Participatory Design for the enhancement of cultural heritage and urban public spaces

The article addresses the value of participatory design as a methodology to be applied in the enhancement of a territory's cultural heritage and its urban public spaces. The goal is to preserve and promote territorial identity, transforming public spaces into inclusive and vibrant community places that stimulate social interaction. Urban public space has a significant impact on people's quality of life, contributing to the formation of a community, the dissemination of culture and civic identity. Therefore, through participatory design, the community can closely collaborate with the design team to develop site-specific solutions that respect the characteristics and needs of the local community. Co-design processes foster mutual learning: the community shares its knowledge and experience, allowing the designers to fully immerse themselves in the territory and its peculiarities. Concurrently, designers contribute to increasing the community's awareness of the value of its cultural heritage and community places. In fact, the community does not always recognise these values, which often remain undervalued and underused. For this reason, participatory design aims to overcome this challenge by involving the community in the design process. The article examines two case studies - Restanza Workshop and RAISE innovation ecosystem - to further explore the role of participatory design between the past and the future and demonstrate how important it is today to generate new processes of territorial and cultural rediscovery and valorization.