DISTRUZIONE CREATIVA DELLE INFRASTRUTTURE SOCIALI URBANE NEL QUARTIERE ANTICO CORSO DI CATANIA

Abstract

The Creative Destruction of the Urban Social Infrastructures in the Antico Corso neighborhood, Catania. – This work retraces the transformation of the Antico Corso neighbourhood in Catania. Here, the ongoing ambitious project to convert a dismantled hospital into a multifunctional site including museum services and students’ housing is critically reinterpreted in light of processes layered over time in the district, dating back to the late 1970s conversion of a former Baroque convent into a university campus and to the gradual studentification that unfolded over three decades, recently intersecting with the growth of tourist accommodation.
The dismantling and reorganization of public services, integrated with or replaced by new, elitist or privatized functions such as university education, cultural consumption, and tourism practices, make it even more crucial to reflect through a historical lens on the district habitability and on the role of social reproduction for the local community.