On November 12th and 13th of 2012, a group of about 30 people from the Làbas collective occupied the site of the former Masini barracks to reclaim the unused space. Located in the “Galvani” zone of the centro storico of Bologna, the space was originally a convent turned into military barracks in 1501. This zone of Bologna has one of the lowest percentages of a foreign population (10.5%) as well as one of the highest median incomes with center-right political preferences. The choice of Làbas to occupy this space demonstrates the desire of Bolognese citizens to reclaim and redefine the social fabric of the city. Làbas defines themselves as “a political and social laboratory where “to experiment practices, languages, new way of living the city freely and without prohibitions, to find meeting points, sharing, complicity, to search together for a new way of producing knowledge inside and outside universities, to recover the socially produced wealth.” (Làbas)
We can define the city to be “a socio-spatial organization of human life: a set of social, economic, and political mediated relations between human beings.” The city, therefore, reflects the people that inhabit it. Henri Lefebvre, a french author, coined the term “Right of the City” which explains that inhabitants of a city have the right to change and reinvent the city according to their needs. Urban public spaces are often the starting point of conflicts and revolts that occur. In recent history, examples of this have been the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street where citizens, unhappy with wealth inequality and oppressive regimes, took over urban public spaces. These movements aim to create a more profound social fabric of a city, one that is not merely focused on wealth and profit. This is precisely what we see with Làbas, a self-managed social center, that has taken over empty space in the city center and exemplifies precisely the idea of “Right of the City.”
Now, Làbas is located in the ex-San Leonardo convent on Vicolo Bolognetti in the University District of Bologna. This building has undergone many reinventions over the years, including being a religious space, a space for work activities, an orphanage, and again a religious space before becoming a place for various school-related activities, and now Làbas. The reclaiming of this space over the years shows the determination of the local community to develop what they want seen in their own city. The creation of social services, cultural training, housing, and environmental protection services has created widespread awareness within the city and contributed to the culture itself. These urban planning initiatives have forced Bolognese citizens to confront different forms of income and the cultural ties linked to them. However, the work is not easy. Italy is a country rooted in its own tumultuous history and thus has a wide array of policies put in place to protect these historical buildings, the continuation of these policies reflect even more the will of the citizens to defend the existing social fabric. That is not to say that buildings in Italy are never transformed, the issue is in who gets to dictate its transformation. In Bologna specifically, there is a tendency to transform buildings in the centro storico into banks, offices, and studios and abolish social housing in desirable locations and convert into luxury homes. Further pushing out the poorer population from the city center and into less desirable locations, demonstrating the rich population’s neglect for a proper means of living for all citizens (Comune di Bologna, 1981). This neglect is contrasted by the recovery of open history buildings that reject any form of exuberant self-interest and enhance moments of socialization and community life, exactly the mission of Làbas.
Làbas can not do this alone. There is a movement in place for a stronger commitment to urban planning policies that would aim to recover and reinvent old buildings and spaces to better serve the needs of workers, retirees, women, and those who have had to face head on the adverse effects of capitalist developments that alienate and marginalize them. It is believed that these people should be the ‘developers’ of new conceptions and constructions of the city, in order to have a better quality of life. (Comune di Bologna, 1981).
According to LaSalle’s European Regional Economic Growth Index, from 2017, Bologna was ranked second, after Milan, in terms of economic growth. It is a city of wealth and prosperity but also extreme inequality. The reclaiming and reinvention of spaces in Bologna, like Làbas, shows the continued struggle between wealthy citizens to maintain the social fabric in place, one which they reap the benefits of, and poorer citizens to take over and redefine the social fabric to one where they can feel more a part of the city.
In the short video linked below, Tommaso Cingolani, an activist at Làbas with whom Louisa and Tara spoke while in Bologna, is interviewed on his thoughts on activism, particularly in the context of Làbas and Bologna. “Activism at Làbas and in Bologna means … to make oneself available not for a personal interest but for a greater sense of justice and cooperation that will distinguish us as free men and women”
Click the photo above to watch the short interview
References:
Comune di Bologna sezione ambiente e beni culturali. Centro Civico San Leonardo Quartiere Irnerio: Recupero Di Un Contenitore Storico. Comune Di Bologna, 1981.
Làbas. “Chi Siamo.” Làbas, 11 Apr. 2020, labasbo.org/chisiamo/.
Mokrane, Mahdi, et al. LaSalle E-REGI Index 2017. LaSalle Investment Management, Oct. 2017, www.lasalle.com/documents/E-REGI_2017_English.pdf.
*Note: All work in Italian was translated by Tara Venkat & Louisa Baum.