Adattare gli ambienti delle prigioni: autodeterminazione e umanizzazione

The total institutions and the urban marginality places in Italy represent an insurmountable gap in the urban and social environment. Particularly, the prisons, located on the edges of the city, have spaces that are strongly determined by bureaucratic and political conditions, in which architecture and urbanism issues have little or no relevance. These are places of collective non-identification, in which both their residents and the city do not identify with them. Prisons sites have not a human scale, and prisons population is experiencing a condition of isolation from the city as well as internal conflict. Considering prisons as a part of cities, urban disciplines could address social and cultural transformations. This article presents prison spaces, their current situation and their requalification chance “from within”. Whereas in the context of high scarcity there is higher demand for project planning, this design action stands in response to the marginalization of architecture and architects, by focusing on the political dimension of the project (such as the ability to solve problems together), and its purpose as an instrument of rights and resources redistribution.