Event-based urban regeneration and gentrification in the historic centre of Genoa

Great events have played a crucial role in the urban transformations that have been taken place in Genoa over the past 20 years, both for the huge investments they required and for the way they have redefined the city image. Urban transformation, upgrading and maintenance, all of which have affected the historical centre and the waterfront, have contributed decisively to reversing the process of physical, economic and social degradation which was devouring many parts of the city centre. The great operation of urban transformation, re-qualification and maintenance which saw as protagonists the historical centre of Genoa and the waterfront of the Porto Antico (ancient harbour), began in 1992 in the year of the Columbus Expo, celebration the 500th anniversary of the discover of America, and was later continued and evolved by the G8 Summit, held in Genoa July 2001, and by Genoa European Capital of Culture in 2004. These great events have contributed, in a decisive way, to trigger processes of reversing the trends of declining physical, economic and social, which were acting in many parts of the central area of the city, allowing, through the creation of a new waterfront space open at the city, the connection between the historic port basin and the ancient nucleus of the city. The phenomenon of gentrification began in the piazza Sarzano area in the early 1990s. The relocation of the Faculty of Architecture has determined moving away of the weak and marginalised sectors of the population, improvement in the commercial fabric and the development of student accommodation. The students have been able to take advantage of the decidedly low rents and triggered a spontaneous process of renewal of the residential housing stock