Vol. 4 No. 1 (2013): THE PUBLIC SPACE OF EDUCATION, special issue

The word “public” and the word “education” share a common sense. Usually an educate person knows how to behave in public.
The title of this special issue of IN­_BO. Ricerche e progetti per il territorio, la città e l'architettura is pretentious but its contents are simply honest. They demonstrate different attempts made by very different scholars and students to fathom the territory of public space from different directions.This selection is not casual but it was not planned in advance. It is an encompassing meeting of complementary differences. We believe that the idea of persona, the duration of memory, the fragmentation of form, the experience of the senses, the notion of community, the plurality of identities and the image of the body, constitute a basic set of notions in the maieutic education of the public space.

This special issue of IN­_BO. Ricerche e progetti per il territorio, la città e l'architettura explores possible, critical paths and approaches for understanding and designing public spaces, presenting and discussing projects developed in academic courses, in Italy (University of Florence), Israel (Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design), Canada (Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism), USA (University of California, Berkeley), Australia (Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane), China (The Chinese University of Hong Kong). These scholars joined, at the end of 2012, to the “Past present and future of public space” international project, developed at the University of Bologna, with the support of the “City Space Architecture” cultural association. The project aims to discuss the complex issue of public space through time, trying to find a new innovative approach in city understanding, in a multidisciplinary field of action, from morphological design derived from the tradition to emerging trends of the contemporary dimension.
First results of project activities will be presented, exhibited and discussed at the “Biennale dello spazio pubblico” national conference, promoted by the Italian National Institute of Urban Planners (INU), to be held in Rome, Italy, on May 18th at the Faculty of Architecture Roma TRE. The project will be developed throughout 2013. A call for papers will be launched at the Biennale session, through the web site of City Space Architecture (www.cityspacearchitecture.org) inviting scholars, architects, public administrators, artists and designers to contribute with their ideas and proposals in the pursuit of this challenging task. A final event is expected to take place on June/July 2014.  
With our work we hope to give a meaningful and valuable response.

Special issue edited by Luisa Bravo and Claudio Sgarbi