Calabria e Area dello Stretto: dall’accoglienza e integrazione dei migranti il riuso del patrimonio per la riterritorializzazione del contesto

In Calabria and Sicily the widespread consumption and degradation of the territory, striking contrast to the landscape excellences still present, is reflected in the huge dimensions of the empty or unused housing heritage, the top compared to a phenomenon of sensational proportions already at national level. If in Italy about a quarter of the housing stock is in fact empty, in Sicily this share reaches 30% and in Calabria it exceeds 40%. This makes paradoxical not only the presence of local housing problems, but also the fact that migrants, who often come in large numbers, do not find a home and often have to lie, in subhuman conditions, in improvised and precarious ‘welcome’ centers. As and even more than in the rest of the country, in Calabria and in the area of the Strait of Messina it therefore appears urgent to put at the disposal the housing stock and – generally the building patrimony – empty and often abandoned, of the precious capital, human and social, represented by the migrants. Those of them who intend to stay in these districts could in fact contribute to the local self-sustainable development actions promoted today, in addition to the territorial landscape planning of the two Regions, also by the community planning. The text deepens these themes and illustrates some actions, also ‘from the bottom’, through which we are trying to combine reuse of heritage, integration and reterritorialization.