David Meeker
- 1968
Fellowship Title:
- Urban Problems in Europe
Fellowship Year:
- 1968
Public Housing In Italy: An Object Lesson
March 26, 1968 ROME, ITALY — The Communist Party headquarters in Borgo del Trullo is a storefront between the butcher shop and the fruit stand. It’s furnished with a red banner, a poster of Ho Chi Minh, four card tables, a well-stocked cooler of cold drinks, and two pinball machines. At the drop of a question, the men who gather here will lay down their cards and take up the subject of public housing. Each has the expertise gained by living in this development of “workers’ housing,” with its 1350 apartments six miles south of the center of Rome. The main commentary is delivered by the club president, a wiry stonemason with piercing eyes. Call him Enrico. The City of Genoa, as seen from an apartment in the new Forte di Quezzi public housing development. On the right, some of the project buildings. The faults of Italian public housing in general and this new project in particular are numerous, Enrico says. The rents are too high, the buildings are not as well made as
Rome and the Autos: A Showdown Nears
February 27, 1968 ROME, ITALY — The Fiat is rapidly devouring the Eternal City. And because Rome is unable to satisfy the automobile’s growing appetite, its narrow streets may be the stage for man’s first showdown with the motorcar. Rome’s traffic problem has become a legend in its own time, growing at such a frantic pace that officials here describe the situation now as “Tragic!” Currently the city has more than 775,000 vehicles plying its streets and new cars are being poured into the traffic stream at a rate of more than 10,000 monthly. Even if the current growth rate for private autos does not accelerate as expected, Rome faces the task of moving in excess of 1,000,000 vehicles by 1970. Traffic experts here say that the saturation point is around Rome’s next corner because the city cannot be shaped to meet the demands of the car. While its European and American counterparts have devoted larger and larger shares of their available land to the auto, Rome cannot consider cutting a swath of expressway