Emerging Post-Suburban Blendscapes in Metropolitan Milan and Amsterdam: Comparing Pioltello and Almere

Abstract

European peripheries and suburbs are generally seen by scholars and policy experts as part of a polycentric urban-regional network. This conceptually 'cityist' and methodologically 'urbano-centric' narrative often neglects the dynamics that may emanate from and within the periphery itself instead of cities alone. This paper engages with the history, possibilities, and transformative potential of European urban peripheries in their own right. It does this by employing the idea of 'post-suburbia'. On the one hand, the concept of 'post-suburbia' is relatively open and flexible, thus helpful in disclosing novel peripheral conditions and contexts. On the other hand, it captures the relevant places and dynamics of metropolitan integration and the consolidation of regional networks in metropolitan space. First, the paper demonstrates how post-World War II European suburbanization has culminated in diverse, uneven post-suburban landscapes in the urban regions of Milan and Amsterdam, and specifically in Pioltello and Almere respectively. Second, the paper shows the nuances of socio-spatial transformations that have emerged in these two suburban peripheries, as an outcome of suburbanization. This twofold reflection enables post-suburbia as a valuable perspective that can unpack the diversities and complexities of urban regions under constant transformation by accounting for processes of diversification resulting in suburban 'blendscapes'.