The centre and the suburbs: Social protest and modernization in Milan and Turin, 1898–1917

Modern Italy ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Levy
Keyword(s):  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Social Protest ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
City Centre ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Tension ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
The One ◽  
Historic City ◽  
City Centres

SummaryThis article focuses on two points of disorder and social-political tension in the histories of Milan and Turin: 1898 and 1917. It examines the reasons for different shapes of protest during the ‘ Fatti di Maggio ‘ in 1898 and the events in the summer of 1917. Both cities are the hubs of Italian industrialization and modernization but in 1898, 1917 and later in 1919-20, ‘pre-modern’ protests about the price of bread were melded together with modern political mobilization. This article also examines the growth of working-class suburbs in each city and their relationship to the ‘historic city centres’ on the one hand and the rural hinterland on the other. The uniqueness of protest in each city is related to the political economy and politics of Milan and Turin and the specific relationships between city centre, suburbs and hinterlands in each. The importance of municipal history for the national historical narrative of modern Italy is thus emphasized in this article.

scholarly journals An Integrated Approach for Assessing Flood Risk in Historic City Centres

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiago M. Ferreira ◽  
Pedro P. Santos
Keyword(s):  
Flood Risk ◽  
Flood Hazard ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Momentum Equation ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Risk Matrix ◽  
Hazard Scenario ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Historic City ◽  
City Centres

Historic city centres near watercourses are a specific type of urban area that are particularly vulnerable to flooding. In this study, we present a new methodology of flood risk assessment that crosses hazard and physical vulnerability information. We have selected the Historic City Centre of Guimarães (Portugal), a UNESCO Heritage Site, for developing and testing the defined methodology. The flood hazard scenario was obtained through the hydrologic–hydraulic modelling of peak flows with a 100-year return period, which provided flood extent, depths, and velocities. A decomposition of the momentum equation, using depth and velocity, allowed reaching a final hazard score. Flood vulnerability was assessed through combining an exposure component and a sensitivity component, from field-collected data regarding wall orientation, heritage status, age, number of storeys, condition, and material of buildings. By combining the results of the hazard and vulnerability modules in a risk-matrix, three qualitative levels of flood risk were defined. The individual and crossed analysis of results proved to be complementary. On one hand, it allows the identification of the more relevant risk factors—from the hazard or vulnerability modules. On the other hand, the risk-matrix identified other buildings with a high risk that otherwise would remain unnoticed to risk managers.

scholarly journals Urban Communication: The Uses of Public Space in Riga Historical City Centre

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-105
Author(s):  
Uģis Bratuškins ◽  
Sandra Treija
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Open Space ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
City Centre ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Public Open Space ◽  
The One ◽  
The City ◽  
City Centres

Abstract Expansion of cities and their impact areas extend also the semantic boundaries of urban ecentres, while public open space in the city centres maintain attractivity, especially within the medieval cores. The diverse functional processes that satisfy the needs of all users of urban space in general, on the one hand carry the function of circulation or communication, and on the other – relaxation or recreation. Elements of spatial organization and environment planning essential for the realization of each function differ, and depending on which of the functional processes prevails in the particular place, open space acquires either priority of communication or of recreation. The paper focuses on the interests and needs of main groups of users of the historical city centre – Riga Old Town, states availability of adequate space, as well as sets the criteria of high-quality public open space.

scholarly journals Medium-sized cities in decline in France: between urban shrinkage and city centre devitalisation

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20
Author(s):  
Julie Chouraqui
Keyword(s):  
City Centre ◽  
Urban Decline ◽  
Clustering Methods ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Urban Core ◽  
High Street ◽  
The One ◽  
Vacant Housing ◽  
The City ◽  
City Centres

Since the end of the 2000s, the question of the decline of French medium-sized towns has become central within the scientific and public debate. More specifically, two processes are underlined: the devitalisation of city centres on the one hand, and urban shrinkage on the other hand. The devitalisation of city centres has been studied in several institutional reports. It is characterised by high rates of vacant housing and high street shops vacancies, a fall in visits to the city centre, an impoverishment of residents and population losses. In geography, urban studies and planning, the dynamics of urban shrinkage have been discussed since the 1990s. They comprise a multidimensional urban crisis, triggered and characterised by job and population losses. This paper attempts to explore the relationships between these processes by underlining their similarities and differences with data analysis and multivariate clustering methods. By comparing medium-sized cities with small and large cities, the specificities of urban decline in medium-sized cities are explored. It appears that cities are not homogeneously affected by urban decline. More particularly, a large number of weakened medium-sized cities display a distinctive feature: markers of decline are concentrated in their urban core.

scholarly journals From technological disruption to political mobilization: an approach to social protest on lean platforms

Paakat ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Ronald Andrés Sáenz Leandro ◽  
◽  
Roberto Luis Sánchez Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Social Protest ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
The Political ◽  
Taxi Driver ◽  
Event Analysis ◽  
Claims Analysis ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Descriptive Statistical Analysis

In order to carry out a first approach to the dynamics of political mobilization associated with the arrival and consolidation of digital platforms in national contexts, this article seeks to characterize the field of protest against lean platforms, in terms of the repertoires, demands and modalities of collective action, this from the construction of a database for the case of Costa Rica under the methodology of Protest Event Analysis (PEA) and Political Claims Analysis (PCA). The results of the descriptive statistical analysis allow us to observe that the contentious dynamics has gone from being totally dominated by the traditional taxi driver sector, to showing the entry of new actors such as platform workers and some civil society groups that have come to complicate the panorama of action for the Costa Rican government in terms of regulation and, therefore, to incorporate new demands and decision arenas within the political-social field.

scholarly journals The symbolic sphere and social representations of Serra da Tiririca State Park, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas de Souza Pimentel ◽  
Teresa Cristina Magro
Keyword(s):  
Environmental History ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Grassroots Lobbying ◽  
The One ◽  
Janeiro State

Serra da Tiririca State Park (Parque Estadual da Serra da Tiririca-PESET) is located in an area of rich environmental history between the cities of Niterói and Maricá in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Established through grassroots lobbying and popular mobilization, it nevertheless hosted some mistakes that catalyzed social problems, which should have been otherwise dealt with during its creation process. We believe that social representations allow us to learn about the symbolic sphere of the social insertion of protected areas. On the one hand, the protected area is seen as a "paper park" and as a stage where conflicts related to real-estate speculation, land ownership and the political situation take place. Its positive image, on the other hand, refers to the political mobilization for its creation and to the community's vigilance. As a conclusion, the social representations must be understood so that its positive aspects may be highlighted, contribute to its regional incorporation and aid in the Park's management.

IMPROVING ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA AS A DIRECTION FOR THE SPATIAL POLICY OF OPOLE

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 87-103
Author(s):  
Magdalena ŚLIWA
Keyword(s):  
Living Conditions ◽  
City Centre ◽  
Commercial Space ◽  
Downtown Area ◽  
Spatial Policy ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Historic City ◽  
The City ◽  
City Centres

The city centre is a most valuable, historically formed area of living and commercial space. However, urbanistic policies of cities do not pay enough attention to maintaining or creating appropriate living conditions for the inhabitants of city centres, while still protecting and taking into account the aesthetic and design-related assets. A chaotic management of historic city centres and the lack of appropriate spatial regulations lead to frequent conflicts and eventual withdrawal of inhabitants from the area. This article aims to identify problems specific to city centres and to show that improving the living conditions thereof is possible, which will definitely lead to city centres keeping their housing function and encourageresidents to settle within.

Getting Over Athens

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Wiater
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Model ◽  
Dionysius Of Halicarnassus ◽  
The One

This chapter examines the ambivalent image of Classical Athens in Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ Roman Antiquities. This image reflects a deep-seated ambiguity of Dionysius’ Classicist ideology: on the one hand, there is no question for Dionysius that Athenocentric Hellenicity failed, and that the Roman empire has superseded Athens’ role once and for all as the political and cultural centre of the oikoumene. On the other, Dionysius accepted Rome’s supremacy as legitimate partly because he believed (and wanted his readers to believe) her to be the legitimate heir of Classical Athens and Classical Athenian civic ideology. As a result, Dionysius develops a new model of Hellenicity for Roman Greeks loyal to the new political and cultural centre of Rome. This new model of Greek identity incorporates and builds on Classical Athenian ideals, institutions, and culture, but also supersedes them.

Polybius on ‘Classical Athenian Imperial Democracy’

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craige B. Champion
Keyword(s):  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Second Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Athenian Democracy ◽  
Political Analysis

This chapter makes two contributions to our understanding of Polybius’ representation of the Athenian democracy. First, it shows that Polybius’ negative general portrayal of Athens in his political analysis in Book 6 is frequently at odds with his apparent admiration of the Athenians as reflected in his accounts of Athenian diplomacy in the historical narrative. Second, and more importantly, the paper contextualizes the characterization of the Athenian politeia in Book 6 within Polybius’ generally negative depictions of radical democratic states (ochlocracy, in Polybius’ terms). Here it is necessary to note the political meaning of the term ‘democracy’ in the mid-second century BCE, in order to understand how Polybius can condemn the Athenian politeia while praising the qualities of δημοκρατία‎.

Democracy and Political Culture

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross McKibbin
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Social System ◽  
Political System ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of

This book is an examination of Britain as a democratic society; what it means to describe it as such; and how we can attempt such an examination. The book does this via a number of ‘case-studies’ which approach the subject in different ways: J.M. Keynes and his analysis of British social structures; the political career of Harold Nicolson and his understanding of democratic politics; the novels of A.J. Cronin, especially The Citadel, and what they tell us about the definition of democracy in the interwar years. The book also investigates the evolution of the British party political system until the present day and attempts to suggest why it has become so apparently unstable. There are also two chapters on sport as representative of the British social system as a whole as well as the ways in which the British influenced the sporting systems of other countries. The book has a marked comparative theme, including one chapter which compares British and Australian political cultures and which shows British democracy in a somewhat different light from the one usually shone on it. The concluding chapter brings together the overall argument.

Indian Historical Writing since 1947

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Supriya Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
The Political ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Professional Discipline ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Culture History ◽  
Indian Perspective

This chapter focuses on Indian historical writing. The end of colonial rule in 1947 was a turning point in Indian historical writing and culture. History emerged as a professional discipline with the establishment of new state-sponsored institutions of research and teaching. Attached to the institutionalization was the political imperative of a newly independent nation in search of a coherent and comprehensive historical narrative to support its nation-building efforts. At the same time, there was a desire to establish an autonomous Indian perspective, free of colonial constraints and distortions. In this, post-independence historiography owed much to earlier strands of nationalist historiography. During the first two decades after independence, three main trajectories of historical writing emerged: an official and largely secular nationalist historiography, a cultural nationalist historiography with strong religious overtones, and a critical Marxist trajectory based on analyses of social forms.

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