesser extent, residential instability. These themes are also juxtaposed with an analysis of urban policies specific to poor neighborhoods, prioritized or area-based policies, which allow us to understand and analyze not only how residents live and represent their living spaces, but also how these are acted upon politically.

Keywords: neighborhood studies, area-based policies, concentrated poverty, racial segregation

One of the most pressing global problems of our contemporary times is the climate crisis. The impacts of climate change affect communities and territories, triggering or amplifying social risks related to health, poverty, inequality, and human security.
The framework underlying the Center's research activities focuses on adaptive processes in response to the impacts of the climate crisis. Specific attention is directed to inequalities, vulnerabilities and dynamics of socio-territorial fragilization triggered or worsened both by climate change-related transformations and by environmental policies and to the investigation of sustainable social practices and behaviors.
In this perspective, our research focuses on: socio-ecological transition with reference to urban contexts, co-design of environmental and sustainable policies, to the analysis and co-design of mitigation and adaptation strategies to climate change impacts with the application of Nature-based Solutions, development and strengthening of citizen science initiatives.

Keywords: climate change, sustainable cities, socio-territorial vulnerabilities, climate justice, mobility, citizen science, nature-based solution, socio-ecological transition.

Two main trends can be identified in the research in this thematic area: the first aims at re-defining the notion of poverty that attempts to capture and accentuate the discontinuities and ruptures that have occurred in the concrete situations of poverty progressively spreading in urban areas; the second aims instead to investigate the relationship that new forms of poverty entertain with local public welfare and the guidelines of social policies designed to deal with these situations of deprivation.
In the background, the hypothesis that in impoverishment processes, the spatial dimension does not constitute an ancillary variable with respect to the economic dimensions of the phenomenon, but a structurally constitutive dimension of the ways in which impoverishment processes present themselves. At the same time if the spatial context is relevant in the definition of poverty situations, these contexts are increasingly different and act differently in the production of poverty situations.

Keywords: urban poverty, processes of impoverishment, vulnerability, people experiencing homelessness, local and national anti-poverty policies.

Urban contexts, between pull and push factors, represent on the one hand attractive places of opportunity and, on the other, spaces of potential isolation, alienation and complexity. A flip side of the coin that becomes more extreme in medium- and large-scale contexts, where the support and protection networks of individuals and households tend more easily to weaken. Constant changes in the structure of families and social organizations call for a strengthening of the integrated system of social and health services. It becomes necessary to make more systematic the activities and relationship of Social Services with the local community and its stakeholders in a preventive and inclusive perspective, shifting from the dimension of the individual case to the dimension of the work of, on and with the territory.
Starting from an idea of care as an integration of biomedical, piscological and social approaches, and aware that interstitial areas require constant redefinition work through multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary know-how, our research is oriented toward analyzing community social work from a generative welfare perspective and exploring policies and the role of social service at the urban level.

Keywords: social inclusion, social and health integration, social policies, territorial social service, generative welfare.