‘We work it out’: Roma settlements in Rome and the limits of do-it-yourself

Abstract

This article examines forms of do-it-yourself (DIY) urbanism practised by two Roma communities in Rome. The groups live in self-made camps that exist in a legal limbo determined by municipal policies that fluctuate between ‘tolerating’ and threatening to demolish them. We argue that it is the simultaneous solidity and temporaneity of residents’ DIY interventions that have delayed their eviction. We analyse how residents have sought to create dignified conditions through the informal architecture of their homes, to access water and electricity, and to create areas of beauty and safety around themselves. In doing so, they practice a form of tactical urbanism, generating environments for sociality and forging public spaces in apparent ‘non-places’: on a highway exchange and in a parking lot. Their DIY is accepted by the authorities as long as it is ‘light’, does not engage urban infrastructure and remains within abject locations.