The first year of the Play Brindisi Residencies has come to a close. Promoted by the Municipality of Brindisi under the National Metro Plus and Southern Medium-Sized Cities Programme 2021–2027 – Play Brindisi project, the initiative has explored new approaches to urban regeneration through creativity, learning and community participation.
Starting Thursday, 8 October, Cillarese Park will welcome three new lightweight architectural installations, tangible expressions of a collective experience bringing together urban regeneration, art, education and participation.
More than mere installations, these structures tell the story of a collective process taking shape in wood, colour and form, becoming part of the everyday life of the people who use the park. This experiment connects public space, youth policies, education, inclusion, creativity and community engagement within the broader “Brindisi Per” strategy.
A park changes when the objects within it change. But it changes even more profoundly when new people begin to look at it differently, explore it and imagine what it could become.
From Ideas to Action: 60 Young People Reimagine How to Experience the Park
Throughout 2026, three placemaking residency sessions brought together 60 young people aged 18 to 35, selected through open calls that attracted more than 150 applications.
Participants from Brindisi, other Italian cities and abroad worked side by side, bringing different experiences, skills and perspectives to Cillarese Park. They were supported by tutors, curators and GRRIZ, an international design studio working at the intersection of public space design, placemaking, architecture and artistic installations. Artist Geometric Bang contributed to the artistic and visual dimensions of the project.
Exploring the area, observing how public spaces are used, learning, collaborative design, hands-on construction and artistic production became interconnected stages of a single journey: learning by transforming and transforming through learning.
The Residencies have thus tested a model in which young people are not simply beneficiaries of public initiatives but active contributors to shaping how shared spaces can be used and experienced.
The Island, the Boat, the Lighthouse: Three Landmarks for Three Landscapes of Cillarese Park
Cillarese Park, the largest urban park in the Apulia region, was chosen as the first testing ground for this experiment.
Rather than treating it as a uniform space to be filled with objects, the project approached the park as a complex system of landscapes, pathways and areas with distinct identities and potential, to be observed, understood and interpreted.
The first Residency, held in June, gave rise to L’ISOLA (THE ISLAND), a large multifunctional wooden platform designed for resting, gathering, playing and collective activities: a place within a place, encouraging new forms of social interaction.
The second Residency created LA BARCA (THE BOAT), located on the large central lawn near the ponds. This multifunctional structure can serve as seating, a picnic area, a play element or a gathering point, leaving visitors free to interpret and reinvent its uses.
The third Residency brought IL FARO (THE LIGHTHOUSE) to life, a landmark designed to draw attention to a lesser-known and less-frequented part of Cillarese Park.
Beyond serving as a visual reference point that invites curiosity and exploration, the installation also strengthens the park’s ecological role as a habitat for biodiversity.
An integrated bat box, providing shelter for bats, opens up a broader reflection on how natural public spaces can be designed not solely around human activities, but as shared environments for different species.
THE LIGHTHOUSE thus becomes a small-scale experiment in interspecies coexistence, recognising Cillarese Park as a key ecosystem within Brindisi’s urban fabric, where biodiversity conservation, public enjoyment and the quality of shared spaces can reinforce one another.
Mayor Marchionna: “A Lasting Legacy of Relationships, Skills and New Possibilities”
“The Play Brindisi Residencies have opened up a new way of thinking about the city and its public spaces. Over these months, young people from different backgrounds, areas of expertise and places have spent time in Cillarese Park, observing, interpreting and transforming it through design, creativity and collaborative work.
The most important value of this experience lies in the process itself: Brindisi has chosen to embrace the ideas of younger generations, giving them a tangible opportunity to contribute to the city’s transition towards a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future. The lightweight architectural structures created will remain as visible signs of this journey, but its most enduring legacy is a wealth of relationships, skills and new possibilities.
Play Brindisi demonstrates that urban regeneration can and should emerge from social innovation, and placemaking from listening, participation and the willingness to experiment. Cillarese Park is becoming not only one of the most significant places in our city, but also a laboratory for imagining new ways of experiencing public space. This is the direction we intend to continue pursuing: a Brindisi capable of attracting creative energy, empowering young people and turning their ideas into opportunities for the entire community,” said Giuseppe Marchionna, Mayor of Brindisi.
When Transforming Places Becomes an Opportunity for Personal Growth
Play Brindisi is one of the clearest examples of how the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) can work together within the Brindisi Per programme.
ERDF resources support the physical transformation of public spaces through urban regeneration, placemaking and lightweight infrastructure. ESF+ resources strengthen the social, educational and training dimensions of the initiative, enabling young people to participate directly in the Residencies and collaborative design processes.
The model tested at Cillarese Park emerges precisely from the interaction between these two dimensions: regenerating spaces with the people who use them, while giving people the skills and opportunities to make a real difference to the places they inhabit.
The results, therefore, cannot be measured solely by the installations created. They also lie in the skills shared, the relationships built, the ability to collaborate across disciplines and backgrounds, and the tangible experience of leaving a lasting mark on public space.
For further information: www.brindisiper.it
Play Brindisi is promoted by the Municipality of Brindisi under the National Metro Plus and Southern Medium-Sized Cities Programme 2021–2027, as part of the Brindisi Per strategy.
