Con[temporary]. Design for social innovation

The theme of the paper fits within the framework of the dismissed urban heritage, seen as an interesting reservoir of social innovation, where we can observe the actions of auto organizations within resilient society using spontaneous and shared approaches. The paper describes the encounter of abandoned areas in cities, creative communities and co-design as an interesting mix to rethink the logic of urban strategies strictly connected with the citizens. In these terms the temporary use of urban voids are seen as the affirmation of ephemeral and open source over authorial and permanent logic for an immediate re-appropriation and new identity of voids. The inquiry of processes within the Italian context draws the attention to the complexity of processes and activists involved in the reuse of urban voids in order to recognize the weaknesses and potentialities of an in-progress phenomenon and to find workspace for design.