Re-activating the city, shared spaces for research on design and humanities

This paper investigates the diversity design/humanities through the role designer plays in the urban context. Public space, not only as physical territory, but as relational and social space, is a potential field of action for the designer humanist, fertile ground where design mediates between the hard, quantifiable branch of science, and the soft, qualifiable branch of humanities. In urban context, knowledge, skills, and intervention models of the designer humanist, aim not at building artifacts, but at interpreting and directing social action through site-specific actions capable of turning settled models and functions. The paper analyses several experiences, like the on-going action “Spazi Urbani Ricreati”, in cooperation with the Municipality of Genoa. By analyzing processes and outcomes, it’s possible to define different professional roles in line with the session’s quest.