Squatted Rome

Bild: Jessi Birtwistle, The DNA of a Struggle, mixed media, 2025

Squatted Rome

Excursion (3 SWS) 
C-1.0-20, C-2.0-20 
3 ECTS
Offen für: A / S / L

Prof. Dr. Gabu Heindl
WM Paul Knauer

Rome is more than postcard motifs and antiquity. The Italian capital is a site of fierce spatial conflicts and political struggles over housing. While social housing accounts for only 3%, more than 10,000 people live in squatted buildings. Amid urban austerity policies and speculative vacancy, spaces of collective resistance emerge: self-organized housing, commoning, and activist spatial appropriation counter the status quo with alternative practices.

On this excursion, we will investigate the dynamics of informal vacancy activation and post-capitalist spatial production on site. We will visit model projects in peripheral neighborhoods like San Basilio and historic working-class estates in central Ostiense, explore contested spaces and initiatives like Spin Time Labs, and informal urban ecosystems such as Lago Bullicante as sites of resistance against privatization. The aim is to discover tools for a critical, politically engaged spatial practice through direct exchange with local actors.
 
Dates: Nov 1 - Nov 6, 2027
Travel: Self-organized
Location: Rome, Italy