Streets become a magic board inviting the community to share its hopes and dreams: this is the concept of “Posto giusto per”- which, in Italian, means “The right place to” – the project of urban regeneration born from the collaboration between Graphic Days® and the Municipality of Settimo Torinese, a town in the province of Turin, Italy.
The recent extension of the pedestrian area of the city became the perfect opportunity to make an intervention of Tactical Urbanism, a term that was popularized around 2010 to refer to low-cost, temporary changes to the existing environment, intended to improve local neighbourhoods and public places. In this case, the project has been designed to involve the citizens through a colored and interactive path that promotes an exchange among the members of the local community.
The visual identity is designed by the team of Graphic Days®, the international project born in Italy (Turin) in 2016 to enhance the cultural value of visual communication inspiring people who work with creativity. The team was lead by Fabio Guida and Ilaria Reposo – founders of Print Club Torino and Graphic Days® – and supported by a group of students coming from the Politecnico of Turin. The project developed in four directions: horizontal communication represented by the intervention on the pavement, vertical communication made by posters and signage, social media communication strategy, and marketing communication made of flyers and merchandising.
This project represents an intervention of urban engagement that uses calls to action and emotional claims to involve the local community to find a new way of living the public area. It also invites them to make a step forward to express what these places mean for them. “The right place to” eat an ice cream, play, read, take a break or even give a kiss. The naming invites locals to actively participate in co-designing the future of Settimo Torinese and to share ideas for new possible uses and new functions of the street. Feedback is collected via social media channels of the initiative, where everyone is free to tell their version of the changes yet to come.
Various calls to action spread across the streets aim at attracting pedestrians attention and involve them in simple activities that can be easily shared with others. The visual identity is designed to be captured and shared on social media, to create an open dialogue with the local administration.
Existing supports, previously dedicated to road signage, are transformed into communication base for the project promotion and further engagement with urban space. Street games take an important part in the graphic asphalt intervention. They are mostly dedicated to younger audience that can compete in collaborative contests and enjoy playing outside.
Each communication medium speaks the language of “Posto giusto per”. One can easily feel the concept by browsing posts of the project on social media, looking through printed materials, shirts, and even shopping bags. Quotes, calls to action and messages talk with a reader in a friendly and understandable way. The continuous dialogue between on-site interventions and social networks represents a fundamental asset of the project that never stops transmitting information and collecting feedback from public.
We are proud of this collaboration – says the Architect Fabio Guida, Artistic Director of Graphic Days®. We have recently presented Graphic Days® Design Lab: a permanent research and experimentation laboratory that aims at cooperating with cultural entities to design projects with a strong social impact. The collaboration with the local administration is a wonderful example of co- design in the local community that can be implemented in many other cities in Italy and abroad. It also represents the opportunity to use Design Thinking tools to improve citizens life.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Graphic Days® is a international project promoted by Print Club Torino (Italy), dealing with visual communication and representing both a permanent watchtower on visual design and an annual widespread festival which involves the most relevant artists and professionals from all over the world. From October,1 to 11 2020 the fifth edition, named “Transitions”, is going to take place in Torino (Italy), presenting a special programme of activities. Talks, workshops, live performances and a wide exhibition area are the main ingredients of the event.
