Participatory Mapping of Citizens’ Experiences at Public Open Spaces: A Case Study at Bologna Living Lab

In recent years public open spaces (POS) are considered as potential settings for urban regeneration strategies. A POS is successful when it is incorporated into the activities of the citizens, is accessible to people from different social and economic backgrounds, suitable for recreation and also supports people’s security and comfort (Eyles, 2007). Thus, planning process should include citizens’ experiences, opinions and needs. The aim of this paper is to gain insights on the citizens’ experiences and opinions during their presence in POSs by using global positioning systems (gps), geotagging techniques and participatory approaches, while experimenting in the living lab of Bologna established within the framework of the European Union Horizon 2020 project “Regeneration and Optimisation of Cultural heritage in creative and Knowledge cities” (ROCK). For that purpose, a participatory data collection was conducted in Bologna, Italy. The participation of 42 residents was facilitated via Bologna Urban Living Lab (U-Lab). Via Zamboni, Via delle Belle Arti, Via S. Giacomo are the most visited routes in the area. In total 273 subjective experiences were registered, mainly at Via Zamboni, Piazza Verdi and Piazza Scaravilli. 75% of these experiences were associated with positive feelings while 25% were associated with negative. Respondents reported that problems/issues at POSs occurred mainly due to insufficient accessibility and neglect of POSs. U-Lab exploited the results of data collection and organised participatory meetings in order to co-create solutions to transform negatively experienced POSs into positively experienced ones. The paper concludes with the discussion of how this approach can be used as evidence-based design tool for regeneration of POSs.