On the ‘rules' of informality: investigating the localization criteria of informal migrant settlements in the Southern Italy’s rural contexts

The article addresses the issue of the spatial spread of informal migrant settlements in the rural contexts of Southern Italy in order to improve the understanding and spatial categorization of migratory phenomena for correct spatial planning. Assuming Sicily as a case study, the article uses an exploratory approach to investigate in particular the localization choices of informal migrant settlements, cross-referencing demographic data, spatial distribution of agricultural production, external/internal migration routes and deficits of reception policies. The innovative contribution of the article show how such localization choices are not random, but respond to precise criteria that disavow the levels of informality that characterize these realities. Extremizing critical reflection, the “rules” of informality are configured then as an interpretative tool for better understanding, and responding to the social and spatial justice challenges posed to planning by migration phenomena in rural contexts. Explaining these “rules” can help break the veil of invisibility that characterizes local contexts in which these realities are and dispel the ambiguity of “reception” policies towards truly integrated models.