PLACES, PANDEMIC AND MULTIPLE RISKS: NEW EMERGING URBAN CHALLENGES

NEW EMERGING URBAN CHALLENGES

Abstract

The Covid-19 emergency, although in different manner and measure, is changing habits and use of places and cities at global level. In many cities, public spaces became completely empty for months and new urban landscapes have substituted the previous ones, transforming the private in public (Sepe, 2021). Children and young have interrupted the school in presence to start that by internet; adults started the smart working; elderly begun to meet their sons through the computer. Houses and balconies were used for work and study, allowing people to go inside the private life of everyone. The reopening of public spaces has happened after months of closing, allowing again “live” social interactions, although in respect of the physical distance, confirming the importance for all people of these places (Carmona, 2019; Crappsley, 2017; Gehl, 2010). The new challenges concern facing the presence of multiple risks (Sepe, 2022a), improving health, integration, and liveability of places for more flexible and adaptive uses. Accordingly, to provide a sustainable regeneration meant in its three-fold meaning, it needs to use new methodological approaches, including: the 15-minutes city (Moreno, 2020) that is a city able to offer all its inhabitants everything they need to live, work and have fun to be reached on foot in no more than 15 minutes; the flexible one (CRA, 2019) that is based on tools for architectural and urban planning and design, which are able to allow changes in the course of implementation of those projects; the Soft City (Sim, 2019) that is based on the idea that from the union of density and diversity a more liveable and healthier city can be obtained, as proximity of an environment can be translated into time; the Health-Liveable city (Sepe, 2022b) is a city in which public spaces are considered the main places to enhance and health and liveability issues the first factors to improve; and the smart city (Karvonen et Al., 2019) in which the whole range of technologies are at the service of the place both to improve its liveability and health and ensure its sustainability.

Starting from these premises, this study, carried in the framework of the Prin 2020 - Research Projects of National Relevance titled “Sustainable modelling of materials, structures and urban spaces including economic-legal implications” – ISMed-CNR Unit with the author’s responsibility, is aimed at illustrating: a new method of analysis and design of public spaces, the original Healthy Place Design – within the Health-Liveable city approach - (Sepe, 2022b) and an emblematic case study, characterized by both flexibility and accessibility at different level. Conclusion concerning both critical and positive issues of the case study will complete the paper.