Empty roads, lowered shutters, activities that close without being replaced: it is the scenario that unites more and more Italian urban centers, especially those of medium and small size. It is not only an economic reflection, but the sign of social, cultural and regulatory transformations that are redefining the way we live the cities. Urban desertification, often treated as an inevitable destiny, is actually the result of choices – or lack of choices – which can be understood and correct. For this reason Confedilizia Calabria has promoted a seminar dedicated to three strictly intertwined themes: rentals, gentrification and desertification. The appointment is for June 12, 2025, starting at 15.30, at the Conference Room of the Bar Association of Catanzaro. In view of this meeting, we interviewed the lawyer Sandro Scoppa, president of Confedilizia Calabriato deepen the context, the causes and possible solutions.
Why is it urgent to face the themes of rents, gentrification and urban desertification together together?
Because they are interconnected phenomena, which feed each other. Urban desertification is often the result of a combination of factors: regulations, tax, social, cultural. Social changes have profoundly affected: smaller families, the increase in the number of women in the labor market, the new school and sporting commitments of the children who require different mobility and services compared to the past, the decrease in proximity relationships. All this has changed the times and spaces of urban life. Gentrification, on the other hand, represents an often misunderstood phenomenon: far from being a threat, it is a tool of urban regeneration, capable of returning life, investments and varieties in degraded or abandoned neighborhoods. In a liberal perspective, it is the result of the free initiative, the ability of people to choose where to live and invest, and it is all the more positive the more it is accompanied by clear, certain, non -punitive rules.
Often we speak of lack of properties for rent in historic centers. Is this really the case?
It is a myth to dispel. In many Italian cities, including those of the South, the real criticality is not the scarcity of the offer, but the lack of question. The premises are there, but they remain empty because few are willing to rent them, especially for use other than the habit. This is because those who want to do business finds themselves embedded between complex rules, discouraged procedures, long times, excessive tax costs and continuous uncertainties. To all this is added the lack of services and infrastructures that make life attractive in historic centers. The consequence is a stagnation that affects the entire urban economy.
What regulatory obstacles do they affect more on the vitality of urban centers?
The first obstacle is the urban bureaucracy. The regulatory plans are often obsolete, unsuitable for responding to the contemporary demand of flexible, multifunctional, adaptable spaces. The second is the stratification of rules, which generates confusion and blocks every initiative: building rules, health rules, cultural constraints, environmental constraints. Then there is the weight of real estate taxation, which also affects the tumor properties, disincentive the making available to the spaces. Finally, contractual limitations often make it difficult to build convenient agreements between owners and conductors. In summary: too much state, too much uncertainty, little trust in the autonomy of private subjects. To reverse this tendency, structural reforms are needed: simplify and unify the urban legislation, eliminate unnecessary constraints, reform real estate taxation (starting from the IMU on the ton), to return full contracts to the parties. Only in this way can the market return to work.
How can the needs of residents with the economic freedom of the owners be reconciled?
Gentrification is often misunderstood and presented as a threat to local communities. However, as Sandro Scoppa points out, it represents a spontaneous process of urban improvement, in which investors, entrepreneurs and new residents contribute to the enhancement of previously neglected neighborhoods. This phenomenon does not imply the forced expulsion of historical inhabitants, but offers them the opportunity to benefit from a safer and served environment or to capitalize on the increase in real estate value.
The real obstacle to the coexistence of the needs of the residents and the economic freedom of the owners lies in public policies that limit the construction of new homes, creating an artificial scarcity and increasing housing costs. In a free market, the expansion of the housing offer can satisfy the growing demand, avoiding the unsustainable increase in rents.
Therefore, to reconcile everyone’s needs, it is essential to remove the bureaucratic and regulatory barriers that hinder urban development. Favoring gentrification, understood as spontaneous urban regeneration, means promoting freedom of choice, private property and the growth of cities, benefiting the entire community.
Catanzaro is not extraneous to these phenomena. What strategies can help a city like this to reverse the course?
Catanzaro is an emblematic example. Its historic center, rich in history and identity, has emptied over time due to wrong urban choices, the absence of a strategic vision and lack of reforming courage. The properties are there, but there are no subjects willing to take them off, because the context is not very favorable: too many rules, too many taxes, too much uncertainty. It is necessary to start from a regulatory simplification, from a targeted tax lightening and a pact between owners, businesses and administration to make the city again a place to live, invest and produce. Catanzaro’s regeneration requires courage and discontinuity: it is necessary to free private energies, returning dignity to property and attractiveness to investments.
In conclusionas the Lawyer Scoppa found, the phenomena of urban desertification are not inevitable. They are the product of choices, and therefore they can be corrected. A new urban culture is needed, based on individual liability, on the freedom of initiative, on the enhancement of private property. The future of cities goes from serious reforms, which dismantle the manager’s scaffolding and trust citizens.
To learn more about these issues, the appointment is for Thursday 12 June 2025, 15.30, at the Conference Room of the Bar Association of Catanzaro (via Falcone and Borsellino). The seminar, promoted by Confedilizia Calabria, is open to the public and is being accredited for continuous training. A moment of open, concrete and proactive comparison on the future of our cities.