Reusing the built space: atmosphere and human experience

The quality of the built environment deeply affects people wellbeing, social interaction and cohesion, creativity and place attachment. Reversely, people’s quality of life strongly affects their ecological relationship with places and the environment, influences the way they share emotions, experiences, needs and objectives. Given the holistic nature of perception, the sense of things is captured on several levels through a synchronic transformation defined as synesthesia (Crisci, 2012). Built spaces do not create simple objects of visual seduction, they get into relation through the senses, convey meanings and memories. The sense of alienation we often experience in contemporary spaces, sometimes perceived as non-places, may be related to the weakness of their atmospheric quality, to a lower impact on our memory and peripheral vision compared with historical and natural settings, which instead stimulate a stronger emotional involvement. In collectively shaping the places where we live, it is essential to approach the built space from a holistic, humanistic, culture-centred point of view, responding not only to functional, technical and economic needs, but also to social and psychological needs. Reuse design of urban abandoned spaces can allow people to benefit from memory, engaging atmospheres and synaesthetic experiences to prevent stress and restore attention, promoting urban regeneration and improving individual and community wellbeing.