Metropolitan Governance and Metropolitan Cities in Italy: Outdated Solutions For Processes of Urban Regionalisation?

Valeria Fedeli

doi:10.1007/s13147-016-0430-7

Abstract

A form of metropolitan government in Italy was originally introduced in 1990. After 25 years, the approval of Law 56/2014 has opened a new season of experimentation, full of expectations but at the same time not exempt from critique. The paper presents and discusses the elements of innovation and path-dependency that have shaped the current normative framework, explaining in particular the climate under which the new law was adopted. The author critically focuses on three main problematic aspects of the law that institutes the new città metropolitana, i. e. the definition of boundaries, the nature of the new institution, and its competences and tools for action, considering their ability to deal with the challenges related to the processes of regional urbanisation affecting contemporary Italy.

Highlights

Almost 25 years after the introduction of a form of metropolitan government in Italy in 1990 (L142/90)1, the approval of Law 56/2014 should represent the final andV
Fedeli definite step in the implementation of this new institutional level in a number of important urban contexts, such as Turin, Milan, Venice, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, Naples, Bari, Reggio Calabria and Rome, the capital.2 18 million people are currently living in these areas, more than the 30 % of the total Italian population (IFEL 2015)
This paper will reconstruct the main critiques of the new institutional form, trying to highlight the elements of innovation and path-dependency that characterise the recent process of institution of the metropolitan tier in Italy

Summary

Introduction

Almost 25 years after the introduction of a form of metropolitan government in Italy in 1990 (L142/90), the approval of Law 56/2014 should represent the final and. V. Fedeli definite step in the implementation of this new institutional level (see footnote 1) in a number of important urban contexts, such as Turin, Milan, Venice, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, Naples, Bari, Reggio Calabria and Rome, the capital (which will be awarded a specific status). million people are currently living in these areas, more than the 30 % of the total Italian population (IFEL 2015). This paper will reconstruct the main critiques of the new institutional form, trying to highlight the elements of innovation and path-dependency that characterise the recent process of institution of the metropolitan tier in Italy. The author focuses on three main problematic aspects of the new form of metropolitan government, based in particular on available accounts related to the current state of the art of the implementation process, i. Elements of (necessary) innovation will be highlighted in terms of inputs related to the current phase of socio-spatial change, which is producing forms of regional urbanisation that seem to increment rather than reduce the persisting distance between the “de facto” city and the “de iure” city (Calafati 2014: 109), a feature that remains characteristic of the Italian case

Background

Findings

An Unsolved Metropolitan Question