Emergenza sanitaria e spazi aperti: soluzioni adattive per il benessere urbano

The COVID-19 pandemic has determined a public health emergency with effects on various sectors of society, including citizens’ physical and psychophysical well-being. The measures adopted to overcome the critical situation significantly affected people’s every daily life, their habits and social practices. The lockdown phase imposed a temporary interruption of social life activities, and a necessary reorganisation of work spaces, service spaces and functions. Recent studies highlighted that lockdown impacts on citizens’ physical and psychophysical well-being due to closures and limits on outdoor space activities. The paper reflects on the necessity to integrate the needs related to people’s daily well-being and the necessary actions to prevent and contain the health risk rethinking the system of urban open spaces in an adaptive way. The systemic approach to manage and reorganise the public urban open spaces network starts from the identification of people’s needs related to existing spaces and then identifies priority actions to make them safe and adaptive.