DIS℗LACE, A Co-Design Process to Build a Temporary Square in Chiaravalle Suburb

Empty spaces in urban contexts are often considered abandoned areas. These are faceless spaces where it’s hard to find a meaning or a purpose able to lead the city-user through it. Empty spaces are thought to be unplanned areas, which is better to avoid in order to stay secure, calm and peaceful. Instead, those places can be interpreted as highly exploitable design opportunities since interior designers find in their indeterminate nature an interesting challenge to give shape and let emerge the meaningful social purpose embedded in the site. This paper will illustrate an interesting experience of reinterpretation of an empty space, which has been co-designed by the Politecnico di Milano students together with Chiaravalle inhabitants, some cultural associations and other local players.