Large Housing Estates in Italy: Policies and Practices

What is the philosophy behind the different existing policies with regard to large-scale housing estates in different European cities? What are the main aims? What are the main activities included in such policies and what is the balance between these activities? How are these policies organised? Who participates in the policy and who has decided about this participation? Can the policy be seen as a top-down or as a bottom-up process? What are the advantages and the disadvantages of these approaches? Has the policy, the way that it is organised and the way that it is perceived by residents and others, changed over the time period that it has been in place? These are some questions the paper tries to answer to. The focus is on three post-war housing estate in Milan (Italy): Comasina, Sant'Ambrogio, San Siro, which are described in their most important features hereafter