Peripheries, Searching the informal modernity of urban peripheries

Introduction : Most of the cities of the world are somehow at large in the sea of modernity. The landscape of urban peripheries is anything but coherent. The resilience of slums, the renovation of brown fields, and the development of waterfronts has involved a debate on the sustainable design of cities. All these have been areas of growing involvement for the local authorities over the last 30 years. Besides, the impacts of all urban projects are problematical, due to the strength of societal networks and the local state. In fact, all new developments show a consistent process of mediation that is subject to all sorts of influences by the state, the local communities, and the technical bodies