Website
ContactLuisa Bravo
Bologna (Italy)
Luisa Bravo is a global academic scholar and educator, cultural entrepreneur and public space activist. She holds a MSc five-year degree in Architectural Engineering (2001) and a PhD in Building and Territorial Engineering (2008), both from the University of Bologna, Italy. She has more than 20-years experience in the professional field as urban planner and designer with a specific focus on public space. Her expertise is grounded in extensive academic postdoctoral research and teaching in Italy and Europe, the United States, Middle East, Asia and Australia. Throughout her academic career she has been the recipient of prestigious grants and awards, such as the Australia Endeavour Executive Award fully funded by the Australian Government, and she held different academic positions, in Italy and abroad, such as (most relevant) Postdoctoral research associate at the Department of Architecture, University of Bologna (Italy, 2009-2014), Visiting Scholar at IURD - Institute of Urban and Regional Development, University of California Berkeley (USA, 2012), Visiting Assistant Professor at the Lebanese American University (Lebanon, 2015), Adjunct Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology (Australia, 2016-2019), Guest Researcher and Instructor for the 'Advanced Urbanism Studio. Urban Spaces of the City' at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Centre for the Future of Places (2019-2021). She is currently Adjunct Professor in Urban Design at the University of Florence, School of Humanities and Education.
Luisa collaborates with the UN-Habitat's Global Public Space Programme and she is an international renowned speaker at major UN-Habitat global summits, such as Habitat III, the UN conference on Sustainable Urban Development, held in Quito (2016), and at the World Urban Forum (Kuala Lumpur, 2018; Abu Dhabi, 2020; Katowice, 2022), where she organized and curated exhibitions and events in cooperation with global stakeholders. She was also selected and invited to attend two High-level Meetings promoted by the United Nations General Assembly in New York (2017, 2022) on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. Her lecture "Stand up for Public Space!" has been included in UN-Habitat's Global Urban Lectures series (2017).
Luisa is the Founder of City Space Architecture, a non-profit cultural association based in Bologna with a mission to promote public space culture, and she is the Founder and Editor in Chief of The Journal of Public Space, the first, international, interdisciplinary, academic, open access journal entirely dedicated to public space, that she established through City Space Architecture in partnership with UN-Habitat. She is the Founder and Director of the Public Space Academy, the first, free, interdisciplinary educational program aimed at establishing a new approach to urban complexity built around public space, developed by City Space Architecture in cooperation with the Ove Arup Foundation.
Luisa is the Founder and Curator of the Public Space Museum, a transdisciplinary, inclusive and plural practice that experiments methodologies at the intersection of art, architecture and technology with the aim to investigate the complexity of public space culture. It hosts research and training activities, artistic initiatives, workshops, public dialogues and residency programs for artists and researchers, in partnership with Universities, civil society organizations, creative industries, public and private institutions.
Participated in:
Renovation of the green infrastructure
The renovation of the green infrastructure, as outlined in the cooperation pact signed with the Muni
Posted on December 13, 2023
Signature of a cooperation agreement with the Muncipality of Bologna
In April 2022 City Space Architecture started to discuss with the Municipality of Bologna regarding
Posted on December 13, 2023
Reflections
In the fourth year, City Space Architecture successfully engaged residents, community members of dif
Posted on December 13, 2023
Exhibition “European Prize for Urban Public Space”
In May 2023, City Space Architecture strengthened its ongoing cooperation with the CCCB – Cent
Posted on December 13, 2023
Exhibition “Imagining Public Space with/for Her”
Presented within the framework of international initiatives developed by City Space Architecture, th
Posted on December 13, 2023
Art event with Yari Miele on the occasion of the Art City White Night
The Italian artist Yari Miele created a site-specific installation at City Space Architecture headqu
Posted on December 13, 2023
Reactions from the residents
The Municipality of Bologna asked City Space Architecture to inform local residents – by sendi
Posted on December 13, 2023
LOOP, Urban Visions and Pame Kaimakli festivals 2023
This document contains a summary of the activities carried out during the fourth and final year of t
Posted on November 30, 2023
Strategies for embedding creative and artistic productions in sociocultural environments (2021-23)
This document describes different practice-led approaches from each festival with regard to the prod
Posted on November 30, 2023
Local placemaking activities 2022-23
This report summarizes the local placemaking activities carried out by partners during the fourth an
Posted on November 30, 2023
LOOP, Urban Visions and Pame Kaimakli festivals 2022
This document contains a summary of the activities carried out during the third year of the project
Posted on March 15, 2023
Urban Visions. Beyond the Ideal City - Competition 2022
“URBAN VISIONS. Beyond the Ideal City” is an independent film festival promoted by City
Posted on August 16, 2022
Our Parklet presented at the GCDN Annual Convening in Lugano 2022
Our parklet has been presented by Luisa Bravo at the Global Cultural Districts Network (GCDN) Annual
Posted on June 12, 2022
Our Parklet presented in the Places for Good podcast from New Zealand
The design idea, implementation and management of City Space Architecture's Parklet in Bologna w
Posted on April 05, 2022
What we have learned from our Parklet in Bologna
In 2020 City Space Architecture implemented a parklet in front of its operational headquarters in th
Posted on January 17, 2022
A social media campaign to support our Parklet and its meaning
In May 2021, City Space Architecture applied to the Municipality of Bologna in order to extend the d
Posted on January 17, 2022
ASeedlingPlace* Initiative in Venice Biennale
The SeedlingPlace* collaborative activity connects the A-Place partnership to the Urban Gorill
Posted on December 03, 2021
Special event / International online seminar
The second edition of the Film Festival Urban Visions included several online activities, with the e
Posted on November 28, 2021
Special event / Interview with Zoran Poposki
The second edition of the Film Festival Urban Visions included several online activi
Posted on November 28, 2021
Award ceremony
The recording of the Award ceremony is available on Youtube. The award ceremony of the
Posted on November 28, 2021
Opening Ceremony
Video of the opening ceremony available on Youtube. The opening ceremony was the opportunity to p
Posted on November 28, 2021
Competition and program of the second edition of the Urban Visions Film Festival
Less than seven months after the successful first edition of the Urban Visions Film Festival, held f
Posted on November 28, 2021
Special event / exhibition and screenings
The second edition of the Film Festival Urban Visions included several activities, with the engageme
Posted on November 28, 2021
ASeedlingPlace* Initiative in Venice Biennale
The SeedlingPlace* collaborative activity connects the A-Place partnership to the Urban Gorill
Posted on October 31, 2021
Urban Visions. Beyond the Ideal City - Competition 2021
“URBAN VISIONS. Beyond the Ideal City” is an independent film festival promoted by City
Posted on August 15, 2021
The Finnish artist Nina Backman visiting our Parklet
On July 21, 2021 the Finnish artist Nina Backman visited our parklet in Bologna and gave a lecture a
Posted on July 26, 2021
Exhibition at the Parklet from a local art collective
On May 29-30, 2021 the parklet hosted, in the late afternoon, the temporary art exhibition U R R U N
Posted on July 25, 2021
A Confined Place
The work done in “A Confined Place” was exhibited at the School of Architecture La Salle
Posted on July 14, 2021
AMPS Conference
A-Place will be present in the AMPS conference “Cities in a changing world”, which will
Posted on June 16, 2021
Opening Ceremony
Video of the opening ceremony available on Youtube. The opening ceremony was the opport
Posted on May 09, 2021
Awards / Migrants, refugees and displaced communities
The recording of the Award ceremony is available on Youtube. For the competition &ldquo
Posted on May 09, 2021
Debate / Perspectives on Migration and Humanitarian Crises
The first edition of the Film Festival Urban Visions included a public debate, with the engagement o
Posted on May 09, 2021
Special events / Interviews
The Film Festival Urban Visions included several online interviews with the engagement of artists an
Posted on May 09, 2021
Competition and program of the first edition of the Urban Visions Film Festival
The first edition of the film festival “Urban Visions. Beyond the Ideal City” was schedu
Posted on May 09, 2021
Creation and communication in times of lockdown
In this session, organized by NOVA on April 28, 2021, we presented the work done in the three s
Posted on April 28, 2021
Open session: Creation and communication in times of lockdown
Presentation an discussion of the work carried out in "A Confined place", hosted by Nova U
Posted on April 27, 2021
LOOP, Urban Visions and Pame Kaimakli festivals 2020
This document contains a summary of the activities carried out during the first year of the project
Posted on January 31, 2021
A Confined Urban Vision
A short film competition “A Confined Urban Vision” was organised to explore and widen th
Posted on January 22, 2021
English language workshop 'Come and speak English at the Parklet!'
With the collaboration of TWYO language training institute, City Space Architecture provided the loc
Posted on January 13, 2021
First Parklet of Bologna
As a placemaking activity of A Visionary Place, City Space Architecture designed and implemente
Posted on January 13, 2021
Artistic performance in the Parklet of Bologna
On November 5th at 18:00, the parklet hosted live music and dance performance by StaMurga, a young a
Posted on January 13, 2021
A Confined Urban Vision - WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT
From June 23 to September 30, 2020, the short film competition “A Confined Urban Vision&r
Posted on December 18, 2020
Urban Visions. Beyond the Ideal City - Competition 2020/2021
“URBAN VISIONS. Beyond the Ideal City” is an independent film festival promoted by City
Posted on August 20, 2020
A Confined Urban Vision
A Confined Urban Vision is the first short film competition of A-Place, organised by City Space Arch
Posted on June 23, 2020
