Urban form, public life and social capital : a case study of how the concepts are related in Calabria, Italy

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis isto investigate the urban structure of two Italian towns based upon physicalstructure and social function. The towns are Bova and Bova Marina in theancient Greek part of Calabria, Area Grecanica. This is done by answering theresearch questions about how the urban structures are and what preconditionsthere are for public life and in extension social capital. This is alsocompared to the discourse in research about Calabria as a region lacking behindas well as the Greek cultural heritage. The thesis was conducted during onesemester spent in the area and based upon qualitative research in form ofobservations of the towns, mapping, textual analysis and interviews. Theresults showed that the urban form of the two towns differ from each otherbecause of their history and their localisation. Bova is an ancient town in themountains that is separated through topography, and therefore conserved withmany old structures but few inhabitants, suffering from out-migration. BovaMarina is placed on the coast of the Ionic Sea, south of Bova and connected tothe region by train and roads, while Bova is mainly connected to Bova Marina.Bova Marina was founded as a town in late 19th century and expanded a lotbecause of the railroad. It is a town with inconsistent walking network, a lotof traffic and houses in bad condition. Due to this the conclusion was that theurban form in both towns are seemingly bad for public life, but theobservations showed that there was intense social activity in public spacesnevertheless which generates social capital. Despite this the social capital isin research presented as bad in the Area Grecanica, something that might haveto do with a history of being neglected as well as lack of control over theirown area