La città del tempo libero. Metamorfosi dello spazio pubblico contemporaneo

The city of leisure time is an unprecedented city, which produces wealth and as much risk; a city that is being built overlapping the previous one, occupying areas, abandoned buildings, monuments and landscapes hinging on a need that is increasingly emerging in individuals: that of being able to enjoy a personal time. The city of leisure time is a very vast and changing global phenomenon which, as is known, since the 1950s, has concerned the impact caused by tourism on coastal areas and historic villages. From the eighties onwards, this phenomenon has spread to the cities, helping to change the economy and the identity of the old neighborhoods. The transformations achieved, on the one hand, have freed the urban space for new uses and made historic centers, factories and former industrial areas attractive again; on the other hand, the public space of several cities has become the scene of a violent revolution that has forced local merchants to close their shops and clean up historic centers in favor of cultural, global and hegemonic brands. However, today, starting from the widespread interest of citizens to consider free time not only the time of holidays but an opportunity to achieve personal improvement on a daily basis, interesting projects related to sporting practice that contribute to the regeneration of places of decay are starting to spread. and insecurity. It has also been seen that the terms on which the development of the city of leisure is based coincides positively with the current need to activate urban welfare processes. The aim of this paper is therefore to propose a reflection on the processes through which architecture proves to be able to adapt to the changes taking place, and above all, to define the tools suitable for giving birth to those embryos of culture capable of attributing to those who design a new responsibility within the urban problems of our time.