PhD Service Design for Public Sector

Our doctoral researchers represented the PhD Service Design for Public Sector at Cumulus Association Athens 2026 — engaging with an international community of scholars, presenting their work, and building connections that will shape their research careers. A proud moment for our programme and for the growing visibility of Italian design research on the world stage.

🎂 Buon compleanno Sapienza, oggi compi 723 anni di storia!

Festeggiamo la nostra Università: inviateci una foto o un video in DM o taggando , le immagini più belle saranno condivise sui nostri social!

‼️🕥 […e oggi, a partire dalle 10.30, segui la diretta streaming della Cerimonia di inaugurazione dell’anno accademico 2025-2026 per celebrare insieme questo anniversario ➡️ YouTube.com/SapienzaRoma, trovi il link nelle storie di oggi]

・・・

🄴🄽🄶 Happy birthday Sapienza, today you celebrate 723 years of history!

Let’s celebrate our University: send us a photo or a video in DM o tagging , the best images will be shared on our social networks!

‼️🕥 [...and today, starting at 10.30, follow the live streaming of the ceremony of the inauguration of the academic year 2025-2026 to celebrate this anniversary together ➡️ YouTube.com/SapienzaRoma, you can find the link in today’s stories]

・・・

Design for Public Spaces: Participatory Practices for the Reactivation of Urban Socio-cultural Places

Design can play a key role in the reactivation of urban spaces as sites for social aggregation, cultural animation, and social inclusion. Public spaces, understood as urban commons, are capable of restoring the city's social and cultural functions. Through the active participation of citizens in service design and governance models, design can steer urban regeneration processes toward models that are more sustainable and representative of the actual socio-cultural needs of local populations.

📅 Date: Wednesday, 1 April 2026
🕒 Time: 14:30–16:30
📍 Location: Sapienza University of Rome, Via Flaminia 72, Aula Piccinato, 2nd floor
🔗 Online: meet.google.com/fno-vzid-trv

🎤 Speakers:
Marco Berni Designer, Co-founder Codesign Toscana; Adjunct Professor in Civic Design, Department of Architecture, University of Florence
Anthea Vigni Head of Research, SocialFare | Centro per l’Innovazione Sociale

👋 Institutional greetings: Lorenzo Imbesi, Sapienza University of Rome
💬 Introduction: Luca D'Elia Sapienza University of Rome
🧭 Organised by: Matteo Alteri Sapienza University of Rome

We are delighted to continue the SDPS PhD Spotlight sessions, organised by the PhD in Service Design for the Public Sector programme.
The SDPS Spotlight Seminar Series provides a platform for exploring how design research supports public-sector innovation, institutional learning, and systemic change, fostering dialogue between researchers, institutions, and public ecosystems.
We look forward to welcoming you to this session and the discussion it will open.

, , ,

PhD Spotlight Seminar – Designing Change within Networked Ecosystems

We have just concluded a stimulating session of the SDPS PhD Spotlight Seminar Series, dedicated to exploring the role of design in processes of change that unfold across networks of actors, urban contexts, and territories.

A heartfelt thank you to our speakers Griselda Flesler, Gabriele Ferri, Caroline Hummels, and Daniele Vaccai for their insightful contributions, which brought together socio-ecological practices and urban transformation perspectives.

During the seminar, we reflected on:
Representative Infrastructures: how design intervenes in complex, community-driven practices to make distributed relationships and responsibilities visible and negotiable.
Gender & Space: addressing issues of equity and how urban environments can be designed through the rigorous analysis of gender relations.
City Imaging & Narratives : the power of images and words as a process for constructing new urban scenarios and fostering collective imagination.

A sincere thank you also to Lorenzo Imbesi for the institutional greetings and to Valentina Gianfrate for the introduction.

These exchanges are essential for advancing interdisciplinary dialogue and innovation within public-sector design research.