Is there a new ‘right to Milan’? Neo-normative control and spacing practices in post-pandemic corporate spaces

Abstract

In this study, we examine the spacing practices through which neo-normative control is both preserved and contested via organizational spatial renovations, focusing on the post-pandemic context of Milanese corporations. Between 2022 and early 2024, we collected field-level data from nine corporations, engaging individuals involved in planning, designing, delivering, and communicating renewed office spaces, as well as employees who inhabit and use them. Adopting a participatory and reflexive approach, our analysis identifies three key practices: mystification, de-alienation, and re-appropriation of organizational space. We show how aesthetics is mobilized to enact new forms of neo-normative control, framing renovated spaces as desirable and liberating. At the same time, we reveal how employees respond through everyday practices that reinterpret or resist managerial intent. Our findings show how enjoyment and sensory appeal are leveraged to foster compliance while also generating spaces of ambivalence and contestation, shedding light on a new ‘right to the city’.