Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic has suddenly upset the way we used to live. When eventually lockdown ended, the desire to return to open spaces while respecting social distancing have challenged the role of public space as a space for interaction. In Italy, one of the most affected countries, the piazza as public space par excellence has not remained immune to the issue. This contribution addresses four Italian design experiences that have tried to give an immediate answer to the needs of these precise historical circumstances. The Covid-19 emergency can become an opportunity for innovation in the project and in the way the piazza can be perceived and experienced. New approaches and processes of regeneration of the piazza lead to reconsider the role of the project and that of the architect. An updated idea of public space as a problem-solver space follows suit, turning the piazza into a space that does not need to project itself into the future, but aims to answer to current needs embracing new core features: temporariness, flexibility, functionality, repeatability and the community’s contribution. The idea of the piazza as a permanent public space is replaced by that of an adaptive public space. Such an open phenomenology is starting to think of the piazza as a space for experiences - a space that, while respecting the Covid-19 logistical constraints, allows people to return, in new ways, to social interactions.
Highlights
The Covid-19 emergency has been affecting the entire world lately and has been a cause of instability for many companies, communities and individuals
This paper aims to investigate the interactive ability of the public space within the city, in these specific circumstances, through suitable resources for the definition of new forms of urban socialization
The analysis of some project experiences regarding Italian piazzas, that have been implemented as a reaction to the emergency, provides enough material to consider a new vision of the piazza as an adaptive public space
Summary
The Covid-19 emergency has been affecting the entire world lately and has been a cause of instability for many companies, communities and individuals. In Italy, one of the COVID-19 most affected countries, the role of the piazza as a public space par excellence - the heart of social life - can hardly be replaced. This is even more complicated at a time in history, like present days, when the reaction to isolation leads to an Gruosso, S. The analysis of some project experiences regarding Italian piazzas, that have been implemented as a reaction to the emergency, provides enough material to consider a new vision of the piazza as an adaptive public space This updated vision reinstates the square’s role as a “vector” of socialisation
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