Communicating the Contemporary City. Practices and Experiences in a Participatory Perspective

Architecture centres, networks of urban laboratories, architecture festivals, conferences, workshops, performances, urban trekking and guided tours, interactive exhibitions, and various types of educational activities are increasingly confirmed as enabling tools for knowledge, dialogue and discussion on urban issues, aimed at making the experience of architecture more democratic and inclusive, and at addressing the city as an open and creative space for exchange, invention and innovation. The paper, through a critical review of practices, experiences and experiments based on participation and designed for a wide audience (not only professionals), opens the reflection on the potential of these initiatives in encouraging citizens and local communities’ engagement on such matters, enhance their interest and awareness, and in communicating the role of architecture for the civil, cultural, environmental, social and economic progress of contemporary cities.