Attori e processi per una nuova idea di spazio urbano. Due casi in Piemonte.

Urban space and public space are far beyond to be just spatial categories. They are the expression of societies where their sets of values are displayed. Urban design participatory processes shouldn’t be taken as the expression of a professional abdication, but in the perspective where citizens are owners and users of public areas. Beside, administrators represent groups of citizens but hardly can convey the detailed level of knowledge about history, dynamics and issues of a place. Hence citizens are the embedded intelligence of an urban realm. This paper outlines the experience of a research group at Politecnico di Torino engaged on participatory urban design and planning processes in the last years, where research, pedagogy and profession have been intertwined involving all the relevant players for a successful urban regeneration. The paper opens framing the rationale and the set of values considered and then outlines two cases of action based research held in two towns in Piemonte.