Bisogni e opportunità in tempi di pandemia a fronte del partenariato pubblico-privato: il caso della Fiera del Mediterraneo a Palermo

The Fair of the Mediterranean in Palermo has been an unresolved urban issue since the interruption of activities in 2008 and the closure of the Fair Authority. The Lisca Bianca association - to which the municipal administration has entrusted one of the pavilions - began to question, together with other territorial actors present in the Fair and in the 8th Circoscrizione, the management and future of the space, promoting, with the collaboration of the university, the first phase of a participatory process to imagine its redevelopment. The quarantine interrupted the work, which did not go beyond the first meeting (during which a World Café and Planning for Real were held). The needs expressed, the possible prospects identified and the area's potential, today, with the questioning of traditional socio-spatial organisation models due to the pandemic crisis, emerge even stronger and demand answers. The need for a general and rapid rethinking of spaces in relation to their functions, within the fair trade structure, puts the models and instruments of intervention used to date (or unused) into crisis today more than yesterday. Starting from the information gathered, a reflection is developed on the public-private social partnership in the management, regeneration, and re-functionalisation of space and heritage, analysing the tools available for participatory redevelopment.