Join the Edges

The paper introduces the "Join the Edges" session of the international conference "Stretch the Edge," San Marino, 2023, and explores how traces, understood as tangible or intangible markers, can serve as design tools to reconnect people and places. It refers to the INTUIT research project (developed by the author for Space spa, 2017), it presents a trace-based methodology for experiential modelling of cultural destinations, integrating spatial semiotics and experiential design. The framework employs five interpretive dichotomies and the Strategic Experiential Modules (Sense, Feel, Think, Act, Relate) to map relationships between physical stimuli and imagined responses. Three case studies (Tremona-Castello Archaeological Park, Digital Civic Collection Quero Vas, Jiming Island Wedding Hall, and Beijing’s Xingfeng sub-district) reflect on how design can activate traces to generate educational, participatory, and multisensory experiences. Joining the edges emerges as a practice enabling design to restore agency and meaning to fragmented territories.