Reactions from the residents

The Municipality of Bologna asked City Space Architecture to inform local residents – by sending an email to building administrators - about the contents of the cooperation agreement and to provide a summary of planned activities. At first, resident were worried, since they had misunderstood the intervention and feared that the garden could bring noise and unwanted persons in the neighbourhood, especially during the night. Yet many residents had already complained with the Municipality regarding the very poor maintenance and the state of abandonment and dirt conditions of the green spot. During the initial phase of implementation reactions of local residents were discordant, some were disappointed since they perceived the intervention as imposed by the Municipality, some others were very courios to know about the new configuration of the area. Surprisingly, some residents expressed complaints regarding the installation of the two benches. Subsequently, City Space Architecture started a discussion with residents, building managers and the municipality to clarify the placemaking action and the expected impact. Unfortunately, this also resulted in a delay in the implementation.

When the activities stopped because of the heavy rain, the level of expectation raised and local residents started to ask if the renovation was cancelled, since they started to appreciate the idea to have a nice garden in the area for their daily activities.

As we experienced with the parklet (for A Visionary Place), the local community needs time to understand and appreciate changes and innovation practices, especially in regard of the design of new public spaces. But the expectation is the expression of a desire of reclaiming the public realm, and reaffirm a sense of ownership and belonging.