Design for Public Space

Course

he Specializing Master in Design for Public Space is a training program for public spaces designers in contemporary cities that comprehend theory, research, design and practical training. It is proposed to train professionals to be able to develop projects of scenarios, processes and forms of open spaces, symbolic places in which the community can recognize itself.

We are experiencing an unprecedented moment of urban and demographic growth and cities are facing important social, economic and cultural issues. We deal with the challenge of shaping spaces that respond to new collective needs and offer multiple opportunities for use. What is nowadays required is an increasingly marked flexibility: once the character of specialized places is lost, cities are asked to adapt to an ever wider number of activities: exhibitions, spectacular events, markets, parties, political events. These are places where the private and collective dimensions have to learn somehow know how to coexist.

The designer of the Public Space operates on non-built areas such as squares, streets, parks, roundabouts and other undefined urban voids, taking into consideration both the container (the built form) and the content (the uses, even temporary). The design of Public Spaces requires a complex design approach, capable of combining different factors: from the urban configuration to its role in civil life, from existing participatory processes to the processes of use that are established. The Master offers analysis tools, scenario generation and innovative concepts; develops skills in managing processes and relationships with all the players involved; deals with project cases “in the field” in which one is confronted with real stakeholders and clients. The training activity will be based on the adoption of two observation methods, two different though complementary views: one addressed to the temporary city and the other to the contemporary city. One more interested in short-term transformations and the other in deeper changes: both, however, aimed at putting the many questions of use coming from society and its new social actors at the center of these changes.

It is an innovative Specializing Master, based on the long tradition of public space developed in Italy and in Europe and which is fed on the culture that made the city of Milan a recognized capital of design in the world. The training proposal is also enriched by the contributions of other European excellences, such as the prestigious ESNE school of Madrid. It also calls on an international faculty, which brings contributions from all over the world. Improving specific professional skills in a high-level academic and professional context is an opportunity that allows to gain direct experience of urban, historical and contemporary spaces, full of planning, sociality and symbolic meanings.

The Specializing Master in Design for Public Spaces in particular addresses the complexity of contemporary urban interiors by investigating 5 project areas:

* Contemporary urban interior: design and semantic. It is the ambit of the urban space project in the narrowest sense, and covers all outdoor and public areas: it is the project of squares, meeting and symbolic places, but also of interstices, green spaces, semi-public areas.

* Public space and social engagement: processes and actions. It is the area of the preparatory processes for the project, aimed at involving multiple stakeholders with human (or community) -centered design tools and approaches. It is also the context of projects that design new forms and new ways of relating between users and between users and spaces.

* Equipment and furniture, materials and technologies. This covers the ambit of the material aspects that build a space, but also the technological components that structure the interaction. It is aimed at enhancing the perceptive and sensory components of space, with a view to environmental and social sustainability.

* Communication, identity and territory: city branding and narrative design. This is the ambit of the project that interfaces with a territorial scale or with the identity and the tangible and intangible heritage of the places, with a strategic and systemic approach.

* Events and temporary settings: It is the ambit of the project of ephemeral devices for the development of temporary activities in the urban space, such as collective communicative, expository, celebratory, cultural events.

Gallery

Didactics

Training objectives

The aim of the Specializing Master is to train the professional figure of the designer of urban public spaces, that is a designer able to act on the redevelopment of the non-built areas of the city: squares, systems of road spaces, interstitial or unresolved areas, gardens and urban courtyards, terrains vague.
Specific training objectives are aimed at developing the following skills:

• ability to analyze the different urban contexts and the elements that influence and shape the collective spaces in order to provide new solutions in line with contemporary social, cultural and economic needs;
• ability to equip, make hospitable and attractive, to attribute to urban spaces in the contemporary city a both functional and symbolic value;
• ability to design equipment and furnishing systems, communication systems, materials and lighting, flows and colors useful to the public space;
• ability to set up urban spaces for cultural or commercial events, events, parties, shows temporarily;
• ability to govern urban and territorial enhancement strategies, through the redevelopment and regeneration of public spaces;
• ability to understand the network of actors involved in the processes of transformation of public space and activate adequate strategies for dialogue and involvement.
• ability to manage complex processes, from the conception to the development of innovative projects.

Didactic Plan

Phase 1_ COURSES / WORKSHOP _ Milan (9 weeks)

Lectures and workshops will consider the issue of designing public spaces in contemporary cities. In particular, the following will be explored: processes, tools and aesthetics for the transformation of urban spaces in the short and medium term, for the enhancement of local urban identity and for connection with local communities. The workshops will address project themes such as: reuse, reversibility, event, entertainment, staging, equipment for new functions.

Didactic modules:

– Design for Contemporary Urban Interiors

– Equipment and furniture, materials and technologies

– Public space and social engagement: processes and action

– Events and temporary settings

Phase 2_ COURSES / WORKSHOP _Madrid (9 weeks)

A period of study in a European city whose tradition in the design of public space has its roots in a design culture rooted in history but also in contemporary times. The courses will consider the taxonomy of a public space, investigating the various aspects related to planning and management through historical and contemporary case studies. The workshops will explore cases applied to the city of Madrid.

Didactic modules:

– Fundamentals of Public Space

– New Technologies and Public Space

– Semantics of Public Space: Branding and Narrative Design

– Management of Public Space: procedures and challenges

Phase 3_JOINT WORKSHOP (1 week)

An intensive workshop at a European partner site, where one can experiences an approach to the project, adding a further experience in a different urban context.

Stage 4_INTERNSHIP AND FINAL PROJECT (600 hours)

Following the completion of courses and workshops, the internship brings students in direct contact with the professional world.

It will take place at companies and institutions in the public and private sectors for a duration of 600 hours.

The final thesis (FTP) project involves the reworking of what has been done during the internship or the proposal of an autonomous project and its return through theoretical and design in-depth studies.

Employment Opportunities

The program allows students to qualify to work in the private and public sector, both as freelance consultants and as integrated in complex organizations such as:

• architectural firms, engineering companies, urban infrastructure design companies
• companies operating in the production of materials, furnishings, equipment for outdoor spaces
• agencies operating in the development of strategies for communication and urban marketing
• agencies operating in the sector of cultural enhancement or organization of events
• companies operating in the redevelopment and enhancement of abandoned tertiary and commercial industrial areas
• public administrations acting as managers of public works and urban furniture
• associations and non-profit organizations that operate internationally in urban regeneration processes or in developing contexts.

Admission

Requirements

The Specializing Master is reserved for candidates who have a Degree in Interior Design, Architecture, Interior Architecture, Engineering, Interior Design, Scenography, Fine Arts. For foreign applicants, equivalent qualifications in their respective studies will be considered.

Deadlines

The Specializing Master Course Committee will select the students to be admitted.
To take part to the selection process, the application form must be completed online within the following deadlines:

• for Italian / foreign citizens with a qualification obtained in Italy within 27 September 2021;
• for Extra U.E. citizens within 27 August 2021.

Price

The total cost of the course is € 12.500,00.The cost of the course is divided into:

• enrolment tax to the Politecnico di Milano € 500,00 per student;
• Master enrolment fee, equal to € 12.000,00 per student.

For POLIMI students, the Specializing Master costs €11,500 in total.

Faculty