Genoa’s Biscione from the 1960s until today. From a stigmatised neighbourhood to a place where “it is nice to live”

Abstract

This research explains the connection between the migration processes after 1945 and housing issue in the Italian city of Genoa. In particular, we deepen the experience of the Ina-casa Forte Quezzi neighbourhood in Genoa - the so-called “Biscione”- from its construction in the 1960s until today and address the main urban and social changes occurred over time. Following WWII western Europe faced critical housing shortages, brought about by destruction of war years, as well as high marriage rates and rapid expansion of urban population (such as population migration from the countryside to urban areas) and incomes. Consequently, the mass provision of social rental housing units represented the primary means for resolving housing welfare issues across much of western European governments (Wendt, 1962; Diefendorf, 1989).