Between urban regeneration and social reactivation: design approaches for a city in trasformation

In the contemporary design scene, there are countless approaches that, albeit with individual specificities, address the urban as a territory to be rethought together with the population, with punctual interventions, often of an installation nature, respectful of the context, reversible and temporary. The aim is to promote an urban regeneration that acts on re-designing space while also reactivating its social ties. The case of UNPark fully fits into these light experiments, which enhance local resources and stand as demonstrative prototypes of a new, more sustainable action (in economic, environmental and social terms). In addition to the “gentle” nature of the proposed interventions, which often have limited time horizons, their participatory dimension also appears to be fundamental. The involvement of people from the earliest planning stages of the public space (in its tangible and intangible dimensions) thus becomes a driver of innovation and, at the same time, an opportunity itself for creating additional value.