Le percezioni degli abitanti nella rappresentazione dei luoghi di un quartiere di Bergamo

This contribution intends to present the research methodology developed to investigate the quality of living, focusing on the neighborhood scale of a medium-sized Italian city, specifically the city of Bergamo. The methodological approach employed is based on the use of cartography as a complex communicative system, allowing an “a priori” evaluation of socio-territorial data that was acquired from sources such as historical cartography and statistical data. This collection of information was subsequently subjected to an “a posteriori” analysis methodology. Once the neighborhood selected for the survey had been identified, a targeted consultation of the neighborhood’s resident resource persons was undertaken. The aim of this phase was to highlight the peculiarities of places associated with feelings of affinity with places (topophilia) or aversion (topophobia). In other words, an attempt was made to identify the areas that contribute positively to the enhancement of the neighborhood and, conversely, those that are critical in social and community terms. A narrative of these places was proposed by the cartographic representation, the words of the inhabitants and photographs taken during the surveys in order to bring out the social sense of the neighborhood’s places. Mapping is a tool for enhancing the tangible and intangible heritage of the territory and a precondition for a process of governance.