The Old Town of Taranto. Reclaim neglected spaces to challenge narratives of decline

Abstract

This paper examines the precarious spatial and social condition of Taranto’s Old Town, affected by a radical process of abandonment and subsequent ruination. Part 1 provides a historical overview of Taranto’s transformation from a small coastal settlement into a contemporary sacrifice zone for global industrial interests. Part 2 offers an in-depth focus on the Old Town, tracing its enduring condition of spatial injustice across history and analyzing how successive waves of industrial development and demographic shifts have progressively marginalized the area and made it a symbol of socio-economic exclusion and infrastructural decay. Part 3 briefly explores grassroots spatial practices active within the Old Town, which reclaim neglected or underused spaces, generating alternative cultural and social dynamics that contest dominant narratives of abandonment and decline.