*Regenerate Corviale DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107870*

38, where the 'bridge' buildings that were supposed to provide the neighbourhood with shops and offices were converted into makeshift shelters and then permanently occupied by families seeking housing. In Tor Sapienza, another public housing neighbourhood in eastern Rome, the 'service spine' at the centre of the residential courtyard has suffered the same fate: first decay and then 'abusive' conversion to residential use, and there, as in Corviale, a church is also one of the illegal uses. The particular architectural structure of Corviale, a single building almost a kilometre long, is cited as the main reason for the dysfunctionality of the neighbourhood and the degradation processes that have affected it. However, a comparison with the other neighbourhoods shows that the reasons also include the inadequacy of the public housing manager, the Ater (territorial housing agency). Ater had shown sensitivity and willingness to innovate in the planning and construction of neighbourhoods in the late 1970s, and then showed the inadequacies in the management of the housing, which were even more severe in the management of the non-residential spaces, in the phase of taking over the completed neighbourhoods and their management. These spaces, which are often an essential part of the spaces and buildings in the neighbourhoods, remained unused for many years immediately after construction. The newly completed buildings were looted; in some cases, doors, windows and bathroom facilities were removed. Looting that in many cases encouraged the process of squatting by individuals or groups of citizens who converted the spaces intended for non-residential purposes into makeshift shelters. In Corviale, the fourth floor of the building, the so-called 'piano libero', which was intended to accommodate all urban services, from shops to professional studios to community spaces and condominiums, suffered this fate before falling into disrepair and being abandoned and then occupied by those demanding housing and, consequently, adaptation to the housing. The shelters, built by the families themselves, re-used the spaces that were intended for non-residential purposes (**Figure 3**). The shelters, which became the destination of various housing routes, were connected by illegal routes. In other words, the houses did not follow the usual institutional procedure of public allocation. It was an actual illegal occupation. There was space, albeit not for residential purposes, and that was enough for individual residents and families to convert it for residential purposes to meet the need for social housing. The first inhabitants of the temporary shelters were

**Figure 3.** *'Quarto Piano'. Credit: Laboratorio di Città Corviale.*

mainly Italian families, part of the migration that brought many people to the capital from the poorer areas of the south and the north of the country. In recent years, since the late nineties, the same makeshift shelters have been 'sold' to immigrant families from abroad, from the countries of Eastern Europe and North Africa.

The fourth floor, originally intended for services, was converted into living quarters, and thus resembled the other floors. The urban street inside the building thus lost all meaning as a place to meet and congregate. Over time, a process of adaptation has developed that is the result of the initiative of the individual residents and highlights their creativity in transforming the building.

The social project of coexistence, carefully thought out by the planners and taking shape in some spatial decisions, has thus been profoundly affected by a triple action first abandonment, then appropriation and finally renewal.

### **3.1 'The important thing is that you can see the sunset from my house' 1**

The regeneration programme currently being implemented refers to the measures foreseen in the 'Contratto di Quartiere II' [3], which in the first phase foresees the demolition of about 130 self-built flats to be illegally converted into 'Quarto Piano' premises intended initially for services and shops [4]. In the second phase, the programme foresees the construction of 103 new social housing units for people entitled to social housing. The implementation of the measures envisaged in the regeneration project will be accompanied by the activities of the 'Laboratorio Città di Corviale', which was established in 2018 following an agreement between the Lazio Region's Directorate for Social Inclusion and the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Rome Three. The agreement implemented a city laboratories research project, activated with funding from the department, which envisaged bringing the university into the public residential areas of the city of Rome. The summer of 2018 saw the opening of the space, Ater has made available to the university for the laboratory's activities (**Figure 4**). The space is in the area of craft and market activities. Four years have passed since the first opening, and every Tuesday and Thursday, as well as many other days of the week, two researchers pull up the shutter of this space with the sign: 'Laboratorio di Città Corviale' (**Figure 5**). The activities of the

**Figure 4.** *The headquarters of 'Laboratorio di Città Corviale'. Credit: Laboratorio di Città Corviale.*

<sup>1</sup> Cfr. www.laboratoriocorviale.it; anche Francesco Erbani, *Dove ricomincia la città*, Manni, 2021, Lecce pp.80-101.
