Cohort: SOMET 39

Topic of the thesis: Public transport implementation: a policy-making process for or against poverty? Between Germany and Italy: a comparative study

Abstract: The project explores major implementation plans related to urban transportation, the decision-making processes behind them, and their consequences for the low-income population in terms of gentrification and displacement. The objective is to identify which public and private actors are involved, in terms of policies and investments, and which is the target of these implementation plans, considering a higher or lower level of local population engagement in their creation. I will consider two European capitals, specifically Berlin and Rome, as scenarios of major processes attributable to transit-oriented development (TOD), selecting two neighborhoods, Lichtenberg and Centocelle, both of which are the scene of processes of demographic growth, mixed-income population, and gentrification at its early stage. Applying a mixed research method, I will proceed with a longitudinal quantitative observation of the variation of mainly demographic and socio-economic indicators (such as average monthly rent, average age, professional occupations, owner-occupied dwellings, family income, ethnicity, degrees per capita, evictions/home conversions, car ownership), which will allow me to identify the presence or not of an exacerbation of ongoing gentrification processes as a result of the implementations put in place by TODs. At the same time, I will conduct semi-structured interviews on the respective fields, making contact with policy-makers, urban planners, managerial figures, and employees from the two local transportation agencies involved (BVG and ATAC) and experts in urban issues, through which I will try to build a picture of the actors behind the transport implementation plans and their goals. In addition, I will conduct focus groups with the local citizenry to, on the one hand, investigate their perception of their involvement level in the policy creation processes and, on the other hand, to get feedback on their current socio-economic condition considering the actuation of the new transportation plans.

Research interests: Urban studies - gentrification studies - social inequalities - social movements

Graduated from: Università degli Studi di Torino

Degrees obtained: BA International Communication; MA Sociology 

E-mail address: martina.tazzara@unimi.it