The importation of social mix policy in Italy: A case study from Lombardy

Abstract

The proliferation of quasi-market rental models has characterised the rearrangement of housing policy in Italy. These new models aim to differentiate the supply of social housing by including groups from the middle class, and to remedy the traditional public housing system's tendency to produce spatial concentrations of low-income population. They are thus associated with the notions of tenure diversification and ‘social mix’. This analysis focuses on the rearrangement of housing policy in the context of Bergamo, by analysing the implementation of a new social housing model, namely ‘moderate rental’, and evaluating its effectiveness as a tool of tenure diversification within neighbourhoods characterised by high concentrations of public housing apartments and low-income households.