Professor Trabalzi earned his undergraduate degree at La Sapienza in Rome with a thesis on the social consequences of the Reagan administration on the underrepresented and minorities in urban communities in the United States. At UCLA, he studied contemporary urbanism and regional planning, and for his Master's thesis elaborated research on the connections between Nature and Ideology, focusing on the land reclamation of a marshy area south of Rome during Fascism in the 1930s. He earned his PhD with a thesis on regional food networks in Southern Italy in the age of globalization.
Prof. Trabalzi has taught in several US Universities including UCLA, Southern California Institute of Architecture, Woodbury University in Burbank, CA and in the College of Design at Iowa State University. Currently he teaches Sociology and Anthropology at AUR.
With a background in Urban Sociology, Architecture, Urban Design and Urban Planning and a teaching experience spanning over three continents (North America, Europe and Africa) Prof. Trabalzi teaches contemporary urbanism in Rome where he takes students to visit areas of the city outside the historical center. Prof. Trabalzi takes the city of Rome as a laboratory for in-depth socio-anthropological analyses of contemporary life in the age of globalization.
Prof. Trabalzi’s research include urban marginality, self-made urbanism, traditional food systems and regional international development. Of particular interest are spaces and people at the margin (suburbs, informal communities, self-made communities, immigrant camps, etc.) that Prof. Trabalzi considers as areas of opportunities rather simply of social despair. Throughout the year, Prof. Trabalzi teaches also classes on the Sociology of Contemporary Italy, Anthropology and Globalization.