ANDREA TOMASINO

The project aims to create a precise identity for the Piazza del Popolo, welcoming new compositional and functions that allow defining an innovative image that responds to the needs of the contemporary public space. The new urban design reevaluates the existing spaces in favor of a unified layout both physically and perceptually. The new square can become a virtuous example for the city's urban space design and human-scale livability, fitting into an urban context in which to become an important connecting node and new centrality.

The project is presented as a strategic proposal that returns the first phase of a transformation process that will allow for the envisioning of a square capable of reducing and eventually eliminating the presence of cars. Next to the viability aspect, the new urban design thus focuses on the addition of large areas to be used as meadows and rain gardens. This is intended to activate new behaviors of participation and care towards the city, defining proximity spaces that are not marginal but structural for an idea of urban landscape that welcomes nature.

The project focuses attention on various attracting devices, both material and immaterial. This translates into the design of the seating elements, both movable and fixed, which create multiple situations in which it is possible to recognize places for people to stop and relate to each other, as well as to constantly relate to the surrounding space. The other important device that enriches the space with different possible uses and strongly characterizes the image of the square is the new canopy. It is a light and suspended architecture, which builds a specific ambit of the public space sheltered both for part of the market in the moments of setting up and for free citizens use.