Metadesigning the urban space/environmental system. Inter- and trans-disciplinary issues

Deindustrialisation and urban densification are shifting the vitality of the city into private spaces. Once places of socialisation and participation, public spaces are now areas of conflict, risk and separation. The horizon for regenerating and revitalising urban public space is not only technical, but also transdisciplinary and socio-technological-environmental. The essay reconsiders unbuilt urban space as a space/environmental system; an interface between people, technologies, nature and society that favours a more context-sensitive and responsive project. The text highlights new roles for the metadesign process by working with material, connective, functional and relational dimensions, new vectors of urban metamorphosis and eco-relational qualities of future public spaces.