Riabitare il mondo in comune: rigenerazione urbana tra corpo, cura e istituzione

Abstract

This paper explores the role of urban regeneration as a generative process that intertwines space, subjectivity, and institutions. Focusing on two experiences in Rome—Corviale and Vigne Nuove—the study provides a critical interpretation of urban transformation, using co-production, conflict, and care as operative categories. Through an action-research methodology—based on territorial immersion, co-design, and narrative devices (documentary films, mapping, storytelling)—these case studies highlight the relevance of the relationship between body and public space, mental health and urban belonging. In particular, the We-Z project introduces the concept of the Healing Community as a light institutional and social infrastructure capable of fostering recognition, collective learning, and transformation. The analysis is grounded in a theoretical framework that brings together the thought of Roberto Esposito (Esposito, R. 2021), Nancy Fraser (Fraser, N., & Honneth, A. 2003; Frase, N. 2009) and Arendt (Arendt, H. 2006) and Pulcini’s reflections on the “common world” (Pulcini, E. 2009). These practices demonstrate how urban regeneration can become a tool for spatial justice and the production of meaning, provided it is based on situated, relational, and reflexive processes.