Urban Decline and the New Social and Ethnic Divisions in the Core Cities of the Italian Industrial Triangle

This paper examines the new social division of the city cores in the metropolitan areas of Milan, Turin and Genoa. The changing structure and location of social and ethnic groups are analysed using census data from 1981 and 1991. Special emphasis is given to the relationships between de-urbanisation and social polarisation; and between urban economic restructuring and new forms of distribution or social groups. Contrary to theories of population de-urbanisation which suggest an associated decrease in social polarisation, the analysis presented in this paper demonstrates increasing levels of social division of space.