Migratory transnational flows as analytical tool for planning in the post-metropolitan transition of Italian urban regions

The increasing of international migratory flows is one of the main socio-cultural phenomena associated to the post-Fordist restructuring, within post-modern city. Different authors, involved in the debate on post-metropolitan transition, recognize that these phenomena destabilize previous planning models and at the same time represent a new challenge for building multicultural metropolis (Sandercock, 2000) and for resisting to the prevailing neoliberalism, among other active approaches (Soja 200). According to Soja, indeed, postmetropolis is the spatial - although transitory - result of new socio-spatial transformations of the cities that is characterized by a high and new level of socio-economic fragmentation. In relation to these phenomena, social polarization of urban space, typical of the Fordist city, has given way to an “unstructured” and “dispersed” social geometry. This has called into question the traditional analytical models of the socio-spatial concentration geographies, and requires new interpretative categories. These phenomena do not just occur in global cities, and they start to change the urban structure and scenario of even smaller (in terms of local population) urban areas. More recently, the globalization processes and the deep socio-economic transformations, as well as the enlargement of the European Union to the countries of Eastern Europe, are at the heart of a complex system of interdependent factors that have changed the relationship between countries of origin and countries of destination of migratory flows (King, 2000). Although the Eurostat surveys (2012) shows that the foreign resident population is mainly concentrated in five countries (Germany, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and France), during the last decade, the most relevant percentage variations are in particular recorded in Southern Europe. In reference to this context and despite the crisis, mostly Italy and Spain have increased the growth levels of foreign presences. In Italy, particularly, statistical surveys over the last inter-census decade (2001-2011) show that the number of foreigners resident is tripled. In parallel, these values emphasize the negative performance registered by the Italian population (decreased by more than 250,000 units). Locally, in addition to the socio-economic differences between North, Centre and South (Trigilia, 2012), the territorial distribution of foreign population is also affected by the attractiveness of large urban areas, which have traditionally been the main catalysts of migratory flows (Tosi, 2000). Which kind of post-metropolitan profiles can be outlined? Are they homogenous, or articulated and heterogeneous? What kind of spatial concentration/dispersion phenomena can be recorded in relation to the main cities? The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between foreign population and Italian post-metropolitan areas, particularly, by studying phenomena of spatial concentration/dispersion of the immigrants compared with the main cities, which are traditionally considered as catalysts of migratory flows.