City Space Architecture participated in the second edition of the Biennale Spazio Pubblico by curating the international session “Past Present and Future of Public Space,” held in Rome in 2013. This session was the opportunity to introduce City Space Architecture’s emerging research agenda on public space and to connect Italian debates with international scholars, practitioners and activists. Through this contribution, it helped frame public space as a multidisciplinary and globally relevant field of inquiry, in dialogue with the broader Biennale focus on “The City We Want” and on public space as a driver of urban renewal, social inclusion and citizen participation.

At the Biennale, City Space Architecture launched the special issue of the open-access e-journal “IN_BO. Ricerche e progetti per il territorio, la città e l’architettura”, entitled The Public Space of Education, edited by Luisa Bravo and Claudio Sgarbi. Some of the contents of the issue were exhibited at the Biennale, including the results of a joint internship programme of the University of Bologna and the University of Florence with City Space Architecture on “Upgrading Bologna“.
During the Roman session, a call for proposals was launched in order to invite scholars, architects, urban designers, planners, photographers and artists to join the project and attend the first Past Present and Future of Public Space international conference to be held in 2014 in Bologna.

Scientific Coordinator: Luisa Bravo, City Space Architecture, Italy
Moderator: Claudio Sgarbi, Carleton University, Canada

Invited speakers:
Nilly R. Harag, Talia Trainin, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Israel
Maria Hadjisoteriou, Angela Petrou, University of Nicosia, Cyprus
Rania Sassine, Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts, Lebanon
Mirko Guaralda, Queensland University of Technology, Australia (online)
Hendrik Tieben, Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
Simone Garagnani, University of Bologna, Italy
Francesco Siravo, Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Switzerland