Spaces and places of culture for the renewal of contemporary city

Spaces for culture are necessary places for human and community life. Architecture gives form to this need and contributes, at the same time, to the construction and modification of the city. In countries where architectural culture is more widespread and civic sense is linked to the qualifying experience of space, the construction of new spaces for culture has contributed to spreading the presence of services into the territory and has proved to be a valid opportunity to launch urban qualification programs. Moreover, it allowed to give quality to the public space through the modification induced in the context by the architectural project, through its ability to define formal relationships and functional correspondences, as well as significant exchanges with the existing place. In some cases, the new architectures, designed or become the strategic presence of urban transformations, have collaborated to outline (and communicate) the true identity of the city. In particular, public library, more than any other space, revealed itself to be a political-cultural communication tool: library projects have often determined initiatives and established important dynamics for the regeneration of the city (requalification of historic centres, provision of services of the suburbs, attribution of identity to the newly formed settlements). The library, a place of knowledge and encounter, of sociality and dialogue, exalts and develops transversal processes up to be a suggestive pretext for defining a program on the role of architecture and public space in the current urban scenarios. In addition to outlining the theme in its transversal motivations and through some recent architectural solutions on the international scene, the contribution will present the results of an academic research project about the role of libraries in the contemporary city.