The City That Divides

Cities are often portrayed as places of opportunity. However, access to these opportunities is anything but uniform. It’s this consideration that gave rise to GECO (GEntrification and inequality in the City of Opportunities), a research project supported by the Cariplo Foundation that I coordinate (and in which Marco Percoco is also involved), which studies how urban regeneration processes are transforming Milan and its inequalities.

It's Not Just Income

Within the same city, profoundly different living conditions coexist. Neighborhoods with very high average incomes coexist with areas where resources are significantly more limited. But income alone is not enough to describe these differences. To truly understand urban inequalities, it is also necessary to consider access to services — from healthcare to education, from job opportunities to cultural spaces — as well as their distribution across the territory.

The GECO project adopts precisely this multidimensional perspective. On the one hand, it analyzes "objective" inequalities related to income, housing prices and access to services. On the other, we study an often overlooked but crucial dimension: citizens' perceptions of opportunities and the degree of social inclusion. We know that people's perceptions of economic and social reality influence their choices, behaviors and even support for public policies.

The Role of Gentrification

A central element of our research is the role of gentrification. Urban regeneration processes can improve infrastructure and services, but they often lead to an increase in housing prices and the displacement of the most vulnerable population strata towards less expensive neighborhoods. This phenomenon redefines the social composition of urban territories and can generate new forms of inequality, both in access to opportunities and in the experience of inclusion.

To analyze these processes, GECO integrates various data sources. We use administrative and territorial data to map services, mobility and socioeconomic characteristics at the neighborhood level. We complement these with the Milan Social Survey, an original survey that collects information on citizens' perceptions, including aspects such as sense of belonging, social relationships and trust. This combination allows us to observe how material conditions and subjective experiences influence each other.

GECO's Objectives

The project's objective is twofold. On the one hand, we want to contribute to the scientific debate by providing new evidence on the link between urban renewal and multidimensional inequality. On the other, we want to provide actual tools to public policymakers. We intend to develop indicators and monitoring tools enabling them to evaluate the effects of urban transformations and design more equitable and effective public policies.

Cities are changing rapidly. Understanding the nature and dynamics of urban inequality is a necessary condition for managing such processes and designing truly inclusive cities.