Roman Lessons: What if Informality was not a bug to be Corrected but a Bacterium Capable of Reactivating a Dormant Urban Metabolism?

In the Global North, informality is seen as a positive break to the rigidity of the traditional forms of housing and workplaces. That's because it is considered capable of enhancing the individuals who, being free to move in time and space, can use their own creativity without limits. When it comes to facing the issues of housing affordability, informality recalls images of problematic urban reality, born out of the rules, therefore perceived as illegal. However, another interpretation of the same urban phenomena is gaining ground as expressions of the tenacity of marginalized groups that resist social, economic, political and geographical exclusion. Some case studies, framed as actions for the right to housing and the city, in Rome, challenge this dichotomous interpretation, overcoming it through virtuous practices that inspire new ways of thinking about the urban scene to open it in unexpected cohabitations, generating intercultural condominiums open to exchanges with the city. This contribution investigates these attempts of informal experimentation of new urban places through an interview with Francesco Careri, Associate Professor and co-Director of the Master Environmental Humanities (University of Roma Tre), co-founding member of the Urban Art Laboratory Stalker and active witness of this emblematic transformations.