Ambivalent Quality: the Neighbourhood as a Space of Intensities

Abstract

What kind of quality of space emerges from the urban regeneration processes? Can we always talk of quality when we talk about requalification? As Carmona points out, in the literature emerging definitions of quality refer to terms which are related, overlap, and often incorporate a disciplinary-oriented idea of it; in other cases, they are contrasted or become repositories to which almost everything fits. Looking for a more sociological definition of the quality of public space and refusing a conceptualisation of it as an a-priori assumption, the concept of spatial Re-Figuration has led us to stimulating reflections, precisely because it is an intrinsically relational and spatio-temporal concept which draws attention to the question of how the current social order is being transformed because of social tension between the different logics of spatial figures. Accordingly, we choose the Neapolitan neighbourhood of Scampia as a privileged observation point to analyse the ambivalent logics in action through the actors’ gazes involved in the regeneration processes and ‘open’ a comparison with some processes similar to others urban regenerated contexts. In the conclusion, we argue for the emergence of an ambivalent quality: squeezed between commodification and branding logics; thickened in some points of space but incapable to become widespread; unable to gather the emotional and relational dimension and the one of practices to really impact on the daily lives of inhabitants.