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In questa tesi, ho condotto una ricerca sull'esperienza della solitudine che provano i giovani adulti, focalizzandomi sulle strategie di coping sociali e spaziali quando si sentono soli. Lo studio ha avuto luogo a Milano e Manchester e ha avuto l'obiettivo di approfondire e sviluppare le strategie di coping, ovvero capire come i giovani adulti fanno uso delle loro risorse sociali e spaziali. Per raggiungere tale obiettivo, ho usato un approccio qualitativo, usando principalmente il metodo delle interviste narrative, concentrandomi sulla raccolta ed analisi delle descrizioni, percezioni e motivazioni dietro le strategie di coping. Ho indagato ulteriormente la natura multidisciplinare della solitudine e l'importanza di fare ricerca da diverse prospettive - non solo quella psicologica. Inoltre, le strategie di coping possono avere influenza nelle pratiche architettoniche, le politiche sociali e il lavoro delle organizzazioni sociali. Il mio auspicio quindi è anche quello di approfondire la conoscenza della solitudine e offrire nuove prospettive contemporanee che vadano oltre la descrizione di uno stato spiacevole di solitudine, ma che vadano ad indagare in modo più complesso la situazione sociale ed emotiva. Questa ricerca mostra la solitudine all'interno di un contesto sociologico in modo che non sia più vista come un deficit individuale, ma come un'esperienza sociale che è costantemente modellata e negoziata dall'esperienza individuale e il contesto socio-spaziale che lo circonda. Nel corso della ricerca, affronto e rifletto su diversi campi di conoscenza e argomenti: l'uso dello spazio pubblico e semi-pubblico, il trasporto urbano e le infrastrutture, il design architettonico e i materiali, la dicotomia urbano/rurale, la percezione psicologica e le considerazioni delle persone nella vita di tutti i giorni, il capitale sociale, l'attaccamento al luogo, il rafforzamento tecnologico e l'individualismo., In this research, I investigated the experience of loneliness for young adults, concentrating on how these young adults cope socially and spatially when feeling lonely. This study is rooted in Milan and Manchester and has aimed to develop coping behaviours, that is, to understand how young adults make use of their social and spatial resources. To achieve this, I choose a qualitative approach, using mainly Narrative Interviews as a method and concentrating on collecting and analysing the descriptions, perceptions and motivations behind people’s coping strategies. I further shed light on the multidisciplinary nature of loneliness and the importance of researching it from various perspectives - not only psychologically. Further, the coping behaviours inform architectural practices, social policy and the work of social organisations. Additionally, I hope to enhance the knowledge of loneliness and offer new contemporary perspectives, away from describing an unpleasant state of being alone to a much more complex social and emotional experience. This research displays loneliness within a sociological context in that it can no longer be seen as an individual skills deficit but as a social experience that is constantly shaped and negotiated by the individual experiencing it and the socio-spatial environment around it. Along this research, I touch and reflect upon various knowledge fields and topics: usage of public and semi-public spaces, urban transport and infrastructure, architectural design and materials, urban versus rural, the psychological perceptions and considerations of people in their everyday life, social capital, place attachment, technological enhancement and individualism.

In a trans-scalar perspective, the Bicocca district extends from the local NIL (Nucleo di Identità Locale) to part of Municipality 9, Sesto San Giovanni and Cinisello Balsamo. Recently, the University of Milan-Bicocca, as regards to the so-called ‘terza missione’, has remarked its role as a key-pole for the surrounding area by proposing research, educational (and orientation) activities, as well as institutional initiatives based in this post-industrial area of Milan. Within this scenario, our group was in charge of design-ing a project leading to an artistic image representing the district users’ sense of place. By combining geography of perception, urban sociology, participatory design and the flânerie approaches, we planned a working process starting from the ‘subjective production of images’ by the district’s users and inhabitants. The project was structured in two phases: (1) December 2020 – January 2021: we organised two workshops by inviting groups of students, teachers and shop owners and working on their mental maps to construct a final image resulting from the two teams’ negotiation processes. The reading of the maps was initially inspired by the categories identified by Kevin Lynch (1962) and then moved on to a process of co-construction of a collective image; (2) March 2021: we shared the visual body with a professional illustrator (Carlo Stanga) entrusted with the mandate to translate the images into an artistic product. The essay discusses the visual representation of users’ sense of place and the potential legacy upon communication strategies, way-findings tools and education projects.

Backgrounds: Healthy volunteers play a key role in clinical trials and it is crucial to develop recruitment strategies that capitalise on their motivations and maximise their participation. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of finding motivated healthy volunteers for the development of new vaccines. Public registers represent a promising way to promote the participation of healthy volunteers in the research field, but their adoption is still limited. The current study aimed to explore the motivations of healthy volunteers to enrol in an Italian public register for clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic and their attitude toward participating in a phase 1 COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial. The impacts of different enrolling interview modalities (in person, by phone, by mail) on motivation, understanding of information and trust in researchers were also investigated. Methods: An online survey investigating experience with COVID-19, motivations to enrol, trust in researchers, political and healthcare authorities and pharmacological companies was presented to people applying as healthy volunteers in the public register for clinical trials at Phase 1 Unit Research Centre of ASST Monza, Italy, and considering to participate in a COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial. Data were collected in June 2021. Results: Altruistic motivations were the main driver for enrolling in the public register, while self-interested motivations were secondary. No gender differences were found. As for enrolling modalities, no differences emerged between in-person and interviews for motivation to enrol, understanding of information and trust in researchers. Email modality led to significantly lower volunteers’ satisfaction and understanding of information but similar trust in research. Conclusions: This study supports the validity of different interview modalities (in person and by phone) for the enrolment of healthy volunteers for clinical trials and highlights the positive role of p

Background: What leads healthy people to enter in a volunteer register for clinical trials? This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the decision to volunteer in clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine and social capital, in a sample of healthy volunteers in Italy. Since social capital is characterized by trust, reciprocity, and social and political participation, we claim that it is key in leading individuals to actively take action to protect public health, and to take a risk for the (potential) benefit not only of themselves but for the entire community. Methods: This study was conducted through the administration of a questionnaire to healthy volunteers registered for a phase 1 clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine in the Unit Research Centre of ASST-Monza, in September 2020. The primary purpose of a phase 1 study is to evaluate the safety of a new drug candidate before it proceeds to further clinical studies. To approximate a case–control study, we randomly matched the 318 respondents to healthy volunteers (cases) with 318 people randomly selected by Round 9 of the European Social Survey (controls), using three variables, which we considered to be associated with the decision to volunteer: gender, age, and education level. To execute this matching procedure, we used the “ccmatch” module in STATA. Results: The findings highlight the positive impact of social capital in the choice of healthy individuals to volunteer in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. Controlling for possible confounding factors, some exemplary results show that people with a high level of general trust have a greater likelihood of volunteering compared to people with low trust (OR = 2.75, CI = 1.58–4.77); we also found that it is more probable that volunteers are people who have actively taken action to improve things compared with people who have not (for individuals who did three or more actions: OR = 7.54, CI = 4.10–13.86). People who reported voting (OR = 3.91, CI = 1.70–8.99

Collocato in strade e piazze pubbliche, con il passare del tempo il monumento cessa di essere strumento di celebrazione del potere o del passato per diventare luogo d’incontro e punto d’orientamento, uno spostamento di funzione che lentamente cambia di senso anche in relazione alla storia e alla comunità di riferimento. Il contributo ricostruisce la trasformazione delle opere d'arte per lo spazio pubblico dalle forme più tradizionali fino all’arte pubblica, performance e installazioni, realizzate fuori dai luoghi deputati ufficialmente all’arte e che agiscono come strumenti di rivendicazione spaziale, mettendo in comunicazione le aree urbane con le persone che le abitano., Placed in public streets and squares, over the time the monument stopped to be an instrument of celebration of power or of the past to become a meeting place and point of orientation, a shift of function that slowly changes its meaning also in relation to history and the reference community. The contribution reconstructs the transformation of works of art for public space from the most traditional forms to public art, performances and installations, created outside the places officially assigned to art and which act as tools of spatial claim, connecting the urban areas with the people who live in them.