TY - JOUR
T1 - The (mis)recognition of diversity in Italy between policy and practice
T2 - The case of Milan
AU - Angelucci, Alba
AU - Marzorati, Roberta
AU - Barberis, Eduardo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2019/7/1
Y1 - 2019/7/1
N2 - The article analyses the discourses, strategies and daily practices about diversity in Milan, Italy, framing them at different scales: (a) the national model of integration; (b) the city-level debate and policy framework about diversity; (c) the neighbourhood-level initiatives addressing (directly or indirectly) diversity; (d) representations and narratives about diversity among the residents of two neighbourhoods in the city. Drawing on qualitative research conducted between 2013 and 2015 with 33 interviews with key officials and policymakers and 52 interviews with inhabitants of two neighbourhoods in Milan, this work aims at disentangling how multi-scalar representations intertwine and intersect, to what extent the different scales influence each other and with what consequences on the multi-level governance of urban diversity. Considering both the bottom-up and the top-down perspectives, the results will highlight the detachment between people’s narratives and representations and the local and national frameworks of discourses and policy practice, especially focusing on the reasons for and consequences of this detachment, and on the role that the meso level of local initiatives has in connecting the macro and the micro levels. The focus on the meso level allows one to underline the weaknesses and potentialities of the urban policy level in fostering the production of an institutional environment that is able to acknowledge and promote diversity.
AB - The article analyses the discourses, strategies and daily practices about diversity in Milan, Italy, framing them at different scales: (a) the national model of integration; (b) the city-level debate and policy framework about diversity; (c) the neighbourhood-level initiatives addressing (directly or indirectly) diversity; (d) representations and narratives about diversity among the residents of two neighbourhoods in the city. Drawing on qualitative research conducted between 2013 and 2015 with 33 interviews with key officials and policymakers and 52 interviews with inhabitants of two neighbourhoods in Milan, this work aims at disentangling how multi-scalar representations intertwine and intersect, to what extent the different scales influence each other and with what consequences on the multi-level governance of urban diversity. Considering both the bottom-up and the top-down perspectives, the results will highlight the detachment between people’s narratives and representations and the local and national frameworks of discourses and policy practice, especially focusing on the reasons for and consequences of this detachment, and on the role that the meso level of local initiatives has in connecting the macro and the micro levels. The focus on the meso level allows one to underline the weaknesses and potentialities of the urban policy level in fostering the production of an institutional environment that is able to acknowledge and promote diversity.
KW - Diversity
KW - Italy
KW - integration policy
KW - multi-level governance
KW - neighbourhood diversity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068035277&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0969776419854500
DO - 10.1177/0969776419854500
M3 - Article
SN - 0969-7764
VL - 26
SP - 254
EP - 267
JO - European Urban and Regional Studies
JF - European Urban and Regional Studies
IS - 3
ER -