“Light” of Social Change in Florence’s Social Shrinking Spaces.
Project Lumen as Model.

Abstract

Mass tourism in Florence deeply impacted on the lives of citizens, resulting in a general fragmentation of Florentine social life and in ever-shrinking spaces for civil society. Such a phenomenon is reflected also at the level of the third sector. In fact, while Florence is characterized by an extraordinarily rich presence of civil society organizations, a number of structural and operational flaws limit both their inclusiveness and their potentiality to become drivers of social, cultural, and political change. This paper aims to investigate the resources and strategies that third-sector organizations can mobilize to promote sustainable projects for community revitalization in Florence where art plays a central role. In particular, I am interested in presenting and discussing different models of development of such projects, identifying some worthy examples that may have the potential to provide new paths for social engagement, and which can be followed and reproduced by others.