TERMOLI. Imagine living a day like this on the street in a city like Termoli. No shower, no functioning public fountains (with a few exceptions), no open public spaces where you can enjoy some shade (the only option is churches and shopping centers), no public toilets, no euro to enter a bar, asphalt and cement increasingly widespread, fewer and fewer trees (except for the initiative of organized citizens). Not exactly a life for “tourists”, who instead can count on many other services (for a fee, of course).
In cities we often talk about a “cold emergency”, as a period in which homeless people are more easily exposed to the real risk of dying in the streets due to low temperatures. But people die on the streets all year round. Even in summer. That of those who live on the streets or in precarious situations is an emergency every day, and therefore – by definition – it is not an “emergency”, but a structural problem. There are already 189 homeless people who will die in 2024 in Italy.
And it is precisely in summer that the number of people on the streets increases in Termoli. And while the city works hard to welcome tourists and swimmers, dozens if not hundreds of people and families are evicted to free up apartments to rent for 1000 euros a week (or even more) for the summer season.
Thinking and designing a more inclusive city for its most fragile and marginalized inhabitants would mean being able to have a more liveable and welcoming city for its own inhabitants too. Public spaces for socializing and meeting, an organic housing policy, widespread services available all year round (not concentrated in one season): think how wonderful it would be!
This is why the battle for and with homeless people is a battle that concerns us all, because it is a battle for the present and future of the territory, it is a battle to build a finally inclusive WE, and live better.
In these days of extreme heat, as in those of cold, let’s not look the other way. A look, a word, can make the difference in loneliness. And let’s not stop imagining a more people-friendly city.
Thus the Facebook page “The invisible city”.
