Spazio Pubblico Plurale: un approccio queer e multispecie. Laboratori di Design Partecipativo in tre quartieri periferici di Milano.

Historically, the design of cities and public spaces has often reinforced hegemonic spatial configurations that marginalise non-normative subjectivities, failing to accommodate a plurality of identities and needs, both human and more-thanhuman. Addressing this limitation requires a critique of dominant urban imaginaries and the cultivation of more inclusive, plural, and collective forms of city-building. This article examines the concept of Plural Public Space (PPS), developed within a series of workshops in the project “Regine di Periferia – ecologia drag nei quartieri” (Queens of the Periphery - drag ecology in the neighbourhoods) (RP), which investigates the intersections between gender diversity, queerness, ecology, multispecies perspectives, and territorial regeneration through ecological practices, drag performances, and participatory design. Through an intersectional and morethan-human lens, the PPS experimentation within the RP project involved local communities in co-mapping public spaces in three peripheral areas of Milan, promoting collective speculation on plural urban futures and their co-construction in temporary spatial interventions. By integrating queer and multispecies perspectives into participatory design, the workshops facilitated the emergence of speculative futures that challenge normative spatial practices. Through a hybrid methodology that combines collaborative multispecies mapping, speculative scenario building, co-construction, and performative interventions, the project revealed frictions, negotiations, and possibilities for urban cohabitation beyond regulatory frameworks. The article argues that queer, more-than-human, and drag methodologies can contribute to a more pluralistic urban planning, by queering participatory design processes, amplifying subaltern narratives, and reconfiguring public spaces as more inclusive places of conviviality.