Dwelling Alleys and “Houses” in Post-Earthquake L’Aquila. Right to the City and Spaces of Desire among Teenagers

Abstract

The articleoffers an analysis of the space of the old town of L'Aquila, a city affected by an earthquake on 6th April 2009, in relation to the transformations that the catastrophe and its management have entailed in the morphology of the city and its dwelling practices. In the L'Aquila earthquake, an example of disaster capitalism in which catastrophe becomes a legitimacy for the proclamation of crisis, emergency management produces the creation of new urbanized areas and the establishment of a red zone for the historical center, destructive moment on which it is possible to build some neoliberalization processes. However, an alternative creativity is born to claim the value of use of the downtown space and the right to the city. Teenagers from 14 to 19 years-old implement ways of appropriation of places which produce spaces of desire. Occupying momentarily the houses to rebuilt, writing on the walls of the buildings help to "feel at home in the alleys" and rap to fill silence.