Costruire un’infrastruttura di cura. Il ruolo del progetto nel ripensare pratiche di comunità e spazi collettivi: il caso del Collectif Etc.

Abstract

This paper is part of a broader debate on the role of urban and architectural project within the growing attention towards processes of spatial regeneration in marginal areas, which places practices of care and spatial re-signification at the center as an element of collective action outside of neoliberal dictates. Starting from the empirical observation of the 'failed' project La Places des Possibles, in France - with the Collectif Etc¹ involved, intertwining design experience and the redefinition of a collective identity - it is possible to deduce some more general elements of reflection regarding the role of the designer and of the space within the commoning processes. How is design practice redefined within actions that focus on a different way of doing things, different from the productivist model where urban design has been placed in recent decades? What is the role of space as a medium of negotiation within a collective process that evolves with slow and uncertain times and modes?