2007/08_The Hospitable City

In more contemporary times, sport events, international exhibitions and sometimes rock concerts and international political meetings contribute with jubilee events to accelerate the transformation of the city planning, even though not always with similar efficient results: the accent is always put on the increase in the offer of structures dedicated to hospitality and to the requalification of public spaces, with the intent of making them more welcoming and functional to a wider concept of hospitality. In this way the hospitality spaces issue acquires new and unprecedented meanings, as they are no more the structures traditionally in charge of the task, but they are extended to a wider concept of territory, to the city itself, to its open spaces. It is in fact within this field that design culture seems to have new tasks, determined by the accent put on the matter of designing representative places linked to the concept of hospitality and of service, which is very different from the current. It pays attention to the quality and variety of the service as well as to the products and surroundings design.