Welfare Space. On the role of Welfare State Policies in the Construction of the Contemporary City

This book deals with the relationship between welfare policies and cities, the ways in which the complex set of actions designed to ensure greater well-being to different populations will help to build the city, depositing there facilities and spaces and, conversely, how the city and its various spatial articulations contribute (or fail to contribute) to the well-being of its inhabitants. The reflections offered here are the result of research carried out in recent years, mainly through continuous experimentation with the city: through an analysis of its spaces, the development of projects and a deconstruction of its policies. The book consists of two parts. In the first we attempt to define the concept of “welfare space”, discussing the current state of the concept and its use within a new urban planning strategy. In the second instead, considering the central area of Veneto (comprising Venice, Padova, Treviso and the areas between) as a laboratory and assuming the exploratory nature of the project, we analyze the spatial results of the welfare policies that have been enacted here and at the same time, we develop some projects that, starting from the welfare spaces, try to re-imagine the contemporary city in greater totality, defining the conditions for new life cycles for the contemporary territory.