Experimental urban analysis and participatory mapping
Location: Rome and metropolitan area, Italy.
Stakeholders: Università degli Studi Roma Tre.
Site: urban and rural areas.
The “ Oltrecittà” (“Besides the city” in English) is a broad concept, where the spatial contiguity loses reason and the sense of belonging is no longer necessarily linked to the neighborhood. A concept that question how to approach an unknown emerging reality and how to map it. This indefinite situation undermines the classical investigation tools.
The aim of the study is identify a possible field of research meanwhile it happens the discovering of the urban and not-urban reality. The “Oltrecittà” is drawn crossing it, designing layouts and stories, trying to grasp the emerging traits. Therefore, the “Oltrecittà” requires a joint action of exploration / invention that can strongly influence the understanding and the drawing.
Giorgio De Finis by Pandora Tv
The first attempt to create an image of the “Oltrecittà” was made with the project “Campagna Romana” (Roman countryside) in 2006: a crossover along eight paths, one hour far by public transport from the main stations of Rome and five days’ journey by foot. Each group of investigation was led by a planner / shepherd, a photographer and a writer along the ancient Roman consular roads to identify the boarder of the city and the contaminations between urban and rural. The second attempt was started in 2009 with the collective experience of “PrimaveraRomana- GRA” (Roman spring) crossing the territories in transformation of the metropolitan area.
These places full of citizenship practices were an opportunity to meet residents community groups, trusts, farmers and shepherds, foreign communities, artists, artisans and many others people… examples of spontaneous realities. The “Oltrecittà” experience to discover, share and invent a different concept of city in an attempt to draw up another way of mapping.
Research team: (On Stalker) Margherita Galante, Lorenzo Romito, Giulia Fiocca,Aria, Francesco Rieti, Francesca Martellini, & many more.
Tutor: Francesco Careri