The affectivity of cities in transition

I)During the last few years, several Italian town-planners have considered any urban regeneration or renewal as somethingaprioristically able to improve people’s life condition and as a result, to produce new social practices and new paradigms to representreality. It supports the idea that Italian planners usually prefer to consider the concept of urban regeneration only in a positive way. It means a sort of positivist approach that does not consider well all kind of implication that an urban regeneration or renewal entail by the people point of view. So, often in Italy most of the recent public works have ignored the need for empathy and, in particular, the way to capture the citizens' imagination which is essential for distribution of affectivity into human relationships as those with public institutions.

In this article, based on the example of Bari, a city in Southern Italy, the will is to prove how the usage of urban regeneration is performed according to an aesthetic view that doesn't accept the beauty as sociability.

Sometimes even to deny the value of beauty as sociability.Accordingly, sometimes it’s a beauty for its own sake that is a political achievement rather than a social aim.

Bari has been involved in theURBAN Program, through which the settlement of its historical quarter has been changed. Bari has population of about 320.000 inhabitants and is situated in Puglia, a region of the south eastern Adriatic coast of Italy. Here the URBAN Program has tried to improve social services and regenerate public spaces and buildings in the old historic center (Bari Vecchia), developing new economic activities and providing training for deprived social groups. What has happened to Bari Vecchia is used to confute the idea that ‘urban regeneration’should always be seen as a ’good thing’.

Of course this article consider the example of Bari illustrative to analyze the effects of urban regenerations and renewals in many Italian southern cities.To carry on the argumentation, the topic of this article take its cue from the results of recent studies regarding the negative effects on the affective tone produced by the botulinum toxin used in plastic surgery.There are a lot of likenesses between the effect of plastic surgery and the manner through which urban planners consider the final goal of their job. In short, there is a similarity of methods and of approach to the problems.

In some way, in Italy planners are comparable to plastic surgeons, who use the botulinum toxin to rejuvenate the look of the face. Very often planners consider the aesthetic state as the most important aspect, or rather as the main variable that can lead to the development and improvement of the urban condition. This means that the aesthetic profile becomes an endless search as it is at the same time something to seek, a value to share and todivulgate.

However, if we consider thefunctionof botulinum toxin, the comparison between planners and aesthetic surgeons can be used to confute the totalitarian attitude that many public administrators adopt as a criterion for urban restoration and remodeling.

II)Localised injections of the botulinum toxin act on wrinkles by temporarily inhibiting the action of the mimic muscles of the face (Carruthers A., Kiene K. and Carruthers J. 1996)2. Although the first medical usage was for the prevention of neuromuscular spasms in the the eyelids and correction of strabismus, since 1987 it is has been used in cosmetic surgery to counteract the formation of wrinkles associated with expression (dynamics) of the upper face (the forehead and the area around the eyes) as well as glabellar wrinkles (between the eyebrows) (Glogau R. G. 2002) 3.

Botulinum toxin (commonly called “Botox”) is injected in very small doses in the mimic muscles of the face using a syringe with a fine needle. Since it is virtually painless, Botox does not require any type of anesthesia and also leaves no visible mark. The Botox effect causes the muscles to relax within the sites of injection. Consequently, when used in minute quantities, it ensures a natural expression that does not alter facial physiognomy. Therefore, in addition to the treatment of deeper facial wrinkles, botulinum toxin reduces the formation of worry lines. The toxin has no side effects although occasionally allergic reactions can occur (Klein A. W. 2003)4. The effects of relaxation of the mimic muscles and wrinkle reduction begin within about 4 days following treatment and last about 3-6 months (Becker-Wegerich P., Rauch L. and Ruzicka T. 2011)5. Once this time has passed,the treatment can be repeated. This means it is a treatment which may be performed periodically, particularly as the inhibition of the mimic muscles is not permanent. In fact, when the treatment is suspended, expression lines gradually reappear.

However, this gradually diminishing effect should not be necessarily taken as ‘bad news’: Facial wrinkles are not just a ‘negative thing’.

If we consider the role of emotional expressions as external and social signals of internal states, we can say that facial expressions, and the consequent signs of aging, are not simply external manifestations of internal states butcan actually trigger or modulate emotional experiences. Moreover, the mechanism by which we recognize these expressions in others reveals that the expression of emotions on the face is one of the most socially significant human behaviors. Therefore, according to the scientific view, known as the ‘facial feedback hypothesis’ (FFH) (Tomkins S. S. 1962)6, the facial feedback either completely determines, or lightly influences emotional experience (Keillor J. M.,Barrett A. M.,Crucian G. P.,Kortenkamp S. andHeilman K. M. 2002)7. Even if the emotions are not clearly associated with emotion-specific facial configurations, and even if there are complementary effects (making a facial expression should increase the intensity of emotional experience and inhibiting facial expressions should decrease it) it is possible to elaborate a sort of theory regarding the architecture of emotions. This theory argues that each emotion is associated with a program producing a prototypical profile, including a specific action tendency, a physiological response pattern, a motor expression and a feeling state. Accordingly, although we have to consider that facial expressions can be differentiated according to the appraisal checks, the main questions arise as to what is an emotion, what is the dynamic architecture of the emotion and what is the mechanism that produces facial expressions.

As a result of repeated botox treatments, some researchers observed unexpected side effects on the mood of treated patients (Ochsner K. N. 2010)8. These researchers explained such effects by arguing that altering the contraction of mimic muscles meant botox treatment may interfere with the feedback signalssent to the brain for codification of the emotional state which is linked to those contractions,thus negatively affecting the mood.

This observation immediately triggers a similitude regarding the link between facial mimic, emotions and attitude to communication and sharing of feelings.It is possible to speculate that there is a very close cause-effect relationship between the search for an high esthetic standard and the inability to maintain normal communication skills9. In particular, the issue of effective and affective communication deals with the loss of authenticity. Authenticity could be considered as a ‘reliable indicator’, that is to say, a measure for the perception felt by stakeholders in a relationship. In other words, authenticity can elicit the empathy useful for outlining a genuine urban context.

III)The concept of authenticity is very important for regulating the affectivity both within human relationships and towards public institutions. This authenticity is also important in defining a system of urban communication. Above all, we have to consider that authenticity is a fundamental quality for achieving a good level of attention, in terms of possible interactions between people and government. Attention and interaction involve the affectivity and, in an aesthetic sense, produce consequences in terms of authenticity, especially in the case of a city in transition.

Within the context of a transitional processes, the concept of authenticity is crucial to determine a normative tension which can reconfigure deontological and teleological contents with the risk of transfiguring human forms as feelings, emotions, values and languages. Therefore, transition thwarts affectivity, because it determines a new normative tension that tries to reconfigure the human being in all its forms.

Since the level of attention regulates empathy, citizens’ imagination is essential to distribute the affectivity into human relationships as well as into relations toward public affairs. Despite this, during the last few years, most public works have ignored the need for empathy and in particular the ways through which the citizens’ attention is captured and developed.Put simply, public works have been performed according to an aesthetic view that denied the value of beauty in terms of sociability.

Accordingly, a progressive lack of attentionmeant that thecity gradually lost affectivity toward public institutions and towards the public sphere, the latter being interpreted also as urban environment and as governance strategy. In this scenario, the critical analysis of the mutual relationship between planning activity and public works is the way to study how the transition acts on urban areas, and, consequently, to estimate the evolution of the concept of public space.

In fact, despite the objectives and the programmatic intentions, in many respects the effects of the URBAN Program inBari remind us of the Potemkin villages (Loos A. 1982)10.

The primary goal of the URBAN Program11is to promote a lasting improvement in living conditions within cities, particularly in the poorest and socially degraded areas by activating integrated and innovative projects. Therefore, the URBAN Program involves thecreation of initiativescapable of promoting economic development and increasing local employment, thus achieving social growth and integration of the most vulnerable and marginalized populations in the area.One of the main objectives is combating social exclusion in run-down neighborhoods and upgrading the quality of the environment. Therefore, this program addresses the problems of isolation, poverty and exclusion through a package of projects that combine the rehabilitation of obsolete infrastructures with economic and employment initiatives.

Looking at the effects of the URBAN Program in Bari, this Community Initiative should have brought new life into the oldest and one of the most run-down areas of Bari, the port area, which has about 8000 inhabitants.

The Bari project aimed to support new economic activities through the development of a craft-work sector, new tourist sectors and the creation of new accommodation for university students. In particular, these economic initiatives intended to stimulate the creation of new employment opportunities for local people, as well as providing a point of reference for the whole region. For this reason, the URBAN Program led to improvements in several public services. Such improvements in turn ameliorated crime prevention and public safety, thanks also in part to the increase in street lighting.

The renovation of the local surroundings was used as a way to encourage more people, not only from Bari or from Puglia, to visit the previously run-down "Bari Vecchia" area. As a consequence, Bari, which was a little more than a transit hub for tourists (especially those traveling to Greece)or merely a stopping-off point for visitorsinterested in ancient monuments, became a beautiful place, a sort of ‘luxury lounge’, much appreciated by visitors and residents alike. In addition,many of Bari's existing residentsdecided to move there,some because they chose to take a gamble on house price increases in the area.

Accordingly, public places and areas of architectural interest underwent a well-needed facelift:

  • Palazzo del Sedile, a private historical building that once hosted the city hall and its Clock Tower, was completely refurbished;
  • Fortino Sant’Antonio, a middle age fortified building, was renewed and transformed into one of the most significant structures dedicated to cultural and leisure events;
  • Piazza Mercantile and Piazza Ferrarese, once degraded and abandoned, became one of the favorite gathering places;
  • piazza San Pietro, piazzetta 62 Marinai, piazza Santa Chiara, via Pier l'Eremita, strada Santa Maria del Buon Consiglio e via Crisostomo, became pedestrian areasand benefited from the restorationof the road surfaces and of the pavements with flagstones. Moreover, betterconnections to the network water and sanitation system were built in the same area.

IV)Taken together, these activities completely changed the run-down area, but, aboveall, the way of life in that part of the town.

One of the main issues which is still unresolved still concernsthe fact that we cannot consider Bari purely as a showcase of shops and restaurants: It must be primarily a neighborhood, a place tolive and hopefully live well. According to the perspective adopted in this dissertation, what has happened in Bari with the URBAN Program is similar to applying makeup, or better still, a sort of facelift that only improved the image of the city rather than the urban condition.

However, Bari cannot live only on its image. Although the restoration of many squares demonstrates the will to create an ‘agora’, where people, often from different social classes, can gather and mix together. This attempt to regain possession of a public space has made the new ‘Bari Vecchia’ a place without a specific identity, unable in many aspects to activate a dialectic communication (Bertagna A. 2010)12.

What Bari Vecchia really needs is the city that is alive the daytime,not just one which wakes up at night after 8 pm.Therefore, even if the URBAN program has recreated a part of the city, recovering the ancient village on models inspired by the traditional polis, it still represents a missed opportunity.It is worth noting the inconfutable fact that Bari Vecchia gained spaces that it did not have before. To successfully evaluate the current effects of the URBAN program it is necessary to assess what Bari Vecchia represents now and what particular social practices happen there.

Bari Vecchia has an exterior dimension comprising nightclubs, bars and restaurants, which takes over and hides the inner dimension that should derive from the ability to create a dialogue with the entire city of Bari. Its vocation as a place of fun and entertainment does not match with the ability to renew social practices both in the ancient village and the new town. This mismatch is a symptom of a communication gap that separates the two areas of the city and that has arisen because Bari Vecchia has defined its own space according to the logic of banal entertainment. This has created a sort of crisis of identity, revealed by the fact that people visitingBari Vecchia do not recognize its value as evidence of the historical evolution and of the process of socio-anthropological growth of the city (Jacob J. 1989)13.

Just because it is the logic of fun that connotes places and spaces, Bari Vecchia can only offer occasions for sociability and socialization that remain vague and undifferentiated.This means that its beauty does not comes from its ability to create stimuli and distinctemotions but rather from excitement and noise. As a consequence, Bari Vecchia fails to confer both identity and collective recognition. In fact, although nowadays people tend to consider Bari Vecchia as a beautiful place, they perceive and talk about its beauty only in direct proportion to the possibility to have fun and to enjoymeal there. So, Bari Vecchia is beautiful outside, but is sadly unable to use and to exploit its own beauty. Perhaps it is incapableof precisely defining its beauty, especially in relation to a social mission.

For this reason it is possible to draw a comparison between the absence of urban communication and the effects of botulinum toxin. As the Botox causes a loss of attention, so the external or nominal beauty of Bari Vecchia involves no emotional tension and no socialization practices. Put plainly, there is no authenticity in the way to live in anurban context and no authenticity in the manner of seeking affectivity among environmental conditions, landscapes and human needs. This lack of authenticity is clearly demonstrated by the fact that the entertainment experience is homologated, i.e. there is no difference between the places of entertainment in Bari Vecchia and bars, pubs and restaurants in the rest of the town. In particular, both the homologation of the need to have fun and the desire of seekamusement contribute in diminishing the charm of Bari Vecchia, which over the years has become the preferred place to go for young people rather than for adults. Moreover, since the entertainment found in Bari Vecchia is really no different from that found in other parts of the city, people have essentially becomeindifferent towards where they go ‘to have a pizza’, for example.

So we can say that the condition of indeterminacy which Bari Vecchia offers to citizens is due to the lack of authenticity of the urban experience. This lack of authenticity, not only fails to give identity andspecificity to Bari Vecchia, but, more importantly, does not convey emotion for the urban experience.