Lo ZEN e l'arte della narrazione dei luoghi

This paper aims at analysing a very well-known Italian neighbourhood, which is located in Palermo and called Zen. This neighbourhood has often been described as a clear example of the worst and most disgraced urban landscapes in Italy, as mass media and local stakeholders shaped its image for their own uses. Through a series of interviews, on-the-spot inspections and the use of other qualitative methodologies, the final goal of this paper is to subvert traditional representations of this place and enforce a plural way of describing it, using research techniques that might position the researcher and his or her own description inside a larger framework. Would geographers, social scientists and urban scholars agree on the subjectivity of their own descriptions, they could craft new strategies of storytelling to represent modern and changing urban realities.