The invisible society. The street homeless in Milan : an observation approach

Recent years have caused drastic changes in the nature of the urban today. Part of which is the fast pace growth of cities in different parts of the world that caused shifts in economic, social and physical factors in the society. These growth have been the root of various problems such the difficulty of distribution, and worse, scarcity of goods, services and space. One problem that has emerged and has become central in policy-making discussions is the growth of the Homeless. Various studies and demographic research have revealed the variety and ambiguity of the definition of homelessness in the society today. In recent years, it has been widely accepted that this people group have become very diverse and dynamic that it has been difficult to create a general or universal policy that could cover every type of this phenomenon. From the point of view of a planner, it is important to be able to be familiar with the different faces and causes of this problem to be able to dissect the different needs and create different responses appropriate to each type. Part of this research therefore is allocated towards a building of a profile of homelessness to refresh and re-familiarize the reader about the different characteristics of the status of the homeless as a people group. As different types of homeless are discussed, focus shall be directed to a particular group, the homeless who sleep on the side streets, alleys, and public spaces that are easily detected by casual observation. I call this group as the “street” homeless. The street homeless are those who are considered by many to be offensive because of their appearance, improper hygiene and oddity in the eyes of the society. Hence, this thesis discusses the actual plight of the ‘street’ homeless and their needs. It aims to understand their psychology to find out reasons why some of them insist on staying in the streets rather than availing the service of established help centers in the city. Hence, the challenge of this thesis is to describe the advantages of the ethnographic research method on the problem of homelessness. Through findings from actual observation and volunteer work, this thesis aims to device creative strategies in encouraging the street homeless to prefer the use of shelter to staying in the streets. With the information gathered through existing empirical and demographic data, combined with direct observation and interviews done through volunteer work, this thesis conceptualizes the idea of addressing the problem of the street homeless through a direct involvement of young professionals and students who are in the field of Planning and Design of built environments.