Margins, Connectivity and Transitions. Urban transformations in vulnerable areas from an anthropological perspective

Resumen

The paper analyzes the transformation processes currently underway in the historic center of an island city in southern Italy (Catania, Sicily), starting from an area deeply ingrained in the local imagination: its historic market. This context is characterized by peculiar environmental configurations and stratified urbanization that, combined, have contributed to generating a condition of vulnerability to flood risk. At the same time, it is traversed by sudden socio-economic and cultural changes that redefine the materiality of the urban space, its imaginaries, and the relationships that run through it. The analysis of the context and social processes observed will use the concept of ecotone to show the complexity and historical density of the environmental and social relations of the place. The different dimensions of social life will be interconnected with the environment in which they take shape to better understand phenomena in the present.