ARTICOLI / 6 / Valerio Nitrato-Izzo /
This article deals with the links and the relationships between contemporary city, catastrophe and law. The urban dimension is crucial for understanding the dynamics of global risk. The disaster is conceived as a powerful legal, political and social epiphany. From this perspective, in the first part of the work the essay examines the relationship between city and catastrophe in urban studies, as well as the consequences of a “Katrina effect” in this area. Then it is taken into account the renewed interest in the social sciences and legal studies for extreme events, emphasizing the potential and the difficulties in developing a critical perspective on the legal regulation of the catastrophe. In the concluding part of the paper we analyze the possible contribution of the law for imagining the future of the city in the face of catastrophe.
