Welcoming cities: new strategies for contemporary urban requalification in the migration era

Mass migration to Europe from countries in a state of war is one of the most important emerging phenomenon which has to be interpreted in the future of architecture and urbanism and as a new element to be included in new models beng defined that govern the urban transformation of contemporary cities. New social needs are emerging and new urban places must be configured to respond to these needs: migrants in transit who arrive and stay in a city for a short time before leaving to their final destination; refugees; which must be accepted and integrated into the social and urban fabric; hosted into new structures to ensure the initial care but also their long-term residence and inclusion in the local community. This theme is relevant on the urban scale as well as on the building scale. The challenge is to rethink new housing models taking into account the specific needs of migrants: new relationships between public and private spaces; collective dimensions of living and respect for the individual sphere; connections between inside and outside in the relationship between migrant and urban communities. The research focuses on urban voids and wasted areas of the suburbs as places where the welcome of migrants can represent the occasion for urban; social and architectural requalification; through the analysis of case studies from the projects of students in the fifth year of a master’s degree in Architecture.