Démolir Corviale, ou le réhabiliter ? Idées de la ville et querelles politiques autour d’un symbole du logement social romain

The monumental ‘horizontal skyscraper’ of Corviale is a veritable symbol of social housing for the working classes in Rome. Built in the years of the ‘red councils’, it soon turned from a flagship initiative of the Social housing agency and the Capitoline administration to a ‘difficult neighborhood’ afflicted by serious structural and social problems. Over the last thirty years, Corviale has been at the centre of public debate and political confrontation. The post-fascist Right called for its demolition, presenting it as an emblem of ideologized architecture and of an intrinsically flawed idea of the city and of housing pursued by the Left. Appeals for demolition, however, have fallen on deaf ears. Corviale has not been demolished, but at least partially renovated. The challenge today is to imagine a future for this as for the other great modernist social housing estates of the Trente Glorieuses.