I Shall Survive”. Planners’ Strategies in the Face of the Strong Asymmetry of Illegal Powers in Italy

This chapter focuses on the need to maximize the education and training of young Italian urban planners in relation to the major challenges connected to the present condition of the country as a place with a strong level of corruption, malfeasance, and Mafia influence . As has been demonstrated in previous research by the author (see references from 2008a to 2016b), these phenomena create strong and illegal imbalances of power that inevitably influence the work of planners in that they affect urban practices in different ways. Although Mafia in Italy may sound like a specific challenge for planners, the effects of Mafia control over the territories set diverse challenges for planning practitioners whose education ignores these effects.