Il progetto incrementale e collaborativo come strumento di riequilibrio territoriale

From the financial crisis in 2008, different critical spatial issues have come to light in our cities such as the growing gap, even within the same town, between "central" and "peripheral" neighborhoods in terms of public services, employment opportunities, quality and care of urban space. In addition to that point, the multiplication of disused buildings, has generated a deep debate on the efficiency of traditional tools in urban design with particular regard to the objectives of urban regeneration policies. In the frame of a contracted spending capacity of many public institutions, a possible approach to achieve the above issues might be found in the recent experiences of public spaces ‘activation’ through a temporary reuse practice, which have been tested by some local authorities in Italy. These are "light" spatial actions, concerning both residual and planned areas characterized by a high level of civic engagement in response to the concrete needs of local communities, often implemented - in many recent cases - in the framework of ‘commons goods’ regulations. Theoretically, this kind of urban welfare approach refers to the key concept of "collaborative city" and to the principles of "tactical Urbanism", recognized, in its various configurations, as one of the main reference paradigms in the debate on the contemporary city, which might be find in the many incremental practice of "urban acupuncture" and its application models in the most varied spatial contexts. Considering these mentioned references and their practical application, on Italian and European case studies, the paper will develop a general reflection on different ways of urban regeneration as a strategic tool to support rebalancing policies between different neighborhoods in our cities through the systematization of micro projects of tactical Urbanism developed by the collaboration between public institutions and active citizens.