The first edition of the Biennial of Public Space was promoted in 2011 by INU Lazio in collaboration with other regional sections, the School of Architecture of Rome Tre, and the Guild of Architecture of Rome and supported by the Province of Rome. Its main goal was to focus on the debate in regard to urban issues of public spaces.
The INU acts as a partner of local governments, schools, universities, enterprises, professionals, and citizenship in order to address the overall problems related to urban development. From May 12th to 14th, 2011, more than a thousand of students, teachers, researchers, professionals, and government officials from different Italian cities, European countries, and North America actively participated in discussions, meetings, and exchanges of experiences.
Fifteen sessions went through issues related to public space: the quality of projects and strategies of urban regeneration, from the history of cities to the new urban practices, the condition of coastal areas and problems related to reconstruction after natural disasters, citizen participations according to the objective of a city for all that it is accessible to children, the elderly, the disabled, safe for women, able to integrate migrants, and to reduce social inequalities.
The concluding event had the characteristics of a very public space that is free, open to all, able to integrate expertise of different professionals, and to promote interactions between generations, cultures and different needs.
The first edition was the conclusive journey composed of a series of regional initiatives developed during the previous year: the project Metamorphosis in Turin by INU Piemonte, a competition on public spaces in small towns in the province of Bologna by INU Emilia Romagna, research on housing from a gender perspective by INU Veneto, designing public spaces in Rome by INU Lazio.
The program of the Biennale 2011 was divided into two sections, “design, build, manage” and “voices and characters“.
It is important to note that there were two different main points of the event: on one hand, the project and the city government represented by those municipalities are invested in the quality of public spaces: on the other hand, the enhancement of the contribution of the citizens in the design of the places are intended for collective life.
Contests “Public administrations and public space” and “Participatory design of public space” were promoted as part of the Biennale as well, based on this distinction.
by Jieun Kim