Lo sguardo del flâneur

Identify the role and effectiveness of flânerie as a tool of interpretation, understanding the contribution that the flâneur can bring to the analysis of the urban landscape, meaning of course the latter term not only natural or artificial backgrounds that characterize the city but also the figures that the inhabit daily. A sort of diary about the treatment of the flâneur covers its origins, its characteristics prevalent, its proximity/distance from other urban figures and its usefulness in teaching.

Le flâneur dans l’espace urbain

La notion de flâneur, codifiée par W. Benjamin et son œuvre sur les « passages » de Paris, est employée dès la fin du XIXe siècle pour désigner les poètes et les intellectuels qui, en se promenant, observent de façon critique les comportements des individus. Elle demeure aujourd’hui d’un grand intérêt en sciences sociales, mais aussi en philosophie, en littérature et au cinéma, puisqu’elle constitue un outil privilégié pour identifier les modes de déplacement et d’exploration des lieux par les individus et les rapports sociaux qui en découlent. Le flâneur représente également une figure essentielle dans le processus de mise en scène de l’espace urbain. Il peut l’être de deux points de vue : soit comme acteur-utilisateur de l’espace public, soit comme narrateur et interprète de l’espace lui-même. Dans cet article, nous chercherons à définir tout d’abord les caractéristiques du flâneur comme utilisateur de l’espace en termes corporels et intellectuels, en comparaison avec les autres utilisateurs des espaces publics. Nous nous intéressons ensuite aux fonctions du flâneur comme constructeur de sens pour comprendre le rôle qui peut être le sien dans l’élaboration des espaces collectifs.The notion of flâneur - employed since the late 19th century to designate poets and intellectuals that critically observed people’s behaviour while strolling among the crowds, and codified in Benjamin’s influential work on the « Passages » of Paris - is once again of central interest (in social science, philosophy, literature, and cinema) as a tool for identifying a specific mode of travel and exploration of places, a particular type of reflective relationship with people and spaces. The flâneur – as an actor as well as a narrator and interpreter of the urban space - is a crucial figure also in the process of staging of the urban spaces itself. The paper will describe first the characteristics of the flâneur as a user of the public spaces from a physical as well as from an intellectual point of view compared with other kinds of users ; then we will focus on the functions of the flâneur as a constructor of sense in the elaboration of the collective space

L'interpretazione dei luoghi. Flânerie come esperienza di vita

The volume aims at offering an overview of the studies on the flâneur. It consists of three parts and an appendix. The first part defines the figure of the flâneur. In particular, the flâneur’s characteristics are first analysed with respect to a series of oxymorons, to then be declined in relation to some themes, namely: the flâneur’s slowness as a combined expression of body and mind, the moods of living one's condition, the birth of the flâneuse, the relationship between the flâneur and other figures at opposite ends of the social ladder, the love and hate between the flâneur and tourists, the constraints imposed on the flâneur in the society of control and, finally, flânerie as a lifestyle. In the second part, the focus shifts to urban places as privileged contexts of action and reflection for the flâneur. In particular, the discussed topics are the “genius loci”, the possibility of analysing places through the forms of reverie which undermine the recurrent images marked by accredited methodologies, and finally the inevitably individual in-depth study paths leading to flânerie, which require a more direct contribution than the one given by subjects who practice it. Specific attention is paid to flânerie as the inspection carried out by architects and urban planners, with the additional aim of designing the urban territory for the involvement of the entire community. The third part is dedicated to an illustration of the various ways a flânerie can be achieved. Various types of flânerie are identified and described: from the free itinerant one, to the shadowing and the observation from a fixed place. In this part, there are also some reflections regarding the relationship between flâneur, houses and objects, as well as some final considerations on the development prospects of research on the flâneur himself. Finally, in the appendix, there is a discussion on the protocol in use to create some flâneries with students from different departments and from different Italian universities, followed by some concrete examples of flânerie in compliance with the definition given in the third part

Mobilità quotidiana e complessità urbana

The contemporary metropolises are in continual transformation and are characterised by the presence of resident and non-resident populations. Inhabitants, commuters, city users, tourists and businessmen represent segments varying in terms of size, provenance and sojourn within the city, capable of modifying its culture, social and relational fabric, and the morphological urban layout of its multiple components. The objective of this book is to define the complexity of habits of mobility of the various populations and the type of relationship that they have with the places in which they live, work and consume. Attention is similarly focused on the theme of conflicts between different populations, the strategies for meeting needs, and inequalities connected with differentiated opportunities for mobility. The book – which is a version, with updated contents and data, of that published in 2002 entitled Popolazioni in movimento città in trasformazione. Abitanti, pendolari, city users, uomini d'affari, flâneur – also comprises two appendices to which reference can be made to gather data or to sketch out new paths for research into the metropolitan populations

Between puer and flâneur. Discovering the city

In the paper, two different approaches to exploring the city will be considered: that of the child and that of the flâneur. These are figures that, although starting from completely different perspectives, converge in reading and interpreting the urban experience through the innocence, spontaneity and lightheartedness of the child and the search for emotions, improvisation and depth of the flâneur. The first is oriented toward adolescence and knowledge of the world, while the second engages in a kind of regression to childhood; in this, the child and the flâneur seem mysteriously to meet on one of the magic streets of our cities or on a page of a book as they live a common experience

Social capital and willingness to participate in COVID-19 vaccine trials: an Italian case-control study

Background: What leads healthy people to enter in a volunteer register for clinical trials? This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the decision to volunteer in clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine and social capital, in a sample of healthy volunteers in Italy. Since social capital is characterized by trust, reciprocity, and social and political participation, we claim that it is key in leading individuals to actively take action to protect public health, and to take a risk for the (potential) beneft not only of themselves but for the entire community. Methods: This study was conducted through the administration of a questionnaire to healthy volunteers registered for a phase 1 clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine in the Unit Research Centre of ASST-Monza, in September 2020. The primary purpose of a phase 1 study is to evaluate the safety of a new drug candidate before it proceeds to further clinical studies. To approximate a case–control study, we randomly matched the 318 respondents to healthy volunteers (cases) with 318 people randomly selected by Round 9 of the European Social Survey (controls), using three variables, which we considered to be associated with the decision to volunteer: gender, age, and education level. To execute this matching procedure, we used the “ccmatch” module in STATA. Results: The fndings highlight the positive impact of social capital in the choice of healthy individuals to volunteer in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. Controlling for possible confounding factors, some exemplary results show that people with a high level of general trust have a greater likelihood of volunteering compared to people with low trust (OR=2.75, CI=1.58–4.77); we also found that it is more probable that volunteers are people who have actively taken action to improve things compared with people who have not (for individuals who did three or more actions: OR=7.54, CI=4.10–13.86). People who reported voting (OR=3.91, CI=1.70–8.99) and participating in social activities more than other people of their age (OR=2.89, CI=1.82–4.60) showed a higher probability to volunteer. Conclusions: Together with the adoption of urgent health measures in response to COVID-19, government policymakers should also promote social capital initiatives to encourage individuals to actively engage in actions aimed at protecting collective health. Our fndings make an empirical contribution to the research on vaccines and its intersection with social behaviour, and they provide useful insights for policymakers to manage current and future disease outbreaks and to enhance the enrolment in vaccine trials