[vc_row 0=””][vc_column][vc_column_text 0=””]
Short background – Sassari
Sassari is the main city in North-Western Sardinia (Italy) and key administrative center in the region, functioning as the capital of the homonymous province. The city had a total population of 127,533 inhabitants as of 2017.
The Historic Center of the city is home to a total of roughly 12,000 of Sassari’s inhabitants. The area encompasses the entire portion of the urban circuit within the perimeter of the ancient city wall (nowadays mostly demolished), built under the Pisan domination which swayed over the city in the XIII century.
Sassari retained the aspect and features characteristic of its first Medieval incarnation till the process of urban-development kick-started in the XIX century which, among other developments, led to the quasi demolition of the city walls in order to make room for urban expansion.
The population of the Historic Center is mainly compsed of low-class Sassarians and of an increasing migrant component, with the main nationalities represented being Moroccan, Senegalese, Romanian and Pakistani. The migrant component in the Historic Center is further reinforced by the presence of 4 migrant/refugee shaleters outside the city.
The area is characterized by substantial urban decay and socioeconomic issues. A high percentage of local housing is presently uninhabited, with the resulting market depreciation linked with lack of upkeeping. The same condition is suffered by many of the local retailing shops which for years have come to represent a distinguishing features of the Historic Center and are now for a large share closed. A partial revitalization of the business fabric in the area has been determined by the growing presence of migrants, who now make up the majority of shop owners. Local retailers, who now represent a minority, run most bars and restaurants.
High rates of unemployment- particularly for what concerns the youth- and a visible socioeconomic hardship single out the Historic Center from the rest of the city. Beggars are a widespread element of the human component in the area.
The Historic Center also suffers from more concerning urban security challenges than the rest of Sassari, due particularly to the phenomenon of juvenile deviancy. Many local and migrant youngsters, who also have poor job prospects and educational records, tend to gather in “Baby Gangs” which engage in debauchery and petty criminality.
From the civil society perspective, a noticeable degree of local participation is endemic to the area, with concerned groups of citizens organizing themselves in local committees and NGOs with the purpose of tending to general concerns (of urban, cultural and folkloric in nature).
The Historic Center hosts some key insititutional buildings, among which a Youth Center (Centro Giovani Santa Caterina)- in whose context educational and recreational activities are offered to an audience of Youth including disadvantaged categories as NEETs- and the central Headquarters of the University of Sassari.
The area hosts a bulging community of foreign students who come for a period of study in the Universityof Sassari under the Erasmus programme.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_images_carousel images=”231,232,233,234,235,236,237″ img_size=”large” autoplay=”yes” wrap=”yes”][vc_row 0=””][vc_column][vc_column_text 0=””][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]