Dalmine: From Company Town to Hybridized Productive Habitat

The establishment of company towns played a significant role in developing both urban and rural areas in Europe during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By combining historical and urban research, this study provides findings about the industry's political influence on the region. Using the company town of Dalmine as a case study, it is observable that the steel pipe industry still shares today, one hundred years after its foundation, spatial, political, and social dynamics. Over the past few decades, Dalmine transitioned from a one-company town to a mixed-productive habitat, shifting from its productive hegemony to sharing space with the university, start-ups, and other productive entities. By embracing this multi-faceted composition, Dalmine exemplifies the concept of hybridization, wherein different forms of production coexist and interact. In this condition, hybridization into new forms of production demonstrates the possibility of the survivability of a company town.