Liminalità, partecipazione ed ecosistemi mediali negli spazi urbani = Liminality, participation and media ecosystems in urban spaces

Abstract

The article explores the interaction between digital communication ecosystems and urban spaces, particularly those defined as "liminal". In such spaces, communicative processes can play an important role in processes of civic engagement and, more generally, citizen participation. Participatory practices are therefore also analysed here in the light of the - potentially inclusive - use of digital communication technologies, without losing sight of the potential for "absorption" of even practices of resistance by neoliberal rationality. Through an in-depth analysis of theories of liminality, media ecology and urban participation, the article examines how individuals relate to urban spaces and whether (and how) media can represent a kind of subspace of "empowerment" or at least mobilisation. The article adopts a theoretical perspective based on the empirical study carried out by the authors in some liminal spaces in southern Italy, as part of a large training project for managers of third sector organisations. The aim of the work presented here is to understand the relationship between liminal spaces and civic participation, and to analyse how the media can be used to promote forms of meaningful participation and possibly foster inclusive practices