The informal resistance of living on the edge

In current times, many contemporary metropolitan areas experience extreme living conditions, sometimes diametrically opposed. An informal dimension of the city that, just in the last few years, caught the attention of scholars and NGOs, finding more and more space even in the glossy magazines that are published in Italy and abroad. The question is, what’s the role of architecture in contexts like these? There are three main types of approach to the study of these problems: - The first approach uses the new languages of creativity and new forms of expression of contemporary art; - The second type of approach is the creation of new, unexpected centralities, strong polarities that become immediately visible and accessible, through which to overturn the conditions of the informal sense of development; - The third kind of approach is centred on sharing and listening to local communities, without trying to change the way of thinking that produces informal agglomerations; These are parallel proceedings, as opposed to alternative. Different modes to approach the issue of finding feasible solutions which however always include different forms of sharing with local communities and great interaction with the conditions of the places.