Micro spaces of proximity. A reading of historical centre of Florence between academic research and social participation.

The spread of the COVID-19 virus has clearly demonstrated how the transformation of historical cities into assets for the exclusive consumption of tourism has been a disastrous political choice, in both economic and social terms. In Italy, the public administrations of art cities have consolidated town planning and social policies aimed at gradually encouraging residents to move way in order to accommodate the tourists. In the historical centre of Florence prestigious building complexes with their gardens, courtyards and loggias have been sold and transformed into accommodation; other times, spaces that have been open to the public for centuries have been unduly taken away from citizens and silently turned over for private use by restaurants, shops and hotels. In particular, the privatisation of open spaces, whose importance for the physical, psychological and social well-being of people became clear during the most difficult periods of the epidemic, has highlighted the role that these places could play as part of an overall rethinking of living that takes into account the complex social changes occurring in our cities, including those triggered by the current pandemic. The research proposed, which is currently underway, starts with these critical assumptions and includes an interdisciplinary reading of the historical centre of Florence in which the perspective of the landscape and the lens of the in-between realms overlap. It aims to identify a possible network of ‘micro spaces of proximity’ that are open, immersed in greenery, widespread and safe from a health perspective, through which to renew the residents’ sense of belonging to the places and improve the quality of life of citizens in an inclusive vision that welcomes differences and minorities. The historical centre of Florence, a UNESCO heritage site, is in fact a fascinating interlocking of open and built-up spaces that reflects the sedimentation of time. In particular, the system of open spaces is highly varied and, between nature and artifice, monumentality and everyday life, defines the historically ‘bifacial’ character of the city. Their potential as activators and condensers of inclusive social practices emerges in particular from the analysis of two case studies deemed paradigmatic: the Giardino di Palazzo Santarelli and the Giardino di Borgo Allegri. Over the last twenty years, through the active participation of the inhabitants organised into associations, these two spaces have become places of social solidarity. In particular, the analysis examined the existence of a possible link between the form of the urban space and social practices. This revealed a close relationship between the activation of spontaneous practices of social inclusion and the morphology of the urban space that accommodates them.