Rome as a global city. Mapping new cultural and political boundaries

The analysis presented in this chapter is the result of a research project concerning the use of space in Rome by various immigrant groups. Their “spatial practices” appear to be based on an ability to innovatively and strategically interpret the relationships between areas which developed out of the socio-political model of urban space defined by Fascism—a model which outlived the regime and endured well into the post-war period. In order to verify this hypothesis on a macro level I compare the urban model which developed through Rome’s transformations between 1871 and 1940 with the spatial practices of these groups, investigated through an examination of their socio-demographic data.