Spazi pubblici tra bisogno di sicurezza e privatizzazione: una ricerca sulle città italiane

This paper tackles some urban changes, starting from the contradictions inherent in the concept of public space, both at a theoretical and at a empirical level. In particular, the paper reports on some results from a national survey in Italian cities within the years 2011-2013, limited to the relationship between safety and privatization. A major finding from the research is that the nature of public space is not given once and for all, but it should be checked from time to time, in terms of accessibility, social mix and freedom of expression. A second element is that public space is no longer considered an exclusively publicly owned space accessible to all, or as an open space where, in theory, everyone has freedom of expression. Public space has lost the value of the place where community's civic culture is created, although it still reflects urban society, mirroring conflicting interests and individual, less shared values. A third element regards the fact that what many scholars have argued for urban experiences, primarily in North America, is relevant also for Italian cities, namely that public spaces are hybrid spaces that lie along a private-public/controlled-free continuum. Hybrid spaces that people use in an undifferentiated way, until they perceive signs of disorder and explicit exclusions. This hybridization is exemplar of the changes taking place in the Italian cities that, despite their public tradition, are increasingly oriented towards privatization processes, which at the moment appear mostly as a sign of vitality.