DI MATILDE FERRERO – IRENE PINTO
ABSTRACT – Over the decades, the uneven development of urban centres and the peripheries has generated huge economic and social disparities that are shaping the structure of contemporary cities; simultaneously, public policies have contributed to confine peripheries and idealise the centres. This exclusive dimension of urban centres has been enhanced by the digital turn and, lately, by the pandemic crisis. In this context, the city of 15 minutes has become a slogan for post-Covid election campaigns, partly for convenience, partly for a real need for proximity. This reveals the urgency to rethink urban spaces reconsidering the city of 15 minutes as a springboard to the creation of a value hierarchy of urban practices. The latter would define the priorities linked to daily itineraries from a social, relational and proximity point of view. The legacy of the theory thus becomes the promotion of a model of relational proximity, which shifts the focus from forced proximity to the creation of solutions of continuity, real exchanges and a shared perception of collectivity. This model is supported by new technologies, but rooted in the creation of real, accessible and sustainable structures.
KEYWORDS – Urban centres – Peripheries – Contemporary city – Public policies – City of 15 minutes – Relational proximity