The production of the Mafioso space. A spatial analysis of the sack of Palermo
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The production of the Mafioso space. A spatial analysis of the sack of Palermo Vincenzo Scalia 1 Accepted: 21 September 2020/ # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This essay will use the theoretical lens of the production of space, provided by David Harvey, to analyse the Sack of Palermo, or the massive destruction of the Conca d’Oro, the fertile land surrounding Palermo, and its substitution with high rise buildings which occurred between 1950 and the 1980s, resulting in the destruction of a vast area of social space which had existed for centuries. Harvey argues that capitalism consists of a constant re-modeling of places in order to facilitate its practices of domination and profit. Organised crime has been the vehicle in this case: Indeed, the Mafia has produced a new urban space, not only by destroying the former agricultural and suburban context of Palermo, but also by their demolition of some important monuments in the cities, such as the liberty villas of early XX century. This process took place in two stages. The first one was the displacement, that is the eviction of the population of the city- relocatd into lower class districts where unemployment and social disruption provided a fertile ground to the Mafioso hegemony. The second stage was anonymization: The emptying of the city, the engulfing of the old borgate (hamlets) with blocks of flats, destroyed the social capital of family, professional and cultural network which was crucial for the city’s local identity. The new Palermo suffered from the lack of a collective sense of belonging which impeded the development of a sense of civility and citizenship; and thus made way for fragmented, particular interests, making it easier to reinforce the domination of the mafia. Keywords Palermo . Sack . Mafia . Space . Production
Introduction Scholars, magistrates, politicians, activists, use the definition of “Sack of Palermo” to refer to the disproportionate urban development Palermo underwent to after World War
* Vincenzo Scalia [email protected]
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Department of Applied Social Sciences, Forensics and Politics, University of Winchester, Sparkford Road SO22 4NR, Medecroft Annex 3, Winchester, UK
Trends in Organized Crime
II. 170,000 new apartment were built (Cancila 1989) between 1951 and 1991, while the old city was left decaying, as the number of residents in the old part of Palermo dropped from 125,000 to 30,000. While the revamping of the monumental part was neglected, baroque and liberty villas in the suburbs were razed to the ground to make room for high storey buildings. No amenities and facilities were built in the new part of the city, as citrus groves were engulfed with tons of concrete. The mafia played a capital role in this process (Chubb 1983). The massive and apparently unregulated bout of construction development (the aspect of regulation will be discussed more in depth in the following discussion), made the Sicilian Mafia known to the Italian, and eventually, to the international pu
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