Abstract
The main objective of the WALC project is the analysis from an interdisciplinary perspective (critical-literary, geographical, sociological, etc.) of walking in urban spaces as an intangible cultural heritage of contemporary urban mobility in European cities. The social and humanistic perspective proposed by this project suggests the importance of walking as a cultural practice that has to be re-evaluated especially in light of the aim to rethink cities and urban mobilities in the post-pandemic time and of the current social changes and climatic crisis that ask to rethink the transport means and practices by which we move in space. In European cities, walking in urban space is an often neglected but widely accessible everyday activity: allowing one to reflect on the conformation of the city, perceive and embody the map of the city, and identify new routes for experiencing and exploring everyday environments. Far from being a mere self-reflecting, individual practice, walking represents a common tool for empowering citizens, allowing them understand the value of urban narratives traced by walking paths as intangible heritage that could be enhanced by new types of open-air, mobile, and public museum activities; to re-imagine interactions between places and stakeholders; to promote dialogues between transgenerational non specialistic-audiences and academic, cultural, and institutional actors (i.e. universities, museums, local administrations and institutions). The geographical distribution of the RUs in three urban contexts, Bologna, Padova and Milano, represents an opportunity to test this approach in different cities; furthermore, the disciplinary specificities of the three RUs’ coordinators allows to read walking landscapes through a complex, transdisciplinary lens, bringing experts from literary criticism, geography, and sociology into conversation. The outputs of the project will be both scientific publications and policy proposals for cultural institutions, in order to bring urban cultures to the centre of the international socio-political debate. The WALC team firmly believes that a humanistic approach is fundamental to face the challenges of Europe’s present and future, in particular to achieve some of the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015: Goal 4 Quality Education; Goal 5 Gender Equality; Goal 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities; Goal 17 Partnership for the Goals.
Results achieved
WALC project aims to define and implement an effective strategy for disseminating research results both inside and outside academic boundaries. The activities include both traditional research outputs (academic publications, edited collections, colloquia and seminars) and creative research outputs aimed at engaging stakeholders and non-academic audiences of different ages (public events, graphic and creative publications, comics, exhibitions). These are the actions aimed at informing and disseminating knowledge: Academic conference and seminar: - Mobilities Across Media. Getting Lost in the Images that Travel Into and Out of Graphic Narratives (05/12/2023 University of Padua) The seminar is part of the seminar series NaMUC - Narrative Mobilities of Urban Cultures of the project WALC - Walking Landscapes of Urban Cultures (Prin 2022 PNRR). - Walking Landscapes of Urban Cultures (18/01/2024 University of Bologna) Kick off meeting in Bologna with all Rus for confirmation of research objectives, methodology and guidelines of the project. - Tre passi nello spazio. Histoire extraordinaire d’actions mobiles (9-10/05/2024 University of Bologna) Two days seminar of dialogues with writers and urban walkers - Lo spazio urbano e le relazioni di potere nelle scritture della migrazione italiana (14-06-2024 University of Bologna) CAIS 2024 Conference – Orvieto (Panel: The “Artificial Ecosystem”: Geo-, Ecocritical and Semiotic Aspects of the City in Literature) - Seminar LANDIA. Prospettive di ricerca 2 (10 October 2024, Campobasso) Participation in Methodological Round Table Discussion: “Fare mente locale” (University of Bologna) - ADI 2024 Conference: Rotte mediterranee. Migrazioni e ibridazioni nella Letteratura italiana – (Palermo, 12-14 September 2024) Spazio e potere nelle scritture migranti italiane (University of Bologna) (Panel: Contaminazioni urbano-transculturali nella narrativa italiana dalla seconda metà del Novecento a oggi) - Urban Walking Cultures tra letteratura e ambiente Walc Transdisciplinary Colloquium (University of Bologna, 14/02/2025) - Urban Walking Cultures tra geografia e arte Walc Transdisciplinary Colloquium (University of Padova, 21/02/2025) - Urban Walking Cultures tra Studi urbani e Sociologia Walc Transdisciplinary Colloquium (University of Milano Bicocca, 10/03/2025) - Tre passi nello spazio. Histoire extraordinaire d’actions mobiles Journée d'études (Université Paris Nanterre, 28/05/2025) - Presentation by G. Peterle e T. Rossetto at the “ERQ 2025” 10th Ethnography and Qualitative Research International Conference “Walking with urban tales. Collecting narratives in the city, (Università di Trento, 10-12/7/2025) - Tre passi nello spazio. Histoire extraordinaire d’actions mobiles Passo tre: spettri. Rovine, traduzioni, inconscio urbano (Università degli studi di Trieste, 1-3 October 2025) - Living Between Water and Land International Conference (Biblioteca Malatestiana, Cesena, 28 October 2025) - Urban Mobility Cultures: Creative and Narrative Approaches to Moving in the City (Museo di Geografia, Padova, 15-16 January 2026) - WALC - Walking Landscapes of Urban Cultures Final Conference (Dipartimento Ficlit – Serre dei Giardini Margherita, Bologna, 2-3 February 2026) Non-academic activties: - Contesti | WALC - Notturni contemporanei (02/02/2024 University of Padua) A geoliterary exploration of Venetian nightscapes - La città camminata: pratiche di attivismo urbano (20/03/2024, University of Padua) Presentation of the book “Guida alla Venezia ribelle” (Voland 2015) and of OCIO - osservatorio civico per la casa e la residenzialità - with the authors Beatrice Barzaghi and Maria Fiano - L’audit urbano. Una camminata per studiare il quartiere Bicocca (06-05-2024, B-Youth Forum – Milan) Walkshop with one upper secondary school class of the B-Youth Forum project - Voluntary mapping to improve the walkability of the Bicocca district (10.06.2024, Milan) Walkshop with one upper secondary school class of the B-Youth Forum project - Con occhi diversi. (25.06.2024, Milan) Interdisciplinary walk for an urban exploration in the Bicocca district - WALC! TALK! At Art Exhibition in Padova A series of guided tours and events aimed at presenting the exhibition, the artworks and publications. - WALC - Walking Landscapes of Urban Cultures Final Conference (Dipartimento Ficlit – Serre dei Giardini Margherita, Bologna, 2-3 February 2026) Exhibition: - WALC! Pratiche e culture del camminare urbano Art Exhibition (Centro Culturale Altinate S. Gaetano – Museo di Geografia – Area stazione, Padova, 16 January – 15 February 2026) Publication: - The collected volume Passi Urbani. Vademecum per chi cammina in città (Ediciclo, 2026) edited by Luca Daconto, Filippo Milani and Giada Peterle: several presentations in Bologna, Padova, Milano, Treviso, Cremona, Viterbo. Website: - WALC official website (online from march 2024) The official project website has been created in order to upload project documents and keep updated contact details of all project participants: https://site.unibo.it/walc/enProject details
Unibo Team Leader: Filippo Milani
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Italianistica
Coordinator:
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna(Italy)
Total Eu Contribution: Euro (EUR) 227.307,00
Total Unibo Contribution: Euro (EUR) 81.266,00
Project Duration in months: 24
Start Date:
30/11/2023
End Date:
28/02/2026
