Cornell in Rome: Rome Neighborhood Studies

Students in the urban studies Rome Workshop, CRP 4160, spend 20 hours per week in neighborhoods exploring public space, urban design, social housing, infrastructure services, immigrant integration, tourism, historic preservation, and economic development. Students meet with professional planners, government officials, community activists, and others responsible for urban policy making. At the end of the semester, each student or student group presents their findings in a Neighborhood Study.

The specific methodology has changed over the years, but the focus has remained that of a practically oriented experiential learning seminar. The experience is intended to provide a practical application to the text-based learning students have pursued in their undergraduate curriculum as planning students.

A selected set of studies is published here in a collection that is updated on a yearly basis. The reader should bear in mind that these studies are produced by undergraduate students who generally begin the semester with a limited command of the Italian language and a limited knowledge of Italian urban realities. The studies are not to be taken as professional reports, but rather as the training ground for future planning practitioners.

The decision to publish selected studies has various motivations. Perhaps the most important is public accountability, and the desire to return to the community studies that may be of value to community members. None of these studies would have been possible without the generous support of so many citizens over almost two decades of systematic investigation.

A second reason for publishing these studies concerns the dearth of easily accessible information in English on peripheral modern Rome. People with the most varied interests, from artists looking for an unfrequented site, or travelers wishing to explore an unbeaten track, have expressed interest in gaining access to these studies. The Rome Neighborhood Studies page accommodates such requests.

While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, the reliability of all the information contained in these studies cannot be guaranteed. All studies contain bibliographies and sources for statistical analysis. Readers interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the material are advised to consult the original sources.

These neighborhood studies could not be completed without the support of the Cornell in Rome faculty. A special thanks to Greg Smith, Carlotta Fioretti, Viviana Andriola, and Serena Muccitelli.