Contested issues surrounding social sustainability and self-building in Italy

The paper examines the potentiality of collective self-building as a feasible policy option to address the growing demand for affordable housing. It first provides an overview of the Italian scenario, concerning both housing policies and the development of collective self-build. It will examine the evidence of completions in practice and critically discuss one initiative developed in the city of Senigallia, Italy, building on issues raised from the debate on self-building derived in other developed countries. In particular, the main social benefits will be appraised. The success factors as well as other hindrances will be considered. Lastly, we will try to tease out some contested issues drawing on the tension between the dimensions of ‘responsibility’, ‘participation’ and ‘choice’ underpinning the idea of self-organised housing provision.