GROUP 08
Students: Ahsaas Tarwani Geronimo Felici Fioravanti Mariam Shaishmelashvil Elene Machaidze
Commented Walk Centrale to Porta Venezia
Intro
Centrale
1903
Starting point
Centrale
Present
Ending point
The commented walk exercise here is perceived by the team as an effort to understand the perception of social space by different users and the changes in behavioural patterns of the users as per varying times of the day which in turn supplement the social image of the space for other users. The commented walk route selected for this case study is the Arterial road connecting Centrale station to Porta Venezia though Repubblica. The selected route with Centrale area as one end of the journey and Porta Venezia at other, provides a diverse set of socio-spatial features. While the rear end of Centrale station has mostly residential use complemented with Social amenities like basketball courts, the piazza at the front hosts a variety of people and uses across the day, from passengers, commuters to skateboarders and street vendors. This complexity of piazza Duca d’Aosta is furthered by the varying Architectural character around the piazza, from heritage structures to modern sky scrapers, boutique hotels to vibrance of grocery stores. Via Repubblica presents us with green areas punctuated by a layer of luxury hotels around a huge roundabout, while Porta Venezia is known for mixed
uses ranging from residential, high- and low-end retail, offices to gay discotheques. The team adopted a bifold methodology of understanding the urbanity through the commented walk. First the team undertook the walk as interviewees (as users of space) while not being much aware of the journey and only noting the highlights of the experiences at the end of journey by recollection of memory. The second commented walk involved team as a set of observers, observing people’s behaviour and interviewing the various users of the selected public realm. The team also explored an alternate route for commented walk from Centrale to Porta Venezia in order to see the contrasts of urbanity on the arterial road, i.e. Centrale to Porta Venezia through Repubblica and compare it with the socio-cultural patterns inside the residential areas while walking through the shorter route of Centrale to porta Venezia through Via Nappo Torriani Interviews and documentation of the mental maps of users of the route were undertaken over a period of five days of the week with the variations of weekdays and weekends, different combinations of demographic and socio-cultural profiles of users and their usage patterns.
Methodology
Research on the commented walk route -Desk Research on ethnographic studies (understanding the role of observers and types of questions to be asked -Observer’s commented walks to comprehend the route and formulation of general questionnaire (contextualising the desk study)
Commented walk with Users -Commented walks with Interviewees (users) : creation of mental maps\ perception maps of Interviewees w.r.t their routes of commute\ transit vis a vis the path of selected commented walk.
Overlay and Analysis -Analysis of the spatial qualities of the commented walk route -Overlay of mental maps on the route of commented walks
Conclusion -Infereneces and Synthesis -Recommendations for ‘dark’ spaces
Mental Maps Break Bar
Kids Playing Basketball sk et ba ll
Home
Ba
Home
Home
Wo r
ki
ng
Best Cinese restaurant
Home
8-12 years. From italy, Malta, Egypt. -all speaking italian. Residents. -not much places to play thats why they meet there every Sunday. All live north part of Centrale and they like the neighborhood cause all of their friends live there. Pizza
Home
Ba
sk et ba ll
Job
Restaurants Bus90
Transgender
Street selling
Emptyness Homeless
She takes bus #90 every day to go to work, this area is very comfortable for her. She picks up newspaper in a small kiosk, her favorite restaurants are here too after passing basketball field she is already at her work place. Home
Newsstand
Newspaper seller 1 Newsstand
Tram 9
Hostel
64 years italian. Speaks bad english. Lives in Milan. Takes tram 9 every morning and then goes back by walking. She stays alone all day and meets many different kind of people meanwhile but she is not scared cause “ what should you want to do with the newspaper seller old woman? “. She likes the area though cause its old and historical.
Home
Passenger 2
Hotel
Guy 31 years old, work in a office in porta genova, italian, single, he live in via cardinale giovanni and was going to work taking the metro line 2. Every day he take this ways to go to the metro station in Centrale fs in the morning and in the evening the same way back. Never stop himself inbetween homes and metro. Sometimes when he needs, he stops in the carrefour. MC Donald’s
To
Du om
o
Studying in the park
Break Bar
ng
Passenger 1 (tourist)
Best Cinese restaurant
Wo r
ki
Break
She is from China, traveled in Italy for 2 months, this area is familiar for her. For the first time it was hard for her to orientate in this area but she loves this loud Italy with the mix of international “spice”. Italian coffee is her favorite, she was going to have a cup of espresso before her departure in a nearby coffee shop. She also recommend-
Bar
Wo r
ki
ng
Best Cinese restaurant
Bus tickets seller Pizza
Sex: Male Age bracket: 35 Profession: Bus service employee Social status: Local resident Intention of use of space: Job related Observer’s notes: Talks with half attention invested in checking out other commuters, while wishing a few of them on the way. Usage of spaces along the commented walk route: Uses the route to commute from the bus stop to the MM Pizza
Street Seller Street
selling Street selling
Home
Home
50 years Bangladesh man. walking to his “work” every morning from MM. Sells umbrellas when it rains. He prefers an office job cause its to cold putside on winter but he has no skills. His friends also work Emptyness here -points to the other seller. They are not competitors he says Homeless they sell different things. After work he usually goes with his friend to take a beer. Emptyness
Homeless
Home
Skater
Home
Hostel
He lives in nearby and loves skating, for him it is a place to have fun Piazza Duca d’Aosta is a meeting point, where he gathers with his friends. During daytime this area is very busy so he prefers to go at late evening, but on the other hand this is not best time as migrants are hanging out there too. so in general he stays there during daytime and in the evening her favorite place is ostello bellow where he meets people from all around the world.
Hostel
Newspaper seller Square Man, 48 years old italian, he live in via porpora more or less, he comes every morning at 6 by bike to open the shop and go back to home at 5 pm. He work there since the shops was put in the square. He said that he’s scared by the square in the last 10 years because is full of immigrants and often happen some fights between police and immigrants and he is exactly in the middle. Every morning he see people sleeping in the square or wake along the wall of Centrale. Hotel
ki Wo r
Break
Wo r
ki ng
Blank Buildings
Break
Wo ki rki ng ng
Break
Wo r
Pizza
Pizza
Office
Delivery Guy
Office
Blank Buildings Blank Buildings
He lives in Milan for almost 2 years, He works as delivery guy and enjoys life. He improves his Italian by daily conversations. After a short break, which he spent at “Central piazza” with his friends he is going towards republic to pick up food and deliver later on. He does not know where he will end later. Flower Burger
Home
Flower Burger
Pizza Pizza
Home
Emptyness Homeless Home Home
Flower Burger
Local Woman 1
Flower Burger
Emptyness Homeless
Emptyness Homeless Emptyness Homeless
Female 35 , south italy, she live in the via caminto renetto work in a shop close to square 5 giornate. She pass there every day taking the tram 9 going to work. The place seem to be always empty because the gpround florr are not use and there are a lot of homeless, im not scared but im asking always why this shops are close and unsed and so I don’t have reason to stop, I feel sorry for the homeless.
ostel
ostel
Police officer
ostel
ostel
Sex: Female Age bracket: 35 Profession: Police Officer Social status: Local Commuter, posted at local police station in the neighbourhood Intention of use of space: Official duty of patrolling Observer’s notes: Comfortable and confident body posture, talks elaborately with a a smiling face; doesn’t look around much for patrolling, generally patrols over the bicycle. She think that the square of centrale is a dangerous place actually. Usage of spaces along the commented walk route: On Official duty, roads and alleys MC Donald’s
MC Donald’s Studying in the park
Studying in the park
MC Donald’s MC Donald’s
Studying in the park Studying in the park
Mc Donald guy ( student) Student of south italy working in the MC studiyng in Statale, he come to work on Tuesday Wednesday morning and friday Saturday and Sunday evening. He is going to study after work in the park of Idro montanelli and he come every day working by bike. He see a lot of people every time that work there, mostly people in hurry in the morning taling coffe, there few people during lunch time. But I can heard a lot of traffic in the street, in the evening there are a lot of people dancing and listening music in the square.
Home
Home
Woman Heading for lunch
Office Blank Buildings Office Office
Blank Buildings
Blank Buildings
Flower Burger
Flower Flower Burger Burger
Sex: Female, Age bracket: 40, Profession: Corporate lawyer, Social status: Expat working in the area ,Intention of use of space: Commuting to nearby café for lunch Observer’s notes: Walking briskly, talking in brief sentences and doesn’t pay much attention to the nearby surroundings, usually on phone calls while commuting; knows which café to go exactly. Generally commutes by car or metro transit system. Usage of spaces along the commented walk route: Prefers to sit in the open space (piazza) under the shade in solitude for lunch or either in the café if going with colleagues. Artist Sex: Male Age bracket: 26 Profession: Student Social status: International student studying in the cityIntention of use of space: Urban Sketching Observer’s notes: Walking slowly and observing the surroundings, people and the built environment with a relaxed attitude, commutes by public transport only. Usage of spaces along the commented walk route: Prefers shaded areas with benches for ease of sketching complemented by scenic views and life around.
Local Woman 2 Local girl age of 22 living in Viale Tunisia. Usually in a rush at mirning walks in viale Vittorio Veneto buys take away coffee and drinks on the way until centrale. For coming back home she usually takes via Napo torriani cause via Vittor Pisani is too Empty in the evening. She likes the area, living there since 19 when she moved alone.
Home
Home
Home
From expectations to the real Image Home Home
Job ke tb al l
Home
Ba s
Home
Restaurants
Home
Bus90
Bar Best Cinese restaurant
Home
Tram 9
Newsstand
Malpensa bus
Hotel Street selling Newsstand Hostel
ki
ng
Break
Wo r
Home
Office Blank Buildings Emptyness Homeless
Pizza
To
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Home
Tram Flower Burger
MC Donald’s
Studying in the park
Imagining things from one’s own perspective is very subjective, based on specific needs of the person, his experiences, perceptions and many other factors. The path from Centrale station to Porta Venezia seems to be more complex than one think it might be for the first sight since this area combines variety of many different contrasting layers of uses. Complexity of the area first is shown according to the people that one can meet while walking. Variety of languages, nationalities, age groups, professions and social groups is something that one can identify easily. These factors are applied to every part of the path that change dynamic of the place, its’ appearance, uses, one’s feelings and emotions. There are variety of uses of the built environment that you can identify, starting from local Chinese shops and tiny coffee shops, including extremely luxury hotels and galleries full of sleeping homeless people in between. Understanding of the area strongly depends on the person itself, his purpose of using of the area and how much time he spends here. Therefore, while one identifies area used for offices, for someone else it might just seem to be dark spot to avoid. Shortly, you can’t call it business district or the cozy neighborhood, neither it is dangerous nor dirty or unpleasing. It’s just the variety that makes your trip interesting and adventurous from Centrale to Porta Venezia.
Last but not least, there are not much physical barriers presented in the area but the whole area seems to be separated by different uses and different flows. These patterns are so strongly mixed with each other that it’s hard to identify. However, you might question if it’s necessary to differentiate complexity of the area cause in the end of the day this is what makes urban environment attractive and interesting.
Analyzing Area
Mixed activities Neighborhood “Dark Spots”
By combining different visions of different people one can conclude that the area from Centrale to Porta Venezia represents a mix of different uses and “Dark spots”. All the spots identified through the site visits have different meaning for each person, however, in the end they give us an overall image which helps to understand the area and its’ problems more carefully. There are several spots that have been identified according to our interviews. These spots are basically Mixed activities the areas that had been mentioned Neighborhood “Dark Spots” mostly as local “landmarks” or meeting points for the area users. Moreover, there is also great mix of residential units and neighborhoods as well which had been identified as homes and part of some people’s neighborhood identity as well. There are several spots in the area that are strongly avoided by majority of the users. These places are the back part of the station, middle “island” of the Centrale piazza and the galleries through the Via Vittor Pisanni. All those places are occupied by homeless people and it’s a bit hard to identify the general flow of people there since everybody’s trying to take an alternative way if possible. However, after looking all the dark spots, one question arises.
What came first? The most interesting part is that was it the planning of the place which caused wrong use of the area? Or where there all those homeless people who “privatized” public spaces and made these areas unpleasing for the others to walk by? According to the observations and collected data, best solution for the neighborhood improvement could be to re-thing the area as a whole and try to overcome all the mental and abstract barriers that separate areas from each-other. The main issue here lays on the deep layers of the social and economic issues of the city not the physical appearance of the area which makes the issue of separation even more careful to be considered.
Conclusion, Inferences and synthesis Inference Different users use spaces differently as seen on the route of commented walk, for example, elderly prefer to sit in sun watching the life go by, while the homeless prefers colonnades and not piazzas to have a sense of security and non-vulnerability, while commuters don’t prefer to sit in sun rather under a shade and aloof in solitude. There is a variety of different uses represented in the route from Centrale to Porta Venezia. Synthesis Also, the study formulated an important observation about social behaviour in public realm. While the general perception is that the prioritization of space for a single user varies as per the intended use however, it was observed that the sense of attachment to the space limits the user to experience other spaces i.e. the preference of space is sometimes same for different uses by the same user due to acquaintance and (desired) sense of territoriality in the public space. This observation adds another dimension to the planning attitudes towards public spaces. Dark spots Dark spots can be represented in different ways. These kinds of spaces are being occupied and transformed into the “living� spaces to some. Presence of Dark spots in the neighbourhood relates with the much deeper layers of the issues which are strongly connected to the social, cultural and economic problems of the city. For example, the arterial road although quite active in the day time, it becomes less used as the cafes and office spaces start winding up for the day, thus, huge cut short on number of active users, and serves a mono function of commuters in transit from place to another generally in private vehicles. Thus, pedestrian commuters perceive this street to be insecure and unsafe. This social image is furthered by the presence of homeless people in the colonnaded areas although the same homeless people in the day are not perceived as a much of nuisance. RECOMMENDED ACTIONS: MAKING THE STREET AS A PLACE The solution lies in both top down and bottom up actions led by the public authority mobilising the associations and residents on the neighbourhoods in the interior parts of the selected arterial road. Actions on behalf of public authorities: Provide Street Furniture Increase street lighting at pedestrian scale Increase the amount of public seating, encouraging pedestrians to linger, rest, and observe the street. Citizens, businesses, and institutions can recommend locations to install free benches, with a priority on bus stops, retail corridors, and areas with high concentrations of senior citizens. Promote Soft Mobility Increase soft mobility hubs on the street for slow mobility and increase sub-nodes between Centrale and Repubblica and Porta Venezia.
Allow Projects In The Streets Allows community residents to apply for permits to paint intersections, as well as to install nearby benches, planters, arbors, and kiosks to make intersections community gathering places. This will enhance sense of Community and greater social interaction. Foster Play Streets and Open Streets Promote Open Streets and Play Streets by temporarily close streets to automobiles so that people may use them for healthy and fun physical activities like walking, jogging, biking and dancing. These initiatives have been hosted in many cities around the United States and in countries all over the world. The public authority needs to simplify Street Closure Permits To Encourage Events.