Phone centres and the struggle for public space in Italy: between revanchist policies and practices of resistance

Abstract

This paper proposes to contribute to debates on revanchist urbanism. By drawing from empirical data collected in two northern Italian cities, Verona and Modena, it provides an exemplification of relevant policies: phone centres normative framework. After discussing to what extent the original thesis by Neil Smith can be transported to the cases under analysis, the paper points to a vacuum in the relevant literature: a lack of attention to dynamics of politics. Hence, it demonstrates that while scholars risk promoting a narrative of domination, the target of revanchist policies can resist the potential annihilation of public spaces operated by revanchist interventions.