The family house and its territories in contemporary Italy: present conditions and future perspectives

Family houses are the principal material of the dispersed settlements that have marked the Italian urban landscape since the 1970s. From the Po Plain to the Adriatic coast and Apennine valleys, and all the way down to the Mezzogiorno, these buildings have created a built environment in which distinct features interweave with more standard formats. Today, a large part of this housing stock is facing a crisis, unable to provide the qualities demanded by its inhabitants, whose changing needs it is unsuited to address. The old-style family houses are showing signs of under-use, while new building formats are being developed on former farmland. Given this critical scenario, we outline three reform strategies intended to redirect the urban fabric of the città diffusa towards social, environmental and economic sustainability. These strategies favour the adaptation of existing family houses, to channel the dynamics for change, which are already underway, towards these sustainability goals.