Significato e ruolo dello spazio pubblico

Public space is traditionally defined as the place for meetings and exchanges, commercial, cultural and relational exchanges. Squares are public spaces par excellence: for the functions they house, for the character of the paths that converge in them, for their conformation. What is public space today? There are many topics and many aspects to consider, and the discussion changes according to the way it is dealt with. After reviewing the most representative public spaces in a diachronic perspective, the essay focuses on the expression of public space in our time: a time when the virtual squares seem much more attractive than the real squares; where, however, one clearly perceives a hunger for places where people meet together and socialize in the real. We should not forget that, from the medieval square to the chameleonic spaces of the contemporary, men and women are always the center.