Multicultural Palermo between gentrification and real estate market crisis in the historical centre

Multiculturalism is a characteristic of the post industrial city which will challenge planning through new paradigms, in fact the increasing of transnational flow of migrants reshapes the physical urban space and the socio-cultural relations, expressing new housing needs often neglected by planning and public policies. The essay discusses the experimental analysis conducted in an area of the historical centre of Palermo, where there is a high concentration of migrants in order to assess their potential involvement in the processes of residential gentrification, within the controversial panorama of urban regeneration policies, economic crisis and real estate market. The demographic dynamic, the real estate market and the use of public spaces in the historical centre are analysed to understand the effects of renewal policies on the migrants, among other vulnerable social groups. In particular, the concept of “Threshold-Income” is analysed as indicator of the families’ financial sustainability in order to verify the access to the housing market. Describing the case study of Palermo, this paper explores possible improvements in planning and urban policies to achieve social equity and socio-cultural mix by reducing the gap between household incomes and market prices, and to govern the processes of gentrification.