This is a happening that I designed and curated with Asia Neri at the Street Level Gallery  for the final event of Urbanscapes in Florence. The event was composed of four elements: a survey titled Public Space!?, four short talks by urban practitioners, an exhibition of provocative architectural collages by Casabelva, and an interactive inflatable installation.

The main focus of the event was the completion of the survey Spazio pubblico!?, a contemporary version of the Questionario di Prossemica Territoriale written by UFO and published by Umberto Eco in From the periphery of the empire. According to Eco, the survey can become a work of non-literature and, at the same time, an open work. During the event, participants were divided into small groups to debate individual questions, and at the end all participants were involved in a collective discussion about the most controversial issues. The final debate transformed the gallery into a public space, where participants confronted each other on fundamental questions related to their daily lives in Florence. The survey is in fact site-specific and changes according to different contexts.

The survey sessions were interrupted by short presentations by four urban practitioners: Titti Maschietto and Patrizia Cammeo recounted the subversive activities of UFO in 1968; Olivia Gori presented the public space projects of Ecòl; and Jacopo Ammendola analysed public space regulations in Florence. For the event, I wrote Gated Urbanism Everything you wish you knew about urbanism* (*and have never been told).

At the end of the event, two Urboeffimeri were inflated to bring all participants into the street, where they could play spontaneously and collectively in public space.

Ph: Luca Graziani