Le periferie a Milano: un profilo delle sue dinamiche sociali

Today urban peripheries are not simply defined as places far from the city centre. Beside this phisical meaning, in the contemporary city this term has taken a social meaning as well. Urban peripheries are considered - more than ever - the places of social disadvantage, whether they are far or near from the city centre. However, mapping the city of Milan on the basis of different indicators, the most serious problems seem to emerge in the outer belt of the city, where situations of social disadvantage are more concentrated, even if some criticisms appear in the central areas as well. Anyway, it is not possible to assert the existence of poor ghettos in Milan, but a sort of spotted or leopard pattern. If social disadvantage, defined on objective parameters, is not spatially segregated, a different situation emerges considering subjective definition of the poverty given by actors. Evidences clearly show a high concentration in the peripheries of people who consider themselves as poor. This can be explained in two ways: 1) Income and other economic indicators are not exhaustive in grasping the meaning of social disadvantage as perceived by actors; social disadvantage lies also in other problems, such as bad housing conditions, advanced age, weak social networks, poor social services, problems which are certainly more present in the urban peripheries than in the centre. 2) An important role is played by the process of stigmatisation of the peripheries, which, under the pressure of the alarmism of the media, become more and more devalued. This process have strong effects on the inhabitants of these areas, who seem to internalize the social stigma, considering themselves poorer than they objectively are.