Industrial organizations have significantly shaped the relationship between urbanization and industrialization through their policies of constructing and managing urban spaces, as well as their social actions, with company towns representing an outstanding example of this influence. Often seen as remnants of history, some company towns still maintain an active presence in their original territories, significantly affecting the daily lives of their residents in the long term.
At the heart of these projects, quality of life was a fundamental unit of measure alongside worker productivity. Reading these realities through the lens of biopolitics offers a perspective to examine how power was exercised in everyday life within these communities.
Therefore, the research investigates how the microphysics of power manifests in company towns, both historically and in contemporary contexts, and what implications this has for the broader understanding of the long-lasting power dynamics between corporations and territories.
Through the case study of Dalmine, Italy, a company town founded in 1906 by a German seamless pipe mill company, this thesis explores the extent of company biopolitical decisions in the city's urban development. The hypothesis posits that the company's project continues to exist, exerting influence on Dalmineâ s citizens' lives, relying on its past activities and current role in the city.
To unearth traces of the industry's power in the territory, extensive archival research was conducted within the Dalmine company archives, alongside fieldwork with interviews and visual and cartographical explorations as principal methods. The result is a series of microhistories divided into six chapters, recounting the events and spaces that have shaped Dalmine into what it is: an evolving biopolitical history of an Italian company town.
The thesis examines how these micro-circumstances have contributed to the construction of the company town and the company's enduring presence in Dalmine by analyzing the various scales of the biopolitical project embedded in the everyday life of this working community. The research outcomes uncovered shifts in the company's decision-making influence on city design choices and hybridization between the factory and new forms of production.
Their hegemony over the urban space that before was manifested through design and infrastructures, maintaining subordinate relationships, and creating a city designed to maximize production and control dissidents now presents more democratic forms of control, engaging the city in educational activities to promote a perpetual industrial culture.
This enduring influence proved to be a testament to the long-term impact of the company on the town and its residents. Inferring from this case study, the thesis proposes a reevaluation of the power of large companies in shaping the territory, expanding Dalmineâ s case into a broader and more diverse territorial model that is the company town and emphasizing the global relevance of such urban settlements in contemporary times.