Dealing With Uncertainty: New Cultural Spaces Between Disuse and Reuse A Socio-Cultural and Creative Experiment in Rome

Abstract

Urban spaces’ reinvention by individual and collective entities draws attention to initiatives aimed at re-functionalising and re-signifying city areas consigned to obsolescence. The adaptive reuse of these waiting spaces encourages new forms of social interaction and promotes their overall regeneration. Based on cultural heritage, art and creativity, these actions aim to foster collective interest and new planning forms. They can be ascribed to the emerging paradigm of adaptability, one of the guiding principles of contemporary city-making. Against this background, we analyse the case of the Guys of Cinema America, engaged in the cooperative reuse of forgotten urban spaces in Rome. This project is a challenging experiment driven by the community; cinema becomes a tool for social innovation and civic participation. In a 10-year process, these activists managed to safeguard, reuse and give these spaces back to the community with new functions and increased value to share and spread culture.