‘Imagine what Gela could be’: Sense of place, ruins of modernity and nostalgias in Sicily

In the 1960s, Gela, located in southern Sicily, became the home of a petrochemical plant, which created a new sense of modernity, and triggered a process of urbanization. Nevertheless, the resulting pollution and deregulated urban expansion led to the city being stigmatized. The decommissioning of the plant added a condition of economic and identity uncertainty. Drawing from an fieldwork research, this article explores how the process of ruination has affected Gela inhabitants’ sense of place. It points to local sentimental connections with urban ruins – abandoned buildings, incomplete projects and constructions– showing how these become objects of ephemeral micro-practices of concealment while also creating a sphere of intimacy. It analyses the emergence of a new collective imaginary based on archeological and natural heritage, fuelling nostalgia for an imagined pre-industrial past. Although differing from the modernist imaginary associated with oil, this collective rhetoric reproduces the former’s sense of grandeur triggered by the industry.