Landscape Consumerism vs Social Sustainability. Recovering social connection within the urban landscape. A DANUrb Innitiative

Abstract

The social networks, the digital photo and the smartphone are, no doubt, essential tools of the beginning of the 21st century. Their effects on the society’s structure are more and more complex, while superficiality becomes the main feature of the individual. The ease of swapping from one frame to the next, the slalom between virtual social networks and screens, the excessive accessibility and the duality of the two complementary and partially overlapping worlds have now visibly impacted social connections and even the individual’s capacity of recognizing the physical space he spends time in - working, moving around. The landscape has been gradually losing its transformative and multidimensional role in becoming a commodity. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter are the go to places to prove oneself, to live, to connect, all the while floating randomly within a space lacking both dimension and identity. This paper aims to explore the way in which the landscape metamorphosis can determine social cohesion, in a vision of temporal, spatial and identity continuity. In this context, DANUrB Project is an experimental approach, regarding the landscape heritage and its potential for a more responsive society. Consuming the landscape as cultural and identity space could be an instrument to bring people together, to encourage the social interaction and re-activate lost or forgotten places.