Cagliari

Urban lives are also lived through contrasts between spaces of different nature. Sometimes we think of green spaces as somehow outside the city, as separate from the ordinary urban world. As if nature were somehow fundamentally different from the cultural or anthropic spaces that we think of as the city. But as these tales illustrate, this living, breathing side to urban life is also intrinsically connected to it, as vibrant life spreads out and through city lives.

Lovina’s colourful trip around the city brings together some of these elements, reminding us of how important green spaces can be in the city. Spaces to reconnect with our wilder selves, or just areas that feel uncluttered, and somehow vibrant, yet connecting and connected to elsewhere.

Urban life is made up of simple daily experiences of human and non-human lives, as expressed in Mara’s portrayal of a simple experience of feeling alive in a park. Green spaces, and urban nature carefully curated, reminding us of our own humanity, close to companion species.

Sara’s tale of sharing special times with her grandmother also feature ducks and parks, in an urban park. Breaking bread together, not to feed our own bodies but those of the non-human feathery inhabitants of the city.

Ducks also feature in Alessia’s short comic, narrating movement and place. Who are the main caracters? The people or the ducks? They certainly participate in shaping a more colourful, liveable and lively city.

This contrast between spaces perceived as green and others less so shows how we also construct certain places in opposition to elsewhere, sometimes imbued with other values such as vibrant green life. Cities may feel vibrant and alive in many ways, but as Gioia shows, this vibrancy is sometimes seemed to belong elsewhere.

Green spaces are also spaces of freedom, creating the ability for inhabitants to feel the strength of their bodies. Matteo reminds us of how certain green spaces allow us to experience belonging and the ability to escape from fear and worries through movement.

Alessandro reminds us of this contrast between how we assign values and practices to different spaces, and how certain green spaces allow encounters with non-human others. After all, how many cities allow us to meet pink flamingoes after only a very short bus ride?

This contrast between an inside and an outside, between noise and silence, also structures Marta’s short tale of someone’s escape to the margins of urban space, the outskirts of the city that are only a short bus ride away. These marginal spaces create new centralities, little green satellites that seem like worlds in themselves. Is this bay still part of the city? Or is it already elsewhere, a place of solace and restoration?

Raffaele’s (unfortunately rather fuzzy!) tale of exploration outside and beyond the city creates such links across spaces and scales.

Carmen Diana’s beautifully portrayed comic about chasing her pet through new urban spaces seems almost narrated by the non-human other, as the dog becomes the guide and protagonist of the tale. The city seen through the eyes of a furry companion is shaped and experienced differently, through tales of smells, chases and encounters.

Finally, Francesca’s creative and colourful tale woven through an urban park also features exploration with a companion, although this time with a friend. But in this case, the trip to the park is both to somewhere outside of urban life and outside of the city itself, on the other side of the island, beyond Cagliari.