Arrival Infrastructuring at a Southern European Gate: Public Action and Spaces in Palermo, Italy

This article investigates how the interplay of different actors has shaped the arrival of newcomers in the city of Palermo in Southern Italy. The recent debate on arrival infrastructures is currently developing in Central Europe, where arrival has been experienced as part of a reception crisis start...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Martina Bovo, Eléonore Bully
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cogitatio 2024-12-01
Series:Urban Planning
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/8474
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850250199077748736
author Martina Bovo
Eléonore Bully
author_facet Martina Bovo
Eléonore Bully
author_sort Martina Bovo
collection DOAJ
description This article investigates how the interplay of different actors has shaped the arrival of newcomers in the city of Palermo in Southern Italy. The recent debate on arrival infrastructures is currently developing in Central Europe, where arrival has been experienced as part of a reception crisis starting in 2015. Within this framework, Southern European contexts represent interesting fields of observation, both for the way arrivals are deployed and for the type of public action that has been mobilized. Here, arrivals are often linked to further departures; infrastructuring processes involve a wide range of in/formal actors, which can be inscribed into a Southern (European) definition of public action. Stemming from two research projects in urban studies, the article unpacks how different actors channeled newcomers’ arrivals between 2015 and 2020. Methodologically, the work builds on qualitative methods and fieldwork, as well as on documents and discourse analysis. It highlights the interplay of a robust pro-hospitality political discourse, a broad—and partly informal—public action around it, everyday infrastructuring practices, and how they spatialized into diverse arrival spaces. In Palermo, public action takes roots in a specific urban historical trajectory of the city, through actions and spaces that lie between formality and informality and that often also reveal resourceful aspects.
format Article
id doaj-art-b9c67261cf224fa2a463bd9239d9fdbf
institution OA Journals
issn 2183-7635
language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Cogitatio
record_format Article
series Urban Planning
spelling doaj-art-b9c67261cf224fa2a463bd9239d9fdbf2025-08-20T01:58:16ZengCogitatioUrban Planning2183-76352024-12-019010.17645/up.84743925Arrival Infrastructuring at a Southern European Gate: Public Action and Spaces in Palermo, ItalyMartina Bovo0Eléonore Bully1Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, Italy / Dipartimento di Culture del Progetto, IUAV University of Venice, ItalyLab’URBA, Université Paris-Est, FranceThis article investigates how the interplay of different actors has shaped the arrival of newcomers in the city of Palermo in Southern Italy. The recent debate on arrival infrastructures is currently developing in Central Europe, where arrival has been experienced as part of a reception crisis starting in 2015. Within this framework, Southern European contexts represent interesting fields of observation, both for the way arrivals are deployed and for the type of public action that has been mobilized. Here, arrivals are often linked to further departures; infrastructuring processes involve a wide range of in/formal actors, which can be inscribed into a Southern (European) definition of public action. Stemming from two research projects in urban studies, the article unpacks how different actors channeled newcomers’ arrivals between 2015 and 2020. Methodologically, the work builds on qualitative methods and fieldwork, as well as on documents and discourse analysis. It highlights the interplay of a robust pro-hospitality political discourse, a broad—and partly informal—public action around it, everyday infrastructuring practices, and how they spatialized into diverse arrival spaces. In Palermo, public action takes roots in a specific urban historical trajectory of the city, through actions and spaces that lie between formality and informality and that often also reveal resourceful aspects.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/8474arrival infrastructuresinformalitypublic actionsouthern europe
spellingShingle Martina Bovo
Eléonore Bully
Arrival Infrastructuring at a Southern European Gate: Public Action and Spaces in Palermo, Italy
Urban Planning
arrival infrastructures
informality
public action
southern europe
title Arrival Infrastructuring at a Southern European Gate: Public Action and Spaces in Palermo, Italy
title_full Arrival Infrastructuring at a Southern European Gate: Public Action and Spaces in Palermo, Italy
title_fullStr Arrival Infrastructuring at a Southern European Gate: Public Action and Spaces in Palermo, Italy
title_full_unstemmed Arrival Infrastructuring at a Southern European Gate: Public Action and Spaces in Palermo, Italy
title_short Arrival Infrastructuring at a Southern European Gate: Public Action and Spaces in Palermo, Italy
title_sort arrival infrastructuring at a southern european gate public action and spaces in palermo italy
topic arrival infrastructures
informality
public action
southern europe
url https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/8474
work_keys_str_mv AT martinabovo arrivalinfrastructuringatasoutherneuropeangatepublicactionandspacesinpalermoitaly
AT eleonorebully arrivalinfrastructuringatasoutherneuropeangatepublicactionandspacesinpalermoitaly