Giovanni Picker

Formed between the 1950s and the 1960s, and recently become the targets of disciplining forms of urban governance, Romani urban areas are ethnically stigmatized and generally deprived periphery areas. My research investigates the formation and evolution of these areas in Europe, in order to shed light on the transformations of the governance of urban marginality in an age of economic deregulation and social insecurity. By focusing on six cities as case studies, and by adopting an ethnographic method, along with archive research, my analysis is a contribution to the Urban Studies and to the Romani Studies scholarships, and the first systematic analysis of Romani urban areas. Unlike previous studies, it shifts paradigm from mobility and cultural analysis to socioeconomic contextual conditions, policy processes and everyday stigmatization. Along with its scholarly contribution, my research will support ever more inclusive policies targeting urban marginality across Europe.