The Reuse of Buoncammino Prison in Cagliari. An Exploratory Study from the Environmental Psychology Perspective

Abstract

Within the field of the design sciences, the “user-centered design” perspective has been recently developed, including also psycho-social methodologies, with the aim of studying how a given environment - and specifically a built space - could reflect the users’ needs and desires, while facilitating and encouraging the communication among clients, designers and users. The “user-centered design” perspective postulates a novel way of renovating buildings and spaces (e.g., the reuse of a building) which takes into account the different users’ impressions during the design process, on the basis of the empirical evidence about the influence of the spatial-physical environment on users’ well-being and quality of life.
This contribution presents an exploratory study carried out through an online questionnaire, filled in by 230 participants, about the citizens’ attitudes and opinions about the possible reuses of a structure having a high symbolic value as the former prison of the city of Cagliari, i.e. “Buoncammino”. Results show that this building on one hand raises contrasting emotions and on the other hand stands as a representative marker of the city identity. Moreover, a general preference emerged for its future destination as a cultural place, such as a cultural center, a library or an art gallery.