The new urban issue. A journey into the italian cities and its sensitive areas

The article is referred to a study conducted in ten important suburban areas in the biggest italian cities. The study shows how many parts of the city - in particular, old suburbs and new critical areas - are showing new combinations of functions and populations. Some places/populations are loosing functions, suffering economic changes and weakening of sociability, others places/populations are wider connected elsewhere. The metaphor of archipelago offers a more precise picture of the reality. Old suburbs and new critical areas can be mentioned as sensitive areas, far beyond their geographical position on the city map. In these contexts the consequences of globalisation are more visible and virulent. The study indicates that sensitive areas can be considered very interesting point of view to observe and understand urban changes. Nowadays cities are playing the same strategic role that factories had in the past. In other words, cities become points of condensation in a liquid society.