Towards a new “urban sensitivity”.The role of design as support to social innovation

In an urban and social context where individualism and anonymity are increasingly asserting themselves, the role of design is fundamental to define innovative ways to share and “build” urban relationships. These models try to involve citizens as users, spectators, actors, as agents of change: they become protagonists of the construction of urban fragments that could be described as preciously "uncertain", structurally "undecided" and seemingly "weak". They use a molecular approach: considering the micro as a way to renew the macro, giving value to gestures and dreams of the individual. The paper focuses on the Adaptable Self-managed Itinerant Pavilion (PAAI), a changeable and flexible space that doesn’t leave indelible marks in the territory: with the ambition to build a collective consciousness that might be intangible, it is long lasting. It's part of the “CampUS” research, whose name emphasizes the word “us” representing a challenge, an opportunity, a goal and a tool.