Placemaking for Civic Imagination in Sicily
Reflections by PUSH from our placemaking work in Sicily in 2023
Placemaking a foreign term for a locally rooted practice
When in June 2023 we organized a first meeting on Placemaking, bringing the international experience of the colleagues from Placemaking Europe, we encountered a set of different emotions around the room — interest, skepticism, surprise and a burning question: what do we mean with placemaking and how would be called in Italian?
As we delved into the discussion, spotlighting case studies and insights from our Sicilian counterparts immersed in various facets of Palermo, it became evident that placemaking, in practice, is anything but unfamiliar. Its roots run deep within the initiatives undertaken by associations and NGOs, catalyzing the enhancement and transformation of pockets within the city to foster social cohesion and a profound sense of belonging.
Within a context where public funds fall short of meeting community needs, cultural and social associations, alongside NGOs, step in to offer tangible solutions in often-overlooked neighborhoods and peripheral areas. These grassroots, bottom-up initiatives assume diverse meanings and forms, cultivating a heightened sense of community and belonging among residents. This collective spirit manifests itself in the transformation of spaces, breathing new life into the urban landscape.
Placemaking in Palermo
Placemaking in the region starts from the community’s desire to engage in something different from what is institutionally or privately available; It often stems out from the need for inclusivity and accessibility in the public arena and from the desire to be actively involved in the future development of the city. It’s a response to the need for care and beauty in the city and collects around the concept of co-creation and ‘Do it yourself”.
Local organizations, particularly those engaged in informal education, inclusivity, community development, and social innovation, stand at the forefront of addressing these emerging needs. Through collaborative efforts with the community, they become conduits for the realization of placemaking initiatives.
The PLACE project has successfully brought together various associations operating in this domain, fostering a meaningful exchange that delves into the existing practices, their limitations, and potential avenues for development within the city. During the learning exchange, representatives from seven distinct realities in Palermo presented their innovative projects that illustrate placemaking in action:
EPYC — European Palermo Youth Centre
EPYC stands as a collaborative design space, providing a platform for individuals to convene and collectively instigate transformative social change and innovation.
Laboratorio Zen Insieme
Established in 1988, Laboratorio Zen Insieme is a dedicated association focused on participatory regeneration within Palermo’s ZEN area. Their mission is to eliminate the root causes of discomfort, raise awareness about individual rights as a means of empowerment, and combat the origins of deviance, rescuing young individuals from criminal involvement. The participatory regeneration of spaces serves as a crucial element in their pursuit of social redemption.
Orto Capovolto
Functioning as an association, Orto Capovolto utilizes Urban AgriCulture as a tool for environmental and food education, contributing to the regeneration of both communities and spaces.
Traiettorie Urbane
Traiettorie Urbane is an integrated project dedicated to promoting the social and educational well-being of individuals aged 11 to 17. Emphasizing co-created street art activities, inclusive play in urban settings, and urban exploration, the project serves as a means to discover and comprehend city spaces.
Sperone 167
Sperone 167 focuses on nurturing communities through public art with the objective of alleviating cultural poverty in the neighborhood. Their efforts are geared towards enhancing the cultural fabric of the community.
Palermo Festival
A relatively new association, Palermo Festival strives to establish cultural festivals as pivotal meeting points for the community, fostering a collective aspiration to enhance the current state of the city through cultural engagement.
Tu Sei La Città
Tu Sei La Città engages in various processes of urban regeneration for public spaces, placing a strong emphasis on citizen participation and co-design. Their work seeks to facilitate dialogue between political decision-makers and citizens, always with a focus on understanding and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable users in the community.
These organizations successfully initiated an active listening exercise within the community, enabling them to identify priorities and cultivate various facets of collective visions. Through a placemaking process, opportunities for collective action and cooperation were created.
From the insights gathered, placemaking emerged as a tool to achieve social cohesion and nurture a sense of belonging within communities. While the physical transformation of spaces is a positive outcome of this virtuous process, it is seldom the ultimate objective; rather, placemaking serves as a means to a broader and more encompassing goal.
Placemaking in Sicily
The insights gained from the exchange in Palermo significantly influenced the approach adopted in Mazzarino (Caltanissetta) and Petralia Sottana (Palermo). Introducing the concept of placemaking in these areas necessitated a shift in perspective, anchoring activities to ongoing processes.
In Mazzarino, as part of the Countless Cities biennale opening, PUSH and FARM Cultural Park collaborated to organize a Placemaking Café in the town’s main square. The local population was invited to participate in an urban game designed to assess the current situation and envision an ideal transformation of the public space. Concurrently, the Municipality initiated an architecture competition for the square’s renovation, with the Placemaking Café serving as a platform to convey the community’s needs and desires to the winning team.
Establishing a collaboration with a local café, we created a space in the square where people could gather around a table to evaluate the square’s current state in terms of urban furnishings, activities, social engagement, and functionality. The informal discussions uncovered important topics and unveiled entrenched customs and habits. A subsequent exercise focused on envisioning the square’s future, allowing participants to express their needs for play areas, protected sidewalks, and the revitalization of commercial activities.
In this instance, placemaking played a pivotal role in listening to and validating the community’s needs and desires during the institutional transformation of the square.
In Petralia Sottana, a placemaking event has been organized during the Urban Thinkers Campus “Communities’ Sustainable eXperiences” in the framework of the Madonie Living Lab.
The activities focused on the co-creation process of activities and spaces inside the recently opened Madonie Living Lab. Imagined as a creative hub that offers physical spaces, technologies, knowledge and skills to attract young talents and valorize the territory, the Madonie Living Lab aims at collecting the inputs and desires of the youngsters living in the area. The co-creation activity gathered new knowledge on the participants’ needs and desiderata, putting them at the center of the renovation of the space.
The activity represents the first step of a longer process of co-creation activities that potentially will generate new spaces and a sense of belonging in the area.
In conclusion…
Placemaking in Sicily configures itself as a practice that starts from the needs expressed by people who wish to see a change in their communities and through different tools and practices contribute to the physical changes in the city space.
This is a process that requires additional support and can significantly thrive through collaboration with a broader community of placemakers dedicated to advancing the well-being of communities and underserved neighborhoods. Increased participation from municipalities, local stakeholders, and institutions has the potential to amplify the ripple effect of on-the-ground initiatives and enhance understanding of the territory’s needs.
Creating vibrant places necessitates robust backing from local authorities and increased recognition from institutions and community stakeholders. Such support has the potential to greatly amplify the impact of interventions. Looking ahead, the aim is to integrate Placemaking into mainstream municipal practices and work scopes, solidifying its purpose and garnering widespread support.
This work was led by PUSH and undertaken through the PLACE project, which is funded through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme of the European Union. Other PLACE project partners are Korimako, KLIK and Placemaking Europe.
The PLACE project is organised as part of the Placemaking for Civic Imagination programme under the Thriving Communities initiative — as we believe that placemaking is vital to the overall process of creating radical community change.
