My thesis addresses the reconstruction of the city of L’Aquila in the Abruzzo Region in Southern Italy. The city was struck by an earthquake in 2009 that completely devastated the historic downtown and has gained international attention for the scandals that have affected the city during reconstruction. The William Cooper Mack Thesis Fellowship granted me the opportunity to travel the city to better understand its current condition.

Little has been done since the earthquake five years ago and the failed reconstruction that has rendered the city center a ghost town for the past five years; it remains an abandoned labyrinth of locked doors and inaccessible buildings. The state of desolation can only be experienced by walking its streets. The downtown is still partly fenced off and under the control of the military. No one is allowed to access the historic districts by car without authorization, and some areas are completely off-limits. 

I walked around L’Aquila with public figures Emanuele Curci and Alfredo Munzi to gain a sense of place that has now vanished, though it was when exploring the streets alone that I really understood the sense of loneliness that affects the city. I wandered through the streets without meeting anyone, only accompanied by the background noises of the few construction sites. By night the city is even more deserted. The construction workers that provide some vitality and noise are gone, leaving behind complete isolation. Many of the streets do not have public lighting, and other people can only be found in a small area.

As the administrator of the organization Policentrica Onlus, Emanuele invited me to join one of their meetings which gave me a broader understanding of local politics, the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the military occupation, the struggle of the reconstruction and the scandals that have been affecting the city since the earthquake. Policentrica has been working towards a reconstruction of communal structures that have been destroyed along with the architecture. The articulation of the architectural urban space – the alternation of solids and voids, of piazzas, streets, avenues, coste, alleys, and arches – fostered most of the social interactions between Aquilani. 

Alfredo Munzi showed me the surroundings of L’Aquila, specifically the infamous C.A.S.E. and M.A.P. projects. These projects, built by the Italian government to provide housing to the affected population, became known as the symbol of wastefulness and of the crooked administration. They were often built by companies that provided kickbacks to the local government in order to be assigned contracts. This made the construction very expensive and, at the same time, of very low quality. After five years, the structures are already falling apart and lack any basic service or civic space.

During my week in L’Aquila, yet another scandal broke out, involving the Vice-Mayor and other local administrators, who had also received kickbacks from construction companies and scaffolding contractors. This scandal further explained the delays in the reconstruction: the longer the rebuilding effort lasts, the more the contractors and those in power benefit. The scaffolding, rather than a temporary support for the city, has become a crutch that is delaying its redevelopment.