After gentrification

What is there after gentrification? The social sciences have analyzed the processes of gentrification, but what happens in a neighborhood when it comes into crisis and stops? The study of Rome’s San Lorenzo neighborhood allows us to answer this question, which affects many cities in Italy and, more generally, in Mediterranean Europe. The economic crisis that erupted in 2008 also produced an urban crisis, particularly affecting previously “enhanced” areas of the city. San Lorenzo is not just a neighborhood, but the symbol of a certain idea of the city. It is indeed the university district of the capital, but also the district of movements and political participation. A neighborhood that, precisely because of gentrification processes, has been emptied of inhabitants and then of social activities. A neighborhood that has become, as stated in real estate agency advertisements, “for investment use,” whereby housing is no longer connected to permanent living but to temporary living.