Anna Turco
Scholar
I am a PhD student in Design at La Sapienza University of Rome. I deal with environmental graphics and in particular with placemaking applied to the concept of regeneration of public spaces.
Location: Rome, Italy
Short description:
I have a degree in Design, Visual and Multimedia Communication. I am a PhD student at Sapienza University of Rome. I deal with Design at 360°, but in particular I like working in placemaking.
View from your window: Buildings, traffic.
What's your contribution?: The term regeneration, although historically coming from disciplines such as architecture, engineering and urban planning, can be read within the scientific debate on Visual Communication Design, specifically focusing on Environmental Graphic Design (Calori, Vanden Eynden, 2015). This approach represents a possible - and effective - strategy for the regeneration of public space capable of designating an “urban scenario” (Fagnoni 2011) that comes from the relationship between the environment and its observer (Caldarone, 2019). A “design-driven” regeneration can lead to the definition of interpretative models of intervention - generative, responsive and autonomous from public or private initiatives - based on the specific dimensions - cultural, social, economic and historical - of the territory. The latter represents the space of the narration, and the places on the borders with multiple forms of weakness - overlapping and intertwined socio-demographic and economic - reveal how in the projects conveyed by the languages of Visual Communication, there is the possibility of activating forms of adaptation and revitalisation of places (Mattioli, Setti, 2020). In this sense, we refer to the strategic role of Environmental Graphic Design as an attractor of a place, proposing new ways of using public space, reshaping the perception of the territory through a “strategic plan” of multidisciplinary transformation (Carrà, 2014). Therefore, within a “personal” dimension (Sommer, 1959) emerges the need for a “form of spatial appropriation” (Leveratto, 2015) that the individual can put into practice by taking care of a place. If on the one hand, this approach has moved in the absence of particular theoretical reflections (Frascara, 2006) that have investigated the impact that those processes produce on the entire urban system, on the other hand, it is evident how some specific practices of Communication Design applied to the urban environment and through people-centred research methods (Rizzo, 2009) can provide a new meaning of the term regeneration. Starting from these premises, the contribution intends to reflect on the relationship between Visual Communication Design practices applied to the urban environment for regeneration purposes, redefining the stereotyped and limiting vision of the term in consideration.
What brings you here?: New Ideas. Look at my portfolio.
What's the most important?: Placemaking