01 - Trastevere

By: Yosuke Shinto, Karen Lo, Ryan Murray, Azmina Karimi

Trastevere is one of Rome's oldest neighborhoods. It has always been a place that has seen waves of change and immigration; it was in fact where the first Greeks, Jews and Christians gathered in ancient Rome. It is again under change after about 40 years of being a working class neighborhood since the Second World War. It hosts the summer "Festa di Noiantri", where all Romans come to "be Roman". But this myth is growing thin and Disney-fication of the quaint aspects of this place have been exploited for some time. Tourists followed. Look under the surface and at its edges, however, and the sense of radicalism and neighborhood are still there and maybe growing yet again.

02 - Testaccio

By: Kiks Chua, Derek Pante, Robert White

Testaccio, the working-class district between the historic centre of Rome, and the industrial quarter of Ostiense, is on the edge of city, and always has been. At its heart, a mountain of pottery shards dumped by ancient Roman shipping merchants at the nearby docks of the Tiber River - the so-called "Monte Testaccio" (now home to some of Rome's great discos). This is AS Roma (Serie A football) heartland. A tough place -the Roman equivalent of the "cockney" London of West Ham - with families traditionally of employees of the local mass-scale slaughterhouses. Thus organ meat dishes are a long-standing specialty of trattorias here, what is known as "the fourth quarter" - throw away meat products sent home with the poor workers for their families and turned into delicacies by "mama". But as we see elsewhere in Rome, significant change is underfoot. As the community prepares to welcome a new marketplace, Testaccio is ready to redefine what it means to live and work in Rome.

03 - San Lorenzo

By Morgan Taylor, April Piere, Jenny Lee, Helen Chiang

The birthplace of Italian Communism and still the radical hotbed of Rome. This neighborhood is so far off the grid, the tourists don't even know it exists. Neither has the government for decades. Walking here feels like the Italian equivalent of Harlem in the New York of the 1970's, or Bed-Stuy in the 80's - not even the Carabinieri (the Italian cops) want to come here. And that's just the way we like it. And the residents agree! Food here is cheap and plentiful, and authentic. The legendary "Fassi" gelato house, the "house of cold", is nearby. The nearby enormous campus of Rome's "Sapienza" University (the largest campus in all of Italy) keeps the radicalism permanently re-stocked. Walls are plastered with an ever changing urgency of leaflets, poster, graffiti and tagging. The Graffiti art is world class.

04 - The Jewish Ghetto

By: Alex Cotoranu, Azmina Karimi, Brad Slavin, Simon Shum

The Jewish Ghetto though not the home of so many Roman Jews is still a major historic center for Roman Jews. The Synagogue assures this heritage continues. The Jewish bakeries in the neighborhood have no street signage - you just have to know it is there. The local restaurants that serve the famous "Carciofi alla Giudia" (Jewsih-Roman style artichokes), such as Portico and Gigetto are justifiably famous with all Roman eaters. AN amazing place for a walk, anytime. Don't leave at night without first stopping for a grappa at the Caffe Tartaruga, and enjoy it outside sitting on the edge of the Turtle fountain from which the Square and Caffe get their name. In our work we look at how the underlying structure of the Jewish Ghetto lead to the nearby Campo dei Fiori by following the pedestrianized Via dei Giubbonari. The project begins to discuss the social attractors and interactions that create a vital link between the two formerly distinct areas, newly harmonized by Sindaco Rutelli's "Roma per Roma" pedestrianization. Successful or not, any place that privileges "passegiatta" over cars is OK with us!! Greats shops all the way.