WHAT IS THE COLLETTIVO URBANO AND WHAT IS ITS MISSION?

The Collettivo Urbano is a group of four young professionals —Georgina Cavalli, Alex Furgiuele, Jordan Kouto and me—, respectively an architect, graphic designer, construction technician, and spatial planner, with a shared passion for urbanism and public spaces regeneration.

Our mission is to act in public spaces with the intention of enhancing and valorizing the existing urban voids that are unused or underused, for the benefits of the citizens. Our actions address primarily the people that live in the city, providing them with spaces for aggregation and recreation, with the goal of addressing their needs and preferences. We achieve this through initiatives of tactical urbanism, meant as a design method complementary to the development policies and plans. This approach gives us the possibility to test solutions that are low-cost, temporary, creative and impactful, and where citizens are involved.

HOW DID SPAZIAMO EMERGE?

SPAZIAMO emerged as a proactive solution for Largo Zorzi, where a long-term redevelopment plan named the Nouvelle Belle Époque is set to be implemented in five years. Rather than leaving the space unused during this period, we decided to create a project to occupy, activate, and give the space back to the people. The street was merely a space for movement, where citizens crossed on sidewalks, rather than a place for public gathering and social interactions.

Our goal was therefore to fill the void and accompany the more permanent, long-term changes that will come with the Nouvelle Belle Époque. The message I wanted to convey is that we shouldn’t wait many years if we can act in the short term and test the ground. This approach is beneficial because, through SPAZIAMO, we allow people to get used to and rediscover the idea of public space. Considering these benefits, the municipality of Locarno approved the project and gave us full support, resulting in a key collaboration and in the development of SPAZIAMO.

HOW IS SPAZIAMO DEVELOPING IN LOCARNO?

SPAZIAMO is a three-year project that began in November 2023 and has been developing gradually through different stages.

The first phase focused on painting the road surface, aiming to change people’s perception of the space, make them aware of its existence, and invite them to stop and engage. The choice of colors was intentional, but the theme chosen for the painting —digital clouds, as we decided to call them— was even more significant. These “clouds” symbolize the containers of our digital messages and represent communication in our digital era. So, we took this symbol to say that we no longer want people to communicate exclusively via digital means but also face-to-face, within public spaces.

And painting the clouds on something tangible and highly trafficked meant, symbolically, to bring back the conversations and the exchanges to a space that belongs to everybody.

Once the painting of the street was concluded, the second phase began with the installation of multifunctional structures, to encourage people to stop, rediscover and interact with each other and the space in Largo Zorzi.

An exhibition space was created, complete with benches meant to provide additional seating available, and to encourage people to stop, sit on and use the space, even if in a more passive way. This installation place serves then a dual purpose: offering seating and creating a structure for small exhibitions, which display ongoing urban projects and inform about current initiatives. Additionally, a bowls court for pétanque was installed, and while it might seem a trivial idea, it is actually something that unites people of all ages, and it has had an immediate positive effect. The final addition is a basketball court with three baskets of different heights, to accommodate all players of all ages and skill levels.

All these structures were designed and built in collaboration with local artisans, using low-cost construction materials that are easily reusable, which, despite their simplicity, have a strong visual impact. This approach not only keeps costs down but also emphasizes the temporary, creative and experimental nature of tactical urbanism. The approach was also intended to convince the municipality that such initiatives are feasible since they can be easily assembled and dismantled, according to people’s preferences, and also relocated to other public spaces in the city, to ensure continuity to the project. We are continually evaluating whether the structures attract and engage people, and are always ready to adapt and change as needed.